His glory days as a footballer are over; now it is time to call on the very different skills of raising a child.

Best, aged 35, is seen giving baby Calum a bottle and bathing him in the sink, watched over by new mother Angie. Another picture shows the young family out for a stroll.

It is a far cry from the tragic life that later overtook the footballing legend, and the chronic addiction to alcohol that eventually killed him.

These intimate portraits were released by Calum Best, now 28, as part of a TV documentary to be shown tonight, highlighting the plight of children of alcoholics.

Best’s addiction led to his separation from Angie when Calum was five and a lifetime of problems, ending in his death at just 59.

But 24 years earlier, he was living in suburban San Jose, California, while playing for the Los Angeles Aztecs.

Although his heyday at Manchester United was behind him, a different contentment beckoned.

The photos were taken by Eddie Sanderson who met Best in the 1960s and was to photograph him many times.

Best fell in love with former model Angela MacDonald-Janes in 1975 and they married in Las Vegas three years later.

The demon that was to haunt his life had already surfaced. Best’s first attempts to fight alcoholism came when Angie was pregnant with Calum in 1980.

He had a pellet inserted into his stomach to make him violently ill whenever he drank alcohol. But a year later while playing in the U.S. came the first relapse.

He stole money from a woman’s handbag to pay for a drinking session, and spent Christmas of 1984 behind bars for drink driving.

Sanderson, speaking from his home in LA, told how at the time the pictures were taken Best was determined to beat the booze.

‘The photos weren’t staged. While I was there he really did enjoy changing the nappies, cuddling Calum on the sofa,’ he said.

‘George relished the fact that he was pretty anonymous in the area – he could push the pram without being recognised, he loved the fact he could be like any normal dad.

‘It was the first time I’d ever seen George in that kind of light. It was then I realised that if anything could save George it was this – being a caring father and loving husband.’

In the end, though, it was not enough. In 2002, Best received a liver transplant at King’s College Hospital in London.

Despite warnings that it was his last chance, he continued to drink. He died of multiple organ failure in 2005.

His son Calum, who was at his father’s bedside when he died, is presenting a Children in Need special, Brought Up By Booze, on BBC1 tonight.

In the documentary, both he and his mother speak candidly about their ordeal as they leaf through a photo album of family memories.

Sourced via dailymail.co.uk

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