In a golden era rich with world-class Scottish footballing talent, legend Denis Law was the King
Denis Law was an extraordinary Scottish footballer. But for Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish, he would lay a legitimate and irrefutable claim to be the greatest of all time.
Scotland’s joint record goalscorer, The Lawman scored 30 goals in 55 caps to Dalglish’s 30 in 102.
In an era rich with world-class players – Baxter, Greig, Henderson, Johnstone, McNeill, Murdoch et al — Law was ‘The King.’
The only British player who would have been good enough to get a game for the great Brazil team of his era, claimed Pele.
While he spent the majority of his club career in England, most famously with Matt Busby’s Manchester United, he was a proud, patriotic Scotsman, famously playing golf on an otherwise deserted course while England triumphed in the World Cup final of 1966.
In an odd quirk, a love for his native land wasn’t always reciprocated by the people who lived there. Because he left so young, generations of Scots grew up feeling as if they never *really* knew him.
Manchester United and Scotland legend Denis Law has died at the age of 84
Law is Scotland’s joint-top scorer having found the net on 30 occasions in 55 appearances
The forward is widely regarded as one of the best to ever pull on the Scotland jersey
At the age of 15, the boy from Aberdeen stood on the platform of Huddersfield station. Puny, pencil thin and bespectacled, the kid with the squint in his eye was no one’s idea of a predatory goalscorer.
Within a year of his first-team debut for Huddersfield, Manchester City paid a British record transfer fee of £55,000 for his services before Law became the first player from Britain to be sold for a six-figure sum when Torino signed him for £100,000.
The move drew a sniffy reaction from compatriots who never really forgave him for leaving in the first place.
‘Denis had challenged their small minds by not just moving to English clubs, but also relocating for a time to Italy,’ recalled Manchester United team-mate Paddy Crerand in his autobiography. ‘He was one of the best players in the world, so why shouldn’t he have played for the best clubs in the world?’
The joyless defensive tactics adopted in Italy at the time quickly saw Law hankering for home. Busby offered him the escape route he was desperate for and he returned to Manchester to sign for United in the summer of 1962.
When a Rest of the World team was chosen by FIFA to play England in 1963, Law was one of two Scots in the squad. A year later, he was named European Footballer of the Year, the only Scot ever to earn that honour.
At Old Trafford, he won an FA Cup and two league titles. The combination of Law, Bobby Charlton and George Best proved a match made in heaven, culminating in the European Cup final triumph of 1968 which Law agonisingly sat out through injury.
As for his country, had he been playing in the current era of ten internationals a season, he’d surely have won 100 caps like Dalglish.
Law (right) starred in the great Manchester United team of the 1960s alongside George Best
Law was delighted to be inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2004
The youngest player to win a Scotland cap in 60 years, Law made his international debut at the age of 18. Needless to say he scored in a 3-0 win over Wales. He scored four goals in one game in a 5-1 thrashing of Northern Ireland on November 7, 1962.
Incredibly, he repeated the feat precisely one year later as Norway were put to the sword at Hampden.
Despite scoring in a famous 3-2 win over newly-crowned world champions England in 1967, he became frustrated with team-mate Jim Baxter when Slim Jim started playing keepie-ups on the pitch. He wanted England to suffer as much as Law had 12 months earlier.
‘Jim wanted to play to the crowd at 3-1 when we might have scored five or six,’ recalled Law. ‘When I screamed: “Let’s give them a doing” Jim would smile that infuriating smile of his and reply: “Naw, let’s take the p*** out of them”.’
Despite his patriotic streak, it always irked Law greatly that praise from his fellow Scots tended to be muttered through gritted teeth.
The so-called ‘Anglos’ of the day felt they were judged to a different standard to the players who plied their trade with Celtic, Rangers or other Scottish clubs. Despite his sterling career, Law was no exception.
‘The selectors made sure that the bulk of the team were Scottish-based,’ wrote Old Trafford team-mate Crerand.
‘It was almost as if they held a grudge against players like myself and Denis for having the audacity to leave Scotland.
‘You could guarantee that the lads who played in England would be singled out for a much rougher ride by the media if Scotland didn’t play well. It used to drive Denis mad because he would get more criticism than me.’
By the time he finally graced a major tournament with Scotland, the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, he was 34 and no longer the fleet-footed killer of old.
His final appearance came in the 2-0 win over Zaire, which ultimately cost the Scots a place in the second stage on goal difference.
The thanks and appreciation of his own people finally came in 2018 when he was granted the freedom of Aberdeen.
Previous recipients of the honour included Sir Winston Churchill, Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev and Sir Alex Ferguson. Fifteen thousand people lined the streets of the Granite City to hail one of their own.
In an era when Steve Clarke can’t uncover a goalscoring centre forward for love nor money Denis Law was a throwback to an era when Scotland produced extraordinarily good footballers. None more exceptional than The Lawman.
