In years to come, it may well become a trivia question. Which football legend played for two of the greatest managers of all time, and then scored the goal that relegated the club of his heart? That was the inimitable Denis Law, who passed away on January 17 after suffering for years from Alzheimer’s and dementia. Only Wayne Rooney (253) and Sir Bobby Charlton (245) scored more goals for Manchester United than Law, whose tally of 237 from 404 games would have been considerably higher but for the knee problems that wrecked the second half of his career.
When Bill Shankly arrived at Huddersfield in 1956, he quickly took a shine to his fellow Scot, even though he was just a puny teenager at the time. When the call came from Liverpool and Anfield in 1959, Shankly tried to take Law with him, but the club – struggling to escape the old Second Division – simply couldn’t afford the precocious talent. Neither could Sir Matt Busby, up the East Lancs Road at United, and it was the sky-blue shirt of Manchester City that Law wore when he left the Terriers.
Torino doubled the British record transfer fee that City had paid, putting down £110,000 for his services, but like Ian Rush a quarter century later, Law was miserable in northern Italy. When Torino tried to sell him to Juventus, their cross-town rivals, Law simply flew home to Aberdeen and sat it out until the transfer to United was arranged.
There, he would become the final piece in Busby’s rebuild after the trauma of the Munich air crash in February 1958. In this first five seasons at Old Trafford, Law scored an astonishing 119 league goals. He was part of title triumphs in 1964-65 and 1966-67, after winning the Ballon d’Or in 1964 (46 goals in 42 matches), but was heartbroken when he missed United’s finest hour – the victory over Benfica and Eusebio in the 1968 European Cup final.
For the Latest Sports News: Click Here
By then, Busby had shamed him for asking for a pay rise, forcing him to pose with a public apology, though he admitted later that Law had been given at least part of the hike he asked for. Like Shankly, Busby was so fond of his countryman that he took the European Cup to the hospital to show Law as he recovered from knee surgery.
In his final six seasons at United, there were only 52 league goals, and Tommy Docherty let him move to City in the summer of 1973. In his final league match for City, Law back-heeled the goal that would put the exclamation mark on United’s relegation. He was so devastated that he asked to be substituted, shortly before a crowd invasion caused the match to be called off.
For his beloved Scotland, Law scored 30 times in 55 outings, a tally that Kenny Dalglish matched but no one has surpassed. In 1967, less than a year after England’s World Cup win, he scored in a famous 3-2 win at Wembley, a match remembered just as much for Jim Baxter’s outrageous keepy-uppy to illustrate Scotland’s dominance.
Law was at George Best’s bedside when he passed away nearly 20 years ago, and too unwell to truly fathom Charlton’s passing in October 2023. Now, United’s immortal trinity and the manager who shaped them are reunited. “Denis Law could dance on eggshells,” said Shankly once. Now, even the Gods can watch him.
Also Read: Is Karun Nair really Indian cricket’s saviour, and Kohli the root of all evil?
The post Denis Law, the last link to Sir Matt Busby’s trinity, passes away appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports.
