When it comes to numbers, football’s bottom line, Denis Law’s digits outline an unbelievable goalscorer, but it is the character he brought to Old Trafford while racking up his record which colours his legend.
A United career tally of 237 goals topped only by Wayne Rooney and Sir Bobby Charlton, both of whom played hundreds more games; United’s first and Scotland’s only Ballon d’Or winner; a two-time league champion, FA Cup winner and member of the first United squad to win the European Cup; nobody in club history has neared Law’s 18 hat-tricks – as many as Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy and George Best combined.
The achievements beam bright even in black
and white. As Scotland’s sportswriting titan,
Hugh McIlvanney, put it: “If you had to send a
man out to score a goal to save your life, there’s
only one man you’d send out: the Lawman.”
The goals, however, are mere jewels in the crown of a man monikered the King of the Stretford End. All which gave him the razor’s edge in front of goal stemmed from the spirit he developed growing up in poverty in Woodside, Aberdeen.
Afflicted by a squint so severe it required glasses from infancy, the son of a trawlerman grew up with his six siblings in a family home with neither carpet nor central heating, taking ownership of his first pair of shoes at 14.
“All we wanted to do was play football,” Denis recalled, either honing his skills with his older brothers or working alone on his standing jump by affixing a paper ball to his mother’s clothes rack and heading it, moving the ball higher and higher until he was capable of prodigious leaps.
His obsession soon translated into representing Aberdeen Lads Club and Aberdeen Schoolboys before stepping up to the Scotland Schoolboys squad. Local scout Archie Beattie sent word of Law’s talent to his brother, Andy, who was manager of Huddersfield Town and, in 1955, Denis left Scotland for the first time for a trial with the Terriers.
Law recalled that
his prospective manager’s first impression
was far from impressed. “Never did I see
a less likely football prospect,”
Beattie
allegedly reported back to his scout
brother. “Weak, puny and bespectacled.”
Once Denis had been witnessed with a ball
at his feet, however, mockery made way for
marvel. A contract was soon forthcoming, as
was interest from higher-profile clubs.
Law first came to United’s attention in 1957 when the Reds’ youth team took on their Huddersfield counterparts at Heckmondwike. “After 10 minutes it became obvious to myself and Matt Busby that we were virtually playing against a one-man team,” recounted assistant manager Jimmy Murphy. “This boy had that ‘indefinable something’ which you could call zest, or enthusiasm, or dynamism. His performance was such that Matt and I looked at one another in astonishment.”
Within weeks, United had formally offered £10,000 for the teenager, a bid rejected out of hand by the Terriers. During a brief interim spell as Scotland manager in early 1958, Busby handed Law his international debut at 18, but realistic hopes of pursuing a move were lost amid the aftermath of the Munich Air Disaster. By the time he did leave Huddersfield in 1960, Denis commanded a British-record fee of £55,000, paid by Manchester City and duly doubled 18 months later when he made the move to Torino in Italy.
A year later, though playing well enough to be selected for the Italian League XI for a friendly encounter with their Football League counterparts – managed by Busby – Law took advantage of a post-match conversation with his countryman. “How do you like playing in Italy, Denis?” enquired the United manager. “I don’t like it,” came the reply. “Why don’t you come and buy me?” Were it only that simple.
“Even the memory makes me travel-weary,” recounted Busby, of the months-long saga which unfolded, incorporating postponed meetings with Torino officials in Amsterdam, Lausanne and Turin, two days awaiting a phone call in the lobby of a Majorca hotel and a lengthy stand-off between Law and his club over a proposed alternative sale to Juventus before, in July 1962, Torino sent a delegation to Manchester to negotiate a deal which would, at £115,000, once again break the British transfer record.
“One of my best and cheapest signings,” the manager nevertheless reflected, of a player blessed with “the quickest thinking I have ever seen on a football pitch,” while Murphy expanded: “Denis was a bargain because he gave us the lift we needed at the right time, and because his insatiable appetite for the game swept like wildfire through the club.”
Crash survivor Sir Bobby Charlton echoed those sentiments, observing: “He invigorated United with his astonishingly competitive personality and wonderful talent. It was as though a lot of the magic and aura of the old United had been conjured up at a single stroke.”
Starting with a seventh-minute debut goal against West Brom and ending with United’s opener in the FA Cup final victory over Leicester, Law’s 1962/63 campaign ranks as high as any debut term in club history, his contribution going far beyond 29 goals in 44 appearances as the Reds’ post-Munich rebuilding took an enormous step forward.
‘Denis was more than a goalscorer,’ noted author Eamon Dunphy. ‘He was an inspiration, capable of lifting those around him, his cavalier thrusts at the opposition impudent and sowing doubt in defenders’ minds, a source of encouragement to his colleagues. In the box he was deadly, quick, brave, elusive, taking half-chances with the daring and sureness of a matador.
'No game was quiet, no cause lost, no crowd less than enthralled when Law was hungry for the game. He was fearless, wild, impetuous; a unique force in the English game. Law was the kind of player systems didn’t produce.
‘The great showman Law was extrovert at work – sardonic, amused, intelligent and alone once the job was done. In Law, Busby saw the defiant spirit of his great lost team, the bit of devil, the grace, the brio which was to Matt professional football’s ultimate vindication: the merchants and politicians could have the world, he lived for this beautiful, unsullied expression of life.’
Visitors to Old Trafford’s forecourt will note Law’s pose in the United Trinity statue: arm aloft in celebration – he was the first British player to salute the crowd after scoring. Seen as a purveyor of a heady blend of fun and rebellion, he was no respecter of convention.
“Footballers
should have a role model. I had it with Denis
Law,”
admitted Sir Alex Ferguson. “I looked
at him and said: ‘That’s what I want to be.’”
Law’s second season at Old Trafford remains
untouched by time. His haul of 46 goals in 42
games in 1963/64 prompted recognition as
United’s first Ballon d’Or winner. Alongside
Charlton and the emerging George Best, the trio
spearheaded a United side heading back to the
top of the game apace, winning the First Division
title in 1964/65 and 1966/67, adding the 1967/68
European Cup, even though a persistent knee
injury decimated the Lawman’s contribution
to the latter.
Denis had to watch United’s extra-time win over Benfica from his hospital bed after cartilage surgery, celebrating with friends and wiping away tears as Busby finally lifted his most coveted prize.
Law remained a firm favourite of supporters
even through the club’s post-Wembley slide,
recognising his incessant competitive streak
despite ongoing injury concerns. There was no
dimming of his flame. Going up against Denis
was never light work. “I found him the very
devil to mark,”
recounted former Fulham and
England defender Sir Bobby Robson, while
Arsenal’s Ian Ure found himself in a match-long
running battle with Law which ended with both
players battered, bruised and red-carded after
kicking lumps out of one another, despite being
international team-mates.
Never one to turn the other cheek, Denis picked up three red cards during his United career for skirmishes, telling his manager: “If someone kicks me, I can’t promise I won’t have a go at him.”
“His critics in this regard would not be so critical if they had seen his legs after many a game,” stressed Busby. “I have seen them virtually slashed to ribbons, with blood and cuts all over the place. How much can any man stand?” Those battle scars and moxie were tangible reminders of what so endeared Denis to United supporters. Be it playing through the pain barrier or taking 90-minute kickings from opponents, he underpinned his singular talent by giving everything for over a decade in the Reds’ colours, nailing those same colours to the mast in the final match of his club career.
As fate decreed, it came at Old Trafford in 1974 as he netted the only goal of Manchester City’s visit. Back with the Blues for a second stint after leaving United at the end of the previous season, Law scored but declined to celebrate, later confirming: “I was totally depressed, wishing the ball had gone wide.” Even though United ended the afternoon relegated to the Second Division with thousands of supporters swarming the Old Trafford pitch, Law found himself intact.
“Had there been any animosity towards me, I would surely have found out then,” he mused. The Lawman’s legend was bulletproof, his legacy made flesh by the 2002 unveiling of a statue within the Stretford End, and then as part of the United Trinity outside the East Stand six years later. In retirement, he spent years representing the club at official engagements as an ambassador, enrapturing anyone with whom he came into contact. As fellow Trinity member Best put it so succinctly: “You can’t be miserable in his company.”
Known for a sense of humour as razor-sharp as his finishing, Denis was never without a glint of mischief in his eyes; always on the lookout for japes as he sought to wring the most from every moment. Even after his diagnosis with dementia in 2022, he would often feign forgetfulness before ribbing his victims, lightening a dark situation. That boyish twinkle illuminated the lives he touched. “If you were picking your best Manchester United team or your best Scottish team, he would always be in it,” said Bryan Robson, “but what I really admired more than anything was how funny he was and what a great person Denis was.”
For all his on-field pluck and bravado, Law left all showmanship on the pitch, eschewing fame in favour of family, always first off the pitch and out of the bath. His family home contained no shred of evidence of his football career on display. Modest and mindful, Denis found comfort in closeness, a hands-on parent, grandparent and friend. As his daughter Diana noted: “Dad may be known as the King of the Stretford End among fans, but he’s a reluctant king.”
By turns a family man, mischief-maker
and firebrand genius, Denis Law was so
much to so many and unforgettable to all.
He may have adorned United’s history with
some of the greatest numbers ever seen but,
moreover, the Lawman forever festooned our club with colour of an inimitable hue.“