Roy Chapman was only manager of Stockport County for nine months, but he'll always be remembered as the man who brought George Best, arguably the greatest footballing talent produced in the British Isles, to Edgeley Park.

It was November 1975, with the Hatters involved a real battle to avoid re-election, that Chapman, amazingly, persuaded the Irishman to weave his magic before the Edgeley faithful.

A crowd of 2,789 was present at Edgeley Park to witness a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Huddersfield Town in the previous home game before County crashed out of the FA Cup, 3-0 at next Saturday's opponents, Hartlepool.

Without George Best, the attendance for County's next game, against Swansea City on November 28, would have probably been under 2,000.

With Best, the attendance was recorded at an incredible 9,240!

And the mercurial Irishman didn't disappoint the admirers.

19 minutes: County 1 Swansea 0

George scored with his third successive in-swinging corner from the left. The first two had the defence in such a tizzy that goalkeeper Steve Potter could only help it into the net.

55 minutes: County 2 Swansea 0

Best with heart-warming artistry beat three men, held another three off, and glided the ball into the path of a young Lee Bradley to crash the ball past a now bewildered defence.

72 minutes: County 3 Swansea 0

The piece de-resistance! George started the move with a pass to  Ian Seddon. The cross was headed on by McNeill, and Best, with his back to the goal, perfectly balanced, swung and volleyed the ball into the net with tremendous power. The noise from the crowd shattered the night air!

Swansea pulled back two late goals through Alan Curtis and Dave Bruton, but Best was not to be denied as County hung on for two valuable points.

County: Hopkinson, Turner, Buckley, Lawther, Bradley, Fogarty, Best, Seddon, Hollis, Massey, and McNeill. Sub: Coyne.

The George Best bandwagon pulled in another 5,055 fans for his next appearance, against Watford on December 12, when another marvellous goal from the genius helped the Hatters pick up a point from a 2-2 draw. Another Northern Ireland international, Ian Lawther, was the other County marksman.

Best didn't score in his final game wearing Blue & White, against Southport, but his presence again attracted a bumper 6,321 crowd and also inspired Chapman's side to a 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Micky Hollis.

Without argument, one of the world's greatest ever footballing talents, had certainly put the club in the headlines and although he was being well paid on a match-to-match basis, he must have kept the Hatters' Bank Manager happy by pulling in over 20,000 supporters in just three appearances.

Without Best County continued to struggle and they went into the final game of the season, at Scunthorpe, needing a victory to guarantee finishing outside the dreaded bottom-four. Anything less could see Swansea climb above them if they won at Rochdale.

Older fans will remember that Scunny used to kick off at 3.15pm not the traditional 3.00pm so County still had 15 minutes to play when news filtered through that the Swans had gone down 1-0 at Spotland.

The massive travelling army immediately burst into song & "Rochdale 1 Swansea 0, hallelujah!"

Knowing that County's result at the Old Show Ground was now immaterial legendry 'keeper Alan Ogley got down on his knees to conduct the Hatters' faithful who were now bouncing behind the goal!

Locals then watched on in astonishment as the final whistle sparked a huge party amongst the travelling hordes who had invaded the pitch.

The following day's News of the World reported: "At the end of the game hundreds of Stockport County fans invaded the pitch and from the noise they were making you'd have thought they'd just won promotion, not avoided re-election."

George Best's League Career
Team	Date Signed	Apps	Gls
Manchester United	May 1963	361	137
Stockport County	Nov 1975	3	2
Fulham	Sep 1976	42	8
AFC Bournemouth	Mar 1983	5	0