Legend Best 'enters final hours'
Best's condition worsened early on Wednesday
Footballing legend George Best is unlikely to survive another 24 hours, his doctor has said.
He could not recover from the internal bleeding that developed during the night, Professor Roger Williams said.
"I have to tell you his hours are numbered," he said at Cromwell Hospital, west London, at 1250 GMT.
The ex-Northern Ireland and Manchester United star, 59, deteriorated with a lung infection on Friday, after almost eight weeks in hospital.
Professor Williams said on Thursday: "Mr Best is coming to the end of the long road of his ill health.
It is just not possible to recover from that
Professor Roger Williams on George Best's internal bleeding
"The situation is that medically the intensive care team and everybody concerned have managed to cope with pretty well all of the complications except the one that has happened again during the night - this bleeding.
"Although [the blood] has been replaced, it has now affected the lungs and other parts, and there is really no return from that situation.
He added: "He is still having standard medical care and treatment but I have to tell you that his hours are numbered now and it's all very upsetting."
Family vigil
Best was admitted to hospital on 1 October with flu-like symptoms, and suffered a kidney infection and internal bleeding before the latest decline.
Drugs needed after his liver transplant in 2002 had made the recovering alcoholic more susceptible to infection.
Best's closest family arrived at the west London hospital on Thursday looking very upset and asked the gathered media not to film or photograph them as they went in.
Best underwent a liver transplant operation in 2002
Things had looked more positive earlier in the week when Best regained consciousness.
He was taken off sedation and described as "fairly stable" by Professor Williams.
But then his condition deteriorated once more between 0100 and 0200 GMT on Wednesday.
Best helped Manchester United win the European Cup in 1968 - the first English club to do so - and he was European Footballer of the Year that same year.
His style captivated football fans around the world but his playboy lifestyle degenerated into alcoholism and bankruptcy.