Denis Law ( yield 24 February 1940 ) is a scottish former football player who played as a forward. His career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, he was signed by Manchester City for an estimated transfer fee of £55,000, which set a new british record. Law spent one year there before Torino bought him for £110,000, this meter setting a new record fee for a transfer involving a british actor. Although he played well in Italy, he found it unmanageable to settle there and signed for Manchester United in 1962, setting another british record transportation fee of £115,000 ( equivalent to £2,508,225 in 2020 ).
Reading: Denis Law
Law spent 11 years at Manchester United, where he scored 237 goals in 404 appearances. His goals count places him third gear in the golf club ‘s history, behind Wayne Rooney and Bobby Charlton. He was nicknamed The King [ 4 ] and The Lawman by supporters, and Denis the Menace by opposing supporters. He is the only Scottish musician to have won the Ballon d’Or award, doing then in 1964, and helped his club win the First Division in 1965 and 1967. He missed their european Cup wallow in 1968 through injury. law left Manchester United in 1973 to return to Manchester City for a season, and represented Scotland at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. He played only two competitive games in the 1974–75 temper, retiring before the start of the League program proper. [ 5 ] Law played for Scotland a full of 55 times and jointly holds the scottish international record goal match with 30 goals. Law holds a United record for scoring 46 competitive goals in a single season .
early life [edit ]
law was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, [ 1 ] to George Law, a fisherman, and his wife, Robina ; he was the youngest of seven children, four boys and three girls. The Law class were not well off and lived in a council tenement flat at Printfield Terrace in Aberdeen. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] He went barefoot until he was 12 years old and wore handed-down shoes throughout his adolescence ; his beginning pair of football boots came as a second-hand birthday introduce from a neighbor, which he received as a adolescent. [ 6 ] He supported Aberdeen and watched them when he had enough money to do so, watching local non-league teams when he did not. [ 6 ] His obsession with football led to him turning down a place at Aberdeen Grammar School, because he would have had to play rugby there. rather, he attended Powis Academy in Aberdeen. Despite having a serious squint, he showed big promise once he was moved from entire back to inside-left, and was selected for Scotland Schoolboys. [ 6 ]
Club career [edit ]
Huddersfield Town [edit ]
In the 1954–55 season, he was spotted by Archie Beattie, a scout for Huddersfield Town, who invited 14-year-old Law to go for a test. When he got there, the director said, “ The son ‘s a freak out. never did I see a less likely football prospect – weak, puny and bespectacled. ” however, to Law ‘s surprise, they signed him on 3 April 1955. While he was at Huddersfield, he had an operation to correct his askance, which greatly enhanced his assurance. [ 8 ] Huddersfield ‘s delegating to what was then the Second Division made it easier for Law to get a game, and he made his debut on 24 December 1956, aged only sixteen, in a 2–1 succeed over Notts County. [ 9 ] Manchester United ‘s coach Matt Busby concisely offered Huddersfield £10,000 for Law, a substantial measure of money for a adolescent football player at that time, but the clubhouse turned the crack down. Bill Shankly was director of Huddersfield between 1956 and 1959, and when he left for Liverpool he wanted to take police with him, but Liverpool were unable to afford him at that time. [ 10 ]
Manchester City [edit ]
In March 1960, Law signed for Manchester City for what was then a british record transfer tip, estimated to be £55,000, [ note 1 ] although Law ‘s parcel of the tip was “ precisely nothing ”. [ 11 ] once again, Matt Busby had attempted to sign Law for Manchester United, but United ‘s cross-city rivals beat them to Law ‘s touch. [ 6 ] City had narrowly avoided relegation from Division I the former season, and Law authentically felt that Huddersfield had a better team at the time. [ 12 ] He made his debut on 19 March, and scored in a 4–3 get the better of to Leeds United. In April 1961, he scored two goals in a 4–1 win over Aston Villa that ensured City ‘s survival in Division One. Although he had thought about leaving, [ 13 ] he was playing well and in 1961 Law scored an incredible six goals in an FA Cup necktie against Luton Town. however, the match was abandoned with twenty minutes to go, so his six goals did not count. To make matters worse for him, Luton won the replay 3–1, and City were knocked out of the Cup. [ 14 ] Although he enjoyed his prison term at City, [ 15 ] he wanted to play in a more successful slope and was sold to the italian baseball club Torino in the summer of 1961 .
turin [edit ]
police moved to Torino for a tip of £110,000, [ note 2 ] ( a record fee for a transmit involving a british player ) [ 16 ] and was accompanied by Joe Baker who had signed from scots side Hibernian. [ 17 ] Law ‘s time in Italy did not go according to design. Another italian club, Internazionale, tried to prevent him becoming a Torino player a soon as he arrived, claiming he had signed a pre-contract agreement with them, although they dropped this claim before the season started. [ 6 ] [ 17 ] Players in the UK were not treated well at the time, and the maximum wage for footballers had only recently been abolished there, so he was pleasantly surprised to find that pre-season education was based in a luxury hotel in the Alps. [ 6 ] however, Torino took performance-related wage to something of an extreme, giving the players bombastic sums of money when the team won, but little, if any, when they lost. [ 18 ] Like many british footballers who have gone to play in Italy, Law did not like the style of football and found adapting to it unmanageable. The ultra-defensive catenaccio system was popular there at the clock, so forwards did not get many chances to score. [ 19 ] On 7 February 1962, he was injured in a cable car crash when his teammate Joe Baker drove the improper way around a devious and clipped the curb as he tried to turn the car about, flipping it over. Baker was about killed, but Law ‘s injuries were not dangerous. [ 20 ] By April, he had put in a transfer request, which was ignored. [ 17 ] The final chaff for Law came in a match against Napoli when he was sent off. After the pit, he was told that Torino ‘s passenger car, Beniamino Santos, had instructed the referee to send him off because he was angry at Law for taking a throw in, which he had been told not to do. [ 21 ] Law walked out, and was told that he would be transferred to Manchester United. A few days by and by, however, he was told that he was being sold to Juventus and that the belittled print in his contract committed him to going there whether he wanted to or not. He responded by flying family to Aberdeen, knowing that Torino would not get a penny in transfer fees if he refused to play at Juventus. [ 6 ] He finally signed for United on 10 July 1962, for a new british read tip of £115,000. [ note 3 ] [ 6 ] [ 22 ] Although his meter in Italy was mix, Law was voted total one extraneous player in Italy ahead of teammate Joe Baker, Fiorentina winger Kurt Hamrin and Inter Milan midfielder Luis Suarez. [ 17 ] The life style and culture of a extraneous state was an eye-opener for the young Scotsman, and the checkup expertness and sports skill in Italy was far ahead of what was available in the UK at the time. [ 17 ] ultimately though, Law found the football to be joyless and excessively defensive, with him being subjected to violent man marking and heavy undertake on a frequent basis. [ 17 ]
manchester United [edit ]
glory years [edit ]
law moved back to Manchester, boarding with the same landlady with whom he had lived during his clock time as a City player. His first pit for United was against West Bromwich Albion on 18 August 1962, and he made an excellent depart, scoring after only seven minutes. The match finished in a 2–2 reap. however, United ‘s form had been erratic since the Munich air disaster in 1958, and because of their incompatibility they spent the season fighting relegation. In a league match against Leicester City Law scored a hat magic trick but United still lost. They found shape in the FA Cup though, with Law scoring another hat flim-flam in a 5–0 acquire against his honest-to-god club Huddersfield Town, and they went on to reach the concluding against Leicester City. Leicester were solid favourites, having finished fourthly in the league, but Law scored the first finish as United won 3–1 in what turned out to be the only FA Cup final of his career. [ 23 ] He besides married his wife Diana that temper, on 11 December 1962. An incidental took place that season that Law felt had repercussions in former years. In a match against West Brom on 15 December 1962, the referee Gilbert Pullin systematically goaded Law with taunts such as “ Oh, you clever so and so, you ca n’t play ”, and after the peer, Law and his director Matt Busby reported the matter to the Football Association. [ 24 ] A corrective committee decided that Pullin should be sternly reprimand, but he did not accept their verdict and quit the crippled. Law late claimed that “ in the eyes of some referees, I was a set man ” and blamed the incidental for the “ enormously dense punishments ” that he received former in his career. [ 25 ] law scored a count of goals early in the 1963–64 season and was selected to play for a Rest of the World side against England at Wembley, scoring their goal in a 2–1 kill. [ 26 ] He late described this as the greatest honor of his career. [ 27 ] His season was interrupted by a 28-day suspension for a sending off that he received against Aston Villa. The unusually cold winter forced United to play many of their fixtures in a short circuit clock, and their results suffered. law subsequently blamed this for United ‘s failure to win a trophy in that season. Despite the miss of silverware, Law enjoyed a prolific goalscoring season and finished the crusade with 46 goals in all competitions, still a club record today. [ 28 ] In 1964–65, Law won the Ballon d’Or award, [ 29 ] and Manchester United won their first league title since Munich. [ 30 ] Law ‘s 28 league goals that season made him the First Division ‘s top scorer. The watch temper, Law injured his right field stifle while playing for Scotland against Poland on 21 October 1965. He had previously had an operation on the lapp knee while at Huddersfield, [ 31 ] and the injury was to trouble him for the rest of his career. In 1966, Law asked United ‘s director Matt Busby to give him a pay rise at his adjacent narrow refilling, and threatened to leave the clubhouse if he did not get one. Busby immediately placed Law on the transfer list, announcing that “ no musician will hold this baseball club to ransom, no actor ”. When Law went to see him, Busby pulled out a written apology for him to sign, showing it to the press once he had done indeed. [ 32 ] Law subsequently claimed that Busby had used the incident to warn other players not to do the like thing, but had secretly given him the pay wax. [ 33 ] Despite all this, Law scored 23 goals in 36 league appearances during 1966–67, helping United win the league claim again. [ 30 ] [ 34 ] In 1968, United won the european Cup for the first clock, but Law ‘s knee injury was causing him good problems and he missed both the semi-final second leg and the concluding as a result. He was regularly given cortisone injections to ease the pain, but playing while the stifle was silent injured was causing long-run damage. He visited a specialist in January 1968 who wrote to United claim that a former operation to remove the cartilage from the knee had failed and recommending that a second operation be performed, but Law was not shown the report for several years and had to continue wax training. [ 35 ] In 1968–69, United reached the semi-final of the european Cup, playing AC Milan. United lost the first base stage in the San Siro 2–0, winning the second leg at Old Trafford 1–0 with a Bobby Charlton goal. Having scored seven times in the 10–2 aggregate first round victory over Waterford United, Law finished as exceed scorer in the tournament with 9 goals .
worsen [edit ]
Wilf McGuinness took over as beginning team coach at the originate of the 1969–70 season. [ 36 ] United finished eighth in the league, but Law missed about all of the temper through injury, and in April 1970 he was transfer listed for £60,000. cipher made a bid for him, indeed he stayed at United. [ 37 ] After a inadequate 1970–71 season, United appointed Frank O’Farrell as coach. They made a well start to the 1971–72 temper and finished 1971 five points clear at the top of the league, with Law having scored twelve goals. however, results deteriorated and they finished the season in eighth place. [ 38 ] Law scored in the first match of the following temper, 1972–73, but his knee wound was troubling him again, and he failed to score for the lie of the season. The inadequate results continued and O’Farrell was sacked. law recommended that United replace O’Farrell with Tommy Docherty, whom he knew from his meter playing with the scots national side. [ 37 ] [ 39 ] The club followed his recommendation, and things started well, with the team ‘s improved results lifting them into mid-table. [ 37 ] Law was given a unblock transplant by Tommy Docherty in the summer of 1973, [ 37 ] after 11 years at the club during which he had scored a sum of 237 goals in 404 games in all competitions, adenine well as collecting two league title medals and an FA Cup achiever ‘s decoration. alone Bobby Charlton ( who retired in 1973 ) and Wayne Rooney have scored more goals for United. [ 40 ] [ 41 ]
return to Manchester City [edit ]
law was offered a sign by Manchester City coach Johnny Hart. He scored two goals on his second debut for City, against Birmingham City in the orifice bet on of the 1973–74 season. [ 42 ] He made 27 wax appearances and two as substitute in that season, including City ‘s 2–1 get the better of in the League Cup final against Wolves. [ 43 ] In City ‘s last crippled of the 1973–74 season against Manchester United at Old Trafford, Law ‘s 81st-minute back-heeled finish gave City a 1–0 contribute but, thinking his goal might relegate United, Law did not celebrate the goal. Results of the day ‘s other matches meant that United were relegated whatever their consequence, but Law did not know that at the time. A count of slope invasions by United fans followed, and Law walked off the pitch with his head down as he was substituted. The pitch invasions forced the referee to abandon the game in the 85th infinitesimal. After a reappraisal, the Football League decided that the leave should stand. [ 37 ]
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police had a narrow with Manchester City for the 1974–75 season, but new director Tony Book told him that he would only be playing reserve team football if he stayed at the club. He did not want to end his career in this way, so he retired from professional football in the summer of 1974. [ 44 ] Law played two games for Manchester City in the temper 1974–75, in the pre-season Texaco Cup tournament, scoring the stopping point goal of his career in the game against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on 6 August 1974. His concluding professional bet on was the 2–1 victory against Oldham Athletic at Maine Road on 10 August 1974. [ 45 ] He formally retired on 26 August 1974. [ 46 ]
International career [edit ]
police was not chosen to play for Scotland in the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but was given his debut in a british Home Championship meet against Wales on 18 October 1958 by Matt Busby, who managed Scotland on a irregular basis for two matches. jurisprudence scored Scotland ‘s second goal in a 3–0 acquire over the Welsh at Ninian Park. [ 47 ] [ 48 ] [ 49 ] He played but did not score in Scotland ‘s match against England on 15 April 1961. Scotland lost the match 9–3, and Law described it as his “ blackest day ”. [ 50 ] While with Torino, Law continued to play for Scotland, although the golf club were not lament to release him for international matches and had put a article into his narrow stating that they were not obliged to do therefore. law was chosen for the Rest of the World team that faced England in the FA Centenary equal in 1963. [ 26 ] police injured his right stifle while playing for Scotland against Poland on 21 October 1965. jurisprudence scored in Scotland ‘s celebrated 3–2 victory over England on 15 April 1967 in the 1967 British Home Championship, less than a year after England had become worldly concern champions. Manchester United won the league that season, but Law felt that the victory over England was even more comforting. [ 51 ] Scotland reached the World Cup finals in the summer of 1974, for the first time since 1958. Although he had not played much inaugural team football in the precede season, Law was included in the team and played in their first match, against Zaire. He did not score, but Scotland won 2–0. law was “ very defeated ” not to be picked for the comply match against Brazil, [ 52 ] and was not selected for the succeed match against Yugoslavia either. Although Scotland were not defeated in any of their matches, they did not qualify for the second phase and were out of the World Cup. [ 53 ] The match against Zaire proved to be the end of Law ‘s 55 appearances for Scotland. Law jointly holds the scottish international record goal match with 30 goals. [ 54 ] [ note 4 ]
personal life [edit ]
He first met his wife-to-be, Diana, in an Aberdeenshire dancehall when they were both even teenagers. [ 55 ] They married in December 1962 and went on to have five children. [ 56 ] Their daughter, besides called Diana, worked for several years in the Manchester United bid office. [ 57 ] [ 58 ] Their other children are Gary, Andrew, Robert and Iain. Denis Law and his wife still live in the Manchester area. [ citation needed ] Since retiring as a player, Law has often worked on radio and television sum up and presenting games. He was one of the first base sport news presenters of Granada Reports and was the sub-presenter of Granada Television ‘s Match Time, the equivalent of LWT ‘s The Big Match. He appeared as a especial guest on the television guest show This Is Your Life on 19 February 1975, months after retiring as a player. [ 59 ]
Statue to Law in Aberdeen He was made an Inaugural Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the english game. On 23 February 2002, a statue of Law ( aboard George Best and Bobby Charlton ) was unveiled at Old Trafford, in the function of the stadium known as the Scoreboard End. [ 60 ] He had a successful operation to treat prostate cancer in November 2003 [ 61 ] and was awarded honorary degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen and St. Andrews in 2005, [ 62 ] and Robert Gordon University in 2017. [ 63 ] The emergence of Dutch international Dennis Bergkamp in the 1990s uncovered a report that the musician ‘s parents were fans of Law and named their son after him. [ 64 ] however, Dutch authorities refused to recognise the diagnose unless it was spelt with two n ‘s as they felt it was otherwise besides alike to the female name Denise. [ 65 ] On 25 November 2005, Law was at the bedside of erstwhile United teammate George Best as he died of multiple organ failure. [ 66 ] In May 2008, at the City of Manchester Stadium, he ( with UEFA president of the united states Michel Platini ) presented the medals to the winners of the UEFA Cup, Zenit Saint Petersburg and their opponents, scots side Rangers. In February 2010, Law was named as patron of the UK based charity Football Aid, taking over from the late Sir Bobby Robson. [ 67 ] In 2012 he established the Denis Law Legacy Trust, a record charity that operates programmes and activities focussed around community date and widening sporting engagement. [ 68 ] The charity aims to reduce instances of young person crime and anti-social behavior ; promote health and wellbeing and promote inclusivity through sport, physical natural process and creative enterprise [ 69 ] collaborating on community projects like Scotland ‘s foremost Cruyff Court in Aberdeen. [ 70 ] In 2012, a statue to Law, commissioned by the Denis Law Legacy Trust, was unveiled at the entrance to Aberdeen Sports Village ( a facility he had formally opened two years earlier ) depicting his pose after scoring for Scotland against England in 1967. [ 71 ] [ 72 ] law was appointed Commander of the Order of the british Empire ( CBE ) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to football and charity. [ 73 ] In 2017, he received the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen. [ 74 ] [ 75 ] In August 2021, it was announced that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer ‘s disease and vascular dementia. [ 76 ] [ 77 ] In November 2021 a second statue of Law was unveiled in Aberdeen city centre. [ 78 ]
career statistics [edit ]
club [edit ]
[ 34 ]
Club
Season
League
National Cup
League Cup
Continental
Other[79]
Total
Division
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Huddersfield Town
1956–57
Second Division
13
2
5
1
–
–
–
18
3
1957–58
Second Division
18
5
2
1
–
–
–
20
6
1958–59
Second Division
26
2
0
0
–
–
–
26
2
1959–60
Second Division
24
7
3
1
–
–
–
27
8
Total
81
16
10
3
–
–
–
91
19
Manchester City
1959–60
First Division
7
2
0
0
–
–
–
7
2
1960–61
First Division
37
19
6
4
0
0
–
–
43
23
Total
44
21
6
4
0
0
–
–
50
25
Torino
1961–62
Serie A
27
10
1
0
–
–
–
28
10
Manchester United
1962–63
First Division
38
23
6
6
–
–
–
44
29
1963–64
First Division
30
30
6
10
–
5
6
1
0
42
46
1964–65
First Division
36
28
6
3
–
10
8
–
52
39
1965–66
First Division
33
15
7
6
–
8
3
1
0
49
24
1966–67
First Division
36
23
2
2
0
0
–
–
38
25
1967–68
First Division
23
7
1
0
–
3
2
1
1
28
10
1968–69
First Division
30
14
6
7
–
7
9
2
0
45
30
1969–70
First Division
11
2
2
0
3
1
–
–
16
3
1970–71
First Division
28
15
2
0
4
1
–
–
34
16
1971–72
First Division
33
13
7
0
2
0
–
–
42
13
1972–73
First Division
11
1
1
0
2
1
–
–
14
2
Total
309
171
46
34
11
3
33
28
5
1
404
237
Manchester City
1973–74
First Division
24
9
1
2
4
1
–
–
29
12
Career total
485
227
64
43
15
4
33
28
5
1
602
303
International [edit ]
[ 80 ]
Scotland
Year
Apps
Goals
1958
2
1
1959
4
0
1960
4
2
1961
3
2
1962
3
5
1963
7
11
1964
5
1
1965
6
2
1966
2
2
1967
3
1
1968
1
1
1969
2
0
1970
—
1971
—
1972
7
2
1973
3
0
1974
3
0
Total
55
30
Honours [edit ]
club [edit ]
- Manchester United
individual [edit ]
See besides [edit ]
References [edit ]
- Notes
- ^ According to the Bank of England Inflation Calculator, that name equates to about £1,200,000 in 2018 .
- ^ This was approximately equivalent to £1.65 million at 2004 values, according to the retail price conversion utility at measuringworth.com .
- ^ This was roughly equivalent to £1.7 million at 2004 values, according to the retail monetary value conversion utility at measuringworth.com .
- ^Kenny Dalglish also scored 30 goals for Scotland, although he achieved this in 102 matches compared with Law’s 55.
- General
- Law, Denis; Gubba, Ron (1980). Denis Law – An Autobiography. Futura Publications. ISBN 0-7088-1902-8.
- Law, Denis; Harris, Bob (2003). The King. Bantam Press. ISBN 0-593-05140-8.
- Specific
Sporting positions
Preceded byNoel Cantwell
Manchester United captain
1964–1968
Served alongside: Noel Cantwell (1964–67)
Succeeded byBobby Charlton
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