The chairman of Dorking Wanderers women’s team clearly inherited his footballing know-how from the Best.

George Best, that is, whose son Calum is now carving his own path to glory.

Despite the footballing heritage gifted to him by his father – the Man United legend – it was in the realm of reality TV that the 43-year-old forged his individual path to fame.

His appearances on shows including Celebrity Love Island, Celebrity Big Brother, SAS Who Dares Wins and many more turned him into an American television personality.

But the California-born star has never lost his passion for football.

For the last few years, Best has held the role of chairman of Dorking Wanderers women’s team as he attempts to bring the tier 5 team higher up the football pyramid.

Speaking to talkSPORT’s Shebahn Aherne and Ruesha Littlejohn on The Kickback, he explained it was something that had happened quite unexpectedly.

“I’ve loved football my whole life,” Best said. “When I moved here from California when I was 21 I fell out of love of football because I felt the pressure more than I had kind of felt it before. Because it was put in my face a lot. 

“And then a few years later I started playing charity games and I’d always go to United and then I became a fan of Dorking Wanderers through my friend Marc White – I’m sure you’ve seen clips of Marc White on on various bunch of amateurs shows and stuff like that.

“He said to me, we’re launching this women’s side of our team because as a club grows you need certain aspects of the club for the club to grow and I am thinking of launching a development team, a women’s side, and a men’s development team.

“And he asked me to do a little good luck video so I grabbed the phone and did good luck, all that stuff. And then I thought that’s really cool, what more can I do? I asked him if I could sponsor the team with a business that I had and he said, mate do you want to get more involved?

“And I said, well what do you think? He said, how does chairman sound? I said, it sounds pretty cool to me, and I liked the idea of it being kind of grassroots at the time.

“They were at the bottom of the football pyramid. It was in a random pitch somewhere muddy, nothing glamorous about it and I loved the idea of that. So I said yeah I’ll take the role and here I am in my fourth season coming into my fifth!”

It has been a role that has not come without its difficulties for Best.

When asked if he ever had to deal with people putting down his decisions or criticising him for disingenuous motives, he admitted he certainly had faced hard moments.

He added: “I think there’s a lot of cynicism like, well that person’s only going there for money reasons. But at the end of the day I feel like having eyes on whatever awareness you’re trying to raise is always going to help. So if there’s a person in the public eye that’s doing it, it’s obviously going to bring light to whatever the situation is right.

“So I knew it might happen but I didn’t become chairman of Dorking thinking anything other than, that sounds fun you know, that sounds cool. I love football I love the camaraderie of it – I’m getting older which means I don’t play as much.

“But if I can bring my excitement to the game and my love for the game to a club where it’s on the rise then I’ll give it a shot you know.”

Best added that he had even had to contend with backlash sometimes from his close friends.

“I’ll give you a harsh truth,” he explained. “I sat with some friends of mine that I play football with and they literally said to me ‘shouldn’t the pitch be smaller, shouldn’t the goals be smaller’.

“And I said to them, my team would outplay you all-day long. And it’s just this weird small-minded scepticism. I know a lot of people are like that and I know as a nation we’re like that as well but I just think why hold it back when you can sing its praises?”

And his dedication to the team is great indeed, with the team also having been the subject of a 2022 BBC Documentary, Dorking ‘Til I Die, which cast a light on the squad’s mission to win the league and the role played by Best.

“I want to see them succeed,” he added. “I want to see them thrive because they deserve it.

“This Sunday for example, in a couple of days we’ve got the FA Cup and it’s the second time we’ve ever reached the first round proper and if we win this game, which we should, we’ll be the furthest we’ve ever been.

“I’m excited for them more than anything – but I’m the loudest chairman you’ve ever met! I’m on the sidelines, I’m getting yelled at by the referee, I’m outside of the box trying to scream when they’re telling me to get back in the thing.

“But I love it. Without a doubt I’ll be the loudest man in the place. I just had a work trip away and I made sure that my trip came home today so I could be there this Sunday for our FA Cup game.”

While his new focus is Dorking Wanderers, Best always keeps an eye on goings-on at Manchester United, a club which will always be close to his heart thanks to his father George’s longstanding association with Old Trafford.

The Belfast born winger spent 11 years as a Red Devil and is remembered as one of the most beloved names ever to have donned the shirt.

Tragically, in November 2005, Best died at the age of 59 after multiple organ failure – something which hit his son and the rest of his family hard.

Tributes were paid to the legend from around the footballing world and Calum joined his former teammates in leading a minute’s silence on the pitch at Man United’s next match.

He is widely considered to be one of the best players ever to have graced the field and it is often lamented that he never featured on the World Cup stage with Northern Ireland.

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He did however win two First Division titles with Man United in the 1960s, as well as the 1968 European Cup and two Charity Shields.

Many decades on from his father’s glory days at the club though, Calum reflected that he was glad to see another club legend having stepped into the role of interim boss.

“I love the idea of (Ruud) Van Nistelrooy,” he admitted. “I think he’s genius. I watched the game (against Leicester) and I thought to myself what a great person to have! Who knows if he’ll stay but I thought to myself there’s a good look.

“Random story I remember, this is a bit tragic but I’ll tell you anyway because it’s it’s a bit relevant. When my old man passed, I was all over the place I remember I was drinking whiskey before this memorial, I was pretty lost at the time and I remember Ruud coming up out of all the people and he sat there and looked at me.

“And I could feel his sincerity as he was asking how I was doing. So I’ve always had a soft spot for him and I liked to see him on the touchline.”

So with a FA Cup run on the cards for his Dorking side and a big season ahead for his beloved Man United, how does Calum reflect upon all that his career and his father’s career have taught him so far?

“I just feel like,” he said. “As spiritual guru as this might sound, I think all those trials and tribulations those highs and lows lead you to this point now and I feel like I’m happy, I’m healthy, I’m comfortable.

“I run some successful businesses I have a lot of good passions always learning we’re always trying to do better and be better but I think that I’ve had some a mad life you know in football I’m grateful to my old man and everything he brings.

“I love that I can go to Old Trafford and sit in the director’s box and soak that up. I absolutely love it. I’m 43 and I’ve worked hard to create the life that I’ve created but I also know I had a foot in the door.

“But the flip side is you’ve got to keep that door open you got to prove yourself and I realised at some point that I take away the pressures of being George Best’s son and I make it just about me you know.

“It’s just about a life that I want to live and a life that I want to create but paying respect to my mum and my dad for getting me here.”