Clyde Cyril Best,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(born 24 February 1951) is a Bermudian former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. He was one of the first

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

players in First Division football in England, scoring 47 goals as a striker for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

between 1968 and 1976.

Early and personal life

Best moved from Bermuda to England at the age of 17, to play for

. Upon his arrival he was looked after by club captain

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England natio ...

. He has credited Moore and fellow West Ham players

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

and

Billy Bonds William Arthur Bonds (born 17 September 1946) is a former professional footballer and manager, who is most often associated with West Ham United with whom he spent 27 years as player and manager. He played 799 first-team games for West Ham in a ...

with helping him deal with racist abuse.

Playing career

As one of England's first black footballers, Best was regularly targeted with

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

chanting from the terraces, but eventually became a fan favourite at Upton Park. He was a strong, powerful player with the skills of the traditional English centre forward, tough to dispossess when he had the ball and good in the air. He made his debut for West Ham United in a 1–1

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

draw against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 25 August 1969 at the age of 18. His first goal for the Hammers came during

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

competition, in a 4–2 win against

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

, on 3 September 1969. In 1973 Best deputised for an injured Bobby Ferguson in goal against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. Best played 218 games and registered 58 goals for West Ham over 7 seasons between August 1969 and January 1976. Best also played in the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

for

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

where he was generally viewed as a failure, scoring only 3 goals in 23 matches, and in the United States for

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Champions ...

Toronto Blizzard Toronto Blizzard may refer to: *Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984), the original soccer club, a franchise of the North American Soccer League *Toronto Blizzard (1986–1993), the later club and franchise of the Canadian Soccer League *Toronto Azzurri B ...

and

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

. While playing for Tampa Bay in

Soccer Bowl '75 Soccer Bowl '75 was the championship final of the 1975 NASL season, played between the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the Portland Timbers. The match took place on August 24, 1975 at Spartan Stadium, in San Jose, California. It was the first North Ameri ...

, he scored an 88th-minute goal to secure the Rowdies' first NASL championship in a 2–0 victory over Portland Timbers. The following spring he led the Rowdies to the 1976 indoor title and was named tournament MVP. He was the Rowdies leading scorer for the brief 1976 indoor season with 11 goals, 5 assists for 27 points.

Managerial career

Best was an assistant coach for the

San Diego Sockers San Diego Sockers may refer to: *San Diego Sockers (1978–1996), a soccer team in the North American Soccer League *San Diego Sockers (2001–2004), a soccer team in the World Indoor Soccer League and second Major Indoor Soccer League *San Diego S ...

for a brief period in the early 1990s. Best coached the Bermuda national team from 1997 to 1999.

Later life

After his coaching career finished he retired back to Bermuda.

Honours

Best was inducted into the Bermuda National Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. He was awarded an

in the

2006 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2006 in some Commonwealth realms were announced (on 31 December 2005) in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Grenada, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, and Saint Christopher and Nevis to cel ...

list for services to football and the community in Bermuda.United Kingdom:

References

External links

*
NASL/MISL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Best, Clyde 1951 births Living people People from Sandys Parish Association football forwards Bermudian footballers Bermuda international footballers West Ham United F.C. players Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players Portland Timbers (1975–1982) players Feyenoord players Cleveland Force (original MISL) players Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players Los Angeles Lazers players Bermudian expatriate footballers Bermudian expatriate sportspeople in England Bermudian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Bermudian expatriates in the Netherlands Bermudian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate soccer players in Canada Expatriate soccer players in the United States English Football League players Eredivisie players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Pan American Games silver medalists for Bermuda Bermudian football managers Bermuda national football team managers Members of the Order of the British Empire Pan American Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1967 Pan American Games Race-related controversies in the United Kingdom Outfield association footballers who played in goal Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games Bermudian people of Barbadian descent Association football coaches