The decision to make Clyde Best a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the New Year’s Honours is welcome.

The question that must be asked is: “What took so long?”

It goes without saying that this newspaper has enormous respect for Shaun Goater, who has written a column in our Sport section for a number of years and whose status as a role model on and off the field is undisputed.

But it must have galled Mr. Best to have seen Mr. Goater receive his MBE when Manchester City ascended to the Premiership. Mr. Best starred for years in the old First Division and until recent years, got no official recognition for his accomplishments.

To some extent Mr. Best was a victim of circumstance. It has only been in the last 15 years or so that sportsmen and entertainers have received recognition in the Queen’s Honours, which were typically the province of senior civil servants, politicians and so on — the so-called great and the good.

Mr. Best’s ill-judged decision to take part in a football tour of then apartheid South Africa may also have played a part.

If so, all has been forgiven, and it is worth noting that Mr. Best has become an MBE largely in recognition for the pioneering role he played in breaking the colour bar in English football. He paid a high price for that in abuse and threats, but never lost his cool. Instead, he kept scoring goals and forced the fans to respect him. This award is an overdue gesture of respect from this community, and Mr. Best has fully earned it.