Newspapers in the cities where George Best is most fondly remembered have paid tribute to the football legend, with dozens of pages dedicated to the star.

News of his deteriorating health featured heavily in his home-town newspaper the Belfast Telegraph.

Its compact edition on Friday morning – when it was clear Best was close to death – included 30 pages of news and features, including an interview with his surgeon.

Later broadsheet editions included background features, pictures and a leader column, which had been pre-prepared for use in the event of his death.

Editor Martin Lindsay said: “At the conference at 7.30am on Friday we took the decision to treat it as if he had died, but without actually saying that.

“The headline was ‘remember me for my football’, a quote from George Best, and when it was announced that he had died the final edition was updated to include ‘1946-2005′ as well as news from the family press conference.”

Saturday’s paper followed with another 30 pages, and 34,000 copies of a pre-prepared 36-page tabloid tribute supplement were also printed on Sunday night, for sale on Monday morning.

Martin said: “It looks set to become a collector’s item. We have a vast library of pictures of him from childhood onwards.”

As well as looking back the paper has also turned its attention on how best to honour Best, and is asking readers what they think.

Suggestions so far include re-naming Belfast City Airport or naming a new sports stadium, which is currently being built in the area, after him.

A tributes book which was opened on the Telegraph’s website has also been turned into a book of condolences.

The book has been inundated with messages from readers, with e-mails received from all over Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even China.

The paper is examining the possibility of turning the messages into a specially-bound book, for presentation to Best’s family at a later date.

Meanwhile in Manchester, where Best played for with Manchester United, Friday’s third edition of the Evening News included eight pages dedicated to the star, including a poster.

Sports editor Peter Spencer said: “We had ten pages of coverage on Saturday, and on the cover we had head shots of Best from over the years – you could actually see the colour of his face changing, which worked really well.”