BY Vince Cooper
DENIS Law was one of those players that, as a fan, it was hard to dislike, even if he wasn’t on your team. As an opponent it might well have been a different story as the likes of Jack Charlton and Ian Ure would no doubt have agreed. He played the game with fire, gusto and joy and it rubbed off on those around him. Even in a side containing George Best and Bobby Charlton, it was Law who was recognised as ‘The King’.
6 Printfield Terrace
Law was a war baby, born at number 6, Printfield Terrace, Woodside, Aberdeen on 24th February, 1940, the youngest of seven children and the son of George, a trawlerman, and Robina. It was a tough upbringing. Writing in the autobiography ‘The King’ Denis recalled his father’s suit going into the pawnbrokers every Monday where it would reside until he came home from sea at the end of the week.
After starting out at Kittybruster School Denis earned a place at Aberdeen Grammar but turned it down as they played rugby and not football and instead went to Powis Academy.
A bespectacled Denis in a school line up
Denis, who had eye problems as a youngster and wore glasses, initially played at full-back and showed a little promise. This was truly fulfilled when he switched to inside-left and before long he was playing for Scotland schoolboys.
Bill Shankly looks on as Law signs for Huddersfield
It would have been seen as natural for Denis to join Aberdeen, his hometown team and the one he supported as a boy and went to watch (when finances allowed). But Huddersfield Town boss Andy Beattie had been alerted to his talent by his brother Archie and had other ideas.
So young Denis travelled down to Yorkshire, a journey that took him 13 hours. As he stood in his new manager’s office, 15 years old, five feet three inches tall, weighing eight and a half stones and wearing glasses, Beattie later confessed that he had ‘never seen a less likely footballer’. Undeterred, and based purely on his brother’s opinion, he signed him, agreeing to pay £5 per week, half of which would go towards rent and food at his digs.
In Huddersfield colours
After being signed by his fellow Aberdonian, Law soon had a new man to impress, Beattie stood down and his former Preston teammate Bill Shankly took charge. On first seeing Law, Shankly echoed his predecessors’s thoughts, later saying that his initial thoughts were; “The boy’s a freak. Weak, puny and bespectacled”. But Shankly quickly revised his opinion once he saw the young prodigy’s talent on the pitch.
After a couple of months with Huddersfield he received a call to return to Aberdeen for an eye operation which gave the self-conscious youngster much more confidence, and in December 1956, 20 months after joining Town he made his first-team debut at 16 in a 2-0 win over Notts County.
In didn’t take Law long to build a reputation as a player for the future. Manchester United boss Matt Busby had an early £10,000 offer refused for the teenager after watching him take United’s youth team apart and when Shankly left for Liverpool in 1959 he was keen to take a player he had called ‘the greatest thing on two feet’ with him but cash-strapped Liverpool couldn’t afford to reunite the youngster with Shankly who he would later admit ‘changed my career’.
Before Shankly, the player would run non-stop during a match, but his new boss encouraged him to pace himself and taught him to read situations before they happened. The manager’s admiration for Law remained throughout his career, to the extent that towards the end of his career when asked to name the greatest player he’d seen Shanks responded immediately; “Denis Law”.
After Shankly left, Huddersfield put Law up for sale but by now Busby had Bobby Charlton and Dennis Viollet leading the Old Trafford attack so he turned down the chance to buy the striker. Arsenal made a bid and when the Yorkshire club held out for more money assistant manager Ron Greenwood failed to persuade the Gunners board to up their offer. So it was left to Manchester City whose Scottish manager Les McDowall splashed out £55,000 to take his fellow-countryman to Maine Road in March 1960, a record transfer fee between two British clubs.
An early Scotland call-up
Law left Huddersfield having played 81 league games, scoring 16 times and whilst at Leeds Road he earned his first national call-up, being picked by then-manager Matt Busby and scoring just 18 minutes into his 1958 debut against Wales at the age of 18 years and seven months (he would later claim the goal was a fluke). By the time he joined City he had already made six appearances for his country, all this before his 20th birthday.
Denis nets for Manchester City
Having left a 2nd Division side he found himself playing for one which was fighting against joining them. Having scored on his debut, a 4-3 defeat to Leeds, he netted twice in the April 4-1 win over Aston Villa that ensured they would avoid the drop.
In early 1961 Law, who struck 19 times in 37 league games during the season, scored an incredible six times in an F.A. Cup tie against Luton Town. Sadly for him the game was abandoned and the goals ruled out. To make matters worse City lost the replayed game despite the front man scoring again.
And to ultimately make the abandonment even worse on a personal level, the six-timer was removed from the record books, bringing an unprecedented number of goals in England’s premier knockout competition of 47 down to 41, a record that stood until finally broken by Ian Rush more than 20 years later.
Law’s reputation continued to grow and performances for his country ensured he was coming to the attention of clubs outside the UK. Although he was part of the Scotland team that lost 9-3 to England at Wembley (one of only two occasions he finished on the losing side against the ‘Auld Enemy’) he was coming to the attention of Serie A clubs who were by now regularly flaunting their cash and ability to offer players more than the minimum wage on offer in England.
In the summer of 1961 Law followed the path of John Charles, Eddie Firmani and Gerry Hitchens, signing for Torino for £110,000. He was joined at his new club by Joe Baker from Hibernian but there were troubles before he even arrived in Italy. Fellow Serie A club Inter trying to block the move to Turin, claiming he had already signed a pre-contract agreement with them. He was candid about the main reason behind the move saying; “I must look to the future and the opportunity to play in Italy will be a big financial help”.
With Torino teammate Joe Baker after the car crash involving the pair
Law found both the Italian lifestyle and the style of football in the country difficult to handle. And things got worse when, alongside Baker, he was involved in a car crash in February 1962. His teammate, who was driving got the worst of the crash and Law – a passenger along with his brother Joe who was visiting the pair- missed little time. In fact, he finished the season as the team’s joint top scorer alongside Carlo Crippa.
One incident though, sums up the tumultuous campaign. An away match with Spal saw Law have a number of run-ins with various home defenders. As the teams left the pitch at the final whistle the Scot was attacked by a number of players in the tunnel and had to be rescued by his teammates.
Despite the goals the abolition of the minimum wage in England meant that Law wanted out. First he handed in a transfer request which was turned down. Then things got worse when he was sent off, reportedly bizarrely at the behest of his own manager, in a match against Napoli.
Table-Tennis action with Scotland teammate Jimmy Johnstone
After this incident the Italian club, in dire financial straits, agreed to his pleas for a move.
Torino were playing a ‘Friendship Cup’ match in Lausanne and Manchester United manager Matt Busby, who had picked Law for his international debut when Scotland manager flew in from his club’s pre-season trip to Majorca to meet and sign his man to replace Dennis Viollet whom he had sold to Stoke City.
Denis relaxes as Matt Busby oversees his return to Manchester, although there was a hitch.
After a two-hour get together (“There’s a lad who knows his own value” said the manager after agreeing terms which made him highest-paid player in Britain), United offered £116,000 for his signature, a sum which would break his own British transfer record.
But just when it looked like everything was settled there was a dramatic twist. On his return to Italy Law was summoned to the Torino chairman’s office and informed that he had been sold to Juventus for £160,000.
The player was irate. He went home to Scotland and refused to return to Italy until the move to United was ratified. Torino said they wouldn’t sanction the deal leaving Law in limbo. He even contemplated going to South Africa in order to continue his playing career as he felt sure he would be banned for at least the remainder of his contract. But eventually, the Italian club, in need of the money, made the transfer to Old Trafford official, much to the relief of Denis, Busby and all concerned.
A few weeks later after proving his fitness following the car crash, Baker was also on his way home, signing for Arsenal although he lost a £5 wager with his former teammate who had bet him he’d get a move first.
Although by his own high standards it was a disappointing season for Law, he still did enough to be voted the best foreign player in Italy.
Manchester United v Sunderland. Skippers Charlie Hurley and Denis
On his return to Manchester Law originally lodged with the same landlady, Mrs Atkins he had been with during his Man City days. But the stay proved brief and he moved out after marrying Diana in December 1962 (they would go on to have four sons and a daughter).
He opened his scoring account on his debut, his goal giving United a 2-0 lead against West Bromwich Albion although the Midlanders would come back to draw 2-2. Despite Busby and assistant Jimmy Murphy being forced to order him not to come back in midfield and defence and try to play all over the pitch, he ended his first season at the club with 23 league goals and an F.A. Cup winners medal, opening the scoring in the Wembley win over Leicester City.
Scoring for United in the Cup final
To add some icing to the first season cake he finished his first year back by scoring the Rest of the World’s only goal in their 2-1 defeat by England in the match staged to celebrate the Football Association’s centenary. He left the pitch that day generally considered as the best player in a team that included Di Stefano, Puskás, Yashin, Masopust, Kopa and Eusébio.
With Eusebio
That was just the start of a glittering career at United. Law scored 30 goals in 30 games in his second season and would go on to add two league titles, two Charity Shields and, of course the 1968 European Cup, although after helping his team through the early rounds he injured his knee prior to the semi-final second leg with Real Madrid and missed that game and the final win over Benfica.
Up close with a photographer
A United display that saw him at his peak came in the 7-0 thrashing of Aston Villa in October 1964.
Law scored four and made two in a performance that caused Noel Wild to write in the Sunday Mirror: “Brilliant…fantastic…fabulous! Make a world crown – studded with the most extravagant superlatives – and on this form Law is good enough to wear it.”
Law and Best
United Chairman Harold Hardman said of that day’s performance: “I have seen no one better than Law, and I have not seen even Law play better than he did today.”
But it wasn’t always plain-sailing. He once threatened to leave Old Trafford if new wage demands weren’t met. The response from Busby was to place him on the transfer list saying ‘No one threatens Manchester United”. The player eventually apologised to both manager and club and vowed never to upset the applecart again.
Always trying the spectacular including this effort at Craven Cottage
During his time at Old Trafford Law became the first (and still only) Scottish player to win the Balon d’Or which he was awarded in 1964 ahead of Luis Suarez of Inter and Amancio of Real Madrid.
Receiving the Balon d’Or
He also played a leading role in Scotland’s win over World champions England in 1967. He had refused to watch the 1966 World Cup final, preferring to play a round of golf, and was noticeably fired-up when the Scots toppled their neighbours.
In action for Scotland against England
Things got difficult for Law at Old Trafford after mentor Busby retired in 1969. Next in line was 31-year-old Wilf McGuinness who clearly wanted to make his own mark on the club and he quickly put the Scot up for sale at £60,000. Interest was lukewarm for a player whose career had been increasingly blighted by injury with Stoke City and Hamilton Academical the only reported suitors.
Law used his apparent non-need at the club as a spur and got himself back to full fitness. He stated later that he used Pele’s performances at the 1970 World Cup as an inspiration. “Pele played brilliantly despite taking a lot of punishment,” he would later say. “I realised that, like me, he’d been taking it for years, was still going well after some setbacks, and that I needed to pull myself together”
Such was his return to form that he outlasted McGuinness and, in 1972, four years after his last cap, was recalled to the Scotland squad, scoring in games against Peru and Wales.
Back at City
When he finally moved on it was after Tommy Docherty, whom he had recommended as manager, was appointed. Docherty gave him a free transfer bringing to an end 11 glorious years at Old Trafford and a total of 404 games for the club in all competitions with 237 goals with the club’s grateful fans hailing him as ‘The King’.
A return to Maine Road for a single season saw him score the winner over United in the last game of the season, a goal he didn’t celebrate as he thought it might have relegated his former club. The game was abandoned after 85 minutes after numerous pitch invasions but the result was eventually allowed to stand and the result made no difference as United were demoted to the second flight regardless.
The 1974 World Cup
At 34 years old he was picked for the Scotland squad at the 1974 World Cup appearing in the opening match against Zaire but this proved to be his final international appearance as he was not chosen for the other two group matches, against Brazil and Yugoslavia and the Scots failed to qualify for the later stages, despite remaining unbeaten.
At the start of the following campaign he made two appearances for City in the Texaco Cup before deciding to call time on a spectacular career in August 1974.
In international action against clubmate George Best
On the international front Law represented his country 55 times scoring 30 goals, a record which was later equalled by Kenny Dalglish (who won 102 caps).
The Best, Law and Charlton statue
Statues of Denis stand outside Old Trafford, where there are two (on one he shares a plinth with Bobby Charlton and George Best, the other, in front of the Stretford End is Law alone), and Aberdeen Sports Village, and since his retirement he has carried out extensive charity work which was recognised in 2016 when he was awarded a C.B.E
The Law family
Law not only shares a statue with Charlton and Best, he also shared the greatest part of his career with the two as they brought United to the pinnacle of European football. The three were completely different personalities with the Scot falling somewhere between the (sometimes over) exuberance of Best and the unobtrusiveness of Charlton.
The Aberdeen statue
No less a man than Sir Alex Ferguson called Denis; “The greatest Scots player of all time, no question” at the unveiling of his statue in Aberdeen in 2021, while Busby once said of him: “I’ve never in my life seen goals to equal those scored by Law for bravery or sheer unexpectedness”.
It is indicative of the esteem he is held in that, even alongside, in Best and Charlton, two true greats of recent times it is Denis Law who earned the ultimate accolade of being called ‘The King’ at Old Trafford,
Denis passed away in January 2025 and will surely be remembered with fondness from Aberdeen, to Huddersfield to Manchester to Turin and back to Manchester as well as by anyone who enjoyed watching a footballer play with skill, verve and passion.