UP to half a million people are expected to attend the funeral of George Best today in his native Belfast.

Not since the death of Princess Diana in 1997 will there be such a remarkable display of mourning.

Although many may feel a personal loss at the passing of Best, others have questioned the authenticity of grief on such a scale.

But there do appear to be many thousands of people who genuinely mourn the star.

Brilliant Best was the first true soccer superstar of the modern age. The first pop star footballer. But he also had personal weaknesses with which many people can identify.

There is no doubt that he had no-one to blame but himself - particularly after being given a second chance through a liver transplant - but to many, having seen what he was capable of on the pitch and the lifestyle that accompanied it off it, he was their hero.

That's why they will be turning out in their thousands today, coming in equal numbers from the Protestant and Catholic communities of this troubled province - a unifying feat which is surely a measure of the man.