Denis Law

by Alex Gordon

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  DENIS LAW AT SEVENTY

  The image is immediately endearing. Denis Law, with his piercing blue eyes and magnetic smile, is laughing while relaxing in the green leather Captain’s Chair at Northenden Golf Club near Manchester. The shock of hair, mainly blond, is still a trademark. The man is photogenic, a snapper’s dream. On this occasion, his 70th birthday is only three days away and he is posing merrily for the Scottish Sunday Times. Douglas Alexander, the newspaper’s top sports reporter, is interviewing The King.

  A lot has happened over the past decade. Sadly, four of Law’s old footballing mates have passed away during the period. Law spent precious moments with George Best before his death in 2005 and has also lost close pals in Jimmy Johnstone, Jim Baxter and Billy Bremner. As Alexander observed, ‘They all brought a swagger to football in the sixties.’ Law realises he might have joined them if he had not responded swiftly to the advice of his wife, Diana, to see the doctor about an ache that was troubling him in 2003. ‘When they confirmed prostate cancer I just conked out. Fainted. The specialist thought I had had a heart attack. That’s a Law trait after seeing a doctor with a syringe. All my family are the same. That was traumatic, really traumatic, but it is one of the few on the cancer side that, if it is caught early, there’s a great chance you will survive.’

  Law also had a brush with the Grim Reaper during his stint in Italy with Torino. He went for a spin in his teammate Joe Baker’s brand new Alfa Romeo car. Unfortunately, Baker, still getting used to driving on the right-hand side of the road, went the wrong way on a roundabout. ‘Apparently, the car went over three times and flattened the roof. Don’t forget we had no seat-belts in those days. If we had seat-belts, I would have been killed because where I was sitting the roof was flush with the headboard. My brother Joe, who was in the back, didn’t have a scratch on him and I just got a cut on my hand. Joe [Baker]hit the road and smashed all his face, but his limbs were never touched, so his career was still there.’

  Law reflects during an excellent interview with Alexander, ‘I was speaking with my brother a few months ago and he said, “I go in the pub now and I don’t know anybody because all my pals have gone,” and it’s a bit like that in the football world. You can’t believe they have gone. We were good friends. Jimmy Johnstone and I used to go out on the Clyde in a boat and all that.’ He laughs while recalling the Largs incident in 1974 when the Celtic player was cut adrift. ‘I had known these guys since my teens or early 20s. It’s not the sort of friendship that only lasted a few years. This had been going on for 40 years. With George, lesser people would have passed away weeks, maybe months, before he did. Every time I went down to see him, I just thought, “He’s fighting on and on.” It was incredible. It is always sad when your friends pass away.’

  Law, though, does not cut a morbid figure. He is a happy family man, a proud father of four sons, Iain, Andrew, Robert and Gary, and daughter Di, who works for Manchester United. Of course, there is one story he never tires of telling and that is the day when England won the World Cup in 1966. ‘We were at a golf course, one across the road not far from here, at Chorlton. That’s where I lived, so I was a member there and a friend of mine, who wasn’t a particularly good golfer, had beaten me and said, “Any time you want to have a return, just give me a bell.” He was English, so I phoned him and told him I wanted to play him on the Saturday of the World Cup Final. “Well, you did say any time,” I reminded him. We were the only two golfers on the course. I couldn’t concentrate and he beat me again. When we came round the corner they were all there, all the English. God, they had won the World Cup. It was a sad day. You just felt that if we had qualified then . . . I’m not going to say we would have won it, but we would have done extremely well.’

  Denis was asked about a birthday treat. As he had told me a decade earlier, there was nothing special planned. ‘A fish supper and deep fried red pudding, although I’ll need to go back to Aberdeen for that. It’s the same as black pudding, but red, like a sausage, really. When I go home to Aberdeen, that’s all I’ll eat, fish and chips. It’s just the batter and all that. We don’t get that down here.’

  Today, Law has added work for Cancer Research UK to being the patron of Meningitis UK – he and Diana almost lost Andrew to the illness – and has also succeeded the late Sir Bobby Robson as the figurehead of Football Aid.

  A mental picture of Denis Law relaxing by the bank of a river, fishing rod in his hand and half-dozing is not an easy one to deal with. His work never seems to be done.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  HAIL THE LAWMAN

  WILLIE HENDERSON

  Twenty-nine caps (19 with Law) 1962-71

  Denis Law was the finest Scottish player I have ever had the privilege to play alongside. Absolutely no doubt about it. Everything he did was stamped with class and quality. If I got down the wing and slung over a cross, there was every chance that the blond head of Denis would be there to meet it. The man was lethal in the box. Right foot, left foot, in the air – the guy had the lot.

  I remember a game against Northern Ireland at Hampden in November 1962 when we won 5-1. I set up four goals for Denis and scored the other myself. It was just one of those great nights when everything clicked into place. I was up against a very good left-back in Alex Elder, who played for Burnley and they were a top side back then. They had faced Spurs in the FA Cup Final that year and had lost 3-1 to one of the best English teams of that decade. But that night he could do nothing to stop me. Inside, outside – I was beating him all over the place. I’m told he thought about quitting football afterwards, but was talked out of it!

  Anything I dropped into the box was gobbled up by Denis. We were both unstoppable that night and it was a joy to be in the same side as him. A month before that Northern Ireland game we had beaten Wales 3-2 on my debut. Denis and I clicked immediately. He scored that night, too, and I was lucky enough to get the winner. We weren’t a bad partnership. After the Ireland victory, our next game was against England at Wembley in April the following year. We won again, this time 2-1 with goals from my old Rangers pal Jim Baxter. I was pulled down by Ron Flowers to gain a penalty-kick and Slim Jim popped it into the net for the second of his double. Jim and Denis in the same team – how did we never win the World Cup?

  I played alongside Denis on 19 occasions, from 1962 to 1966, and we lost only four times, all by the odd goal, to Norway (3-4), Republic of Ireland (0-1), Northern Ireland (2-3) and Poland (1-2). Interestingly, he scored 18 of his 30 goals in those games and that included another foursome against Norway the year after the meeting with the Irish. I played on the left wing that evening with my Rangers teammate Alex Scott on the right. It didn’t matter to Denis; any ball in the danger zone from either left or right was his for the taking.

  Another thing about Denis that I must put on record was the fact he was such a nice bloke. There were no airs and graces and he was just one of the guys when we were all together. I’m sure everyone will tell you the same story. He never pulled rank although, of course, he had been there, seen it, done it and had the T-shirt.

  He may have been the most expensive player in British football at the time at £115,000, but you wouldn’t have known it with his overall demeanour. Remember, Manchester United paid that money in July 1962 and it would be another six years before Rangers broke the Scottish transfer record with the £100,000 signing of Colin Stein from Hibs – still £15,000 short of what Denis had cost all those years beforehand. The man was 100 per cent class and an all-round good guy.

  If you couldn’t play with Denis Law in the team then you couldn’t play at all. He brought the best out in everyone – on and off the field.

  LOU MACARI

  Twenty-four caps (four plus one sub with Law) 1972-78

  I learned a lot from Denis Law and one of the first things was how to take care of myself on a football field. There was a real tough side to Denis and he always told me to give as good as I got. He was a very appr
oachable, likeable guy, but God help the opponent who kicked him. Denis would never accept that from anyone. Let’s face it, he had played in Italy and he must have come up against all sorts of uncompromising players in that league. They would hack at you, kick you when the ball wasn’t anywhere near you and, sadly, some of them would spit in your face. Denis was still a young man, only 21, when he had to put up with all of that. He was tough before he went to Italy, but even more so when he returned.

  People used to ask me what he was like, really like. Obviously, I didn’t know until I met up with him when we were on international duty. The first time I encountered him was at the training HQ at Largs, my home town. I admit I was excited at the prospect of meeting the Lawman. Given his standing in the game and what he achieved at club and country level, I found him to be a genuine down-to-earth character. You look at that statue that has been erected in his honour at Old Trafford and you don’t get things like that just for being a great player. You have got to have other ingredients and Denis had them all; great personality, nice character and a genuine warmth. He has never changed a bit since I first met him all those years ago. I don’t know anyone who has got a bad word to say about Denis.

  Of course, I first came into his company in 1972 when I was selected for the Scotland squad. I played alongside him for the first time when I came on as a substitute in a 1-0 Home International win over Wales at Hampden. I went on for John O’Hare, of Derby, and played in attack with Denis. There was about half-an-hour or so to go and Peter Lorimer, of Leeds United, got the winner in that period. We must have done enough to convince manager Tommy Docherty to team us up at the start of the next game three days later against England in Glasgow on 27 May. Unfortunately, on this occasion we were on the wrong side of a 1-0 result. But I was learning all the time from playing in the same team as Denis. At the end of June, Scotland played in the Brazilian Independence Cup and I was fortunate enough to line up with Denis on three occasions, a 2-2 draw with Yugoslavia, where I scored both goals, a goalless draw against Czechoslovakia and a narrow 1-0 defeat from Brazil. Every game was a learning curve.

  I thought we might have some more time together when I joined Manchester United, but it was brief. I remember I made my debut against West Ham and scored with a toe-poke at the Stretford End. The game finished 2-2. The Doc handed me the No. 10 shirt before the game which, of course, was Denis’s number. What I didn’t realise, though, was the fact that Denis had worn it for years and years. And he had every right to wear it because he was The King. Denis also played that day, but The Doc had thrown him the No. 4 jersey in the dressing room. When I found out about it later it was another scary thing for me.

  I didn’t want to be associated with Denis’s No. 10 shirt in any shape or form. Who would want the responsibility of even attempting to take over from a legend and wear the number that was associated with him for all those years? He was an unbelievable player and I didn’t want to be seen to be replacing Denis. I just wanted to be a player joining Manchester United and, hopefully, go on to do a good job for them and score a few goals into the bargain. I knew all about Best, Law and Charlton and it was one of the reasons that I joined United instead of going to Liverpool. That trio of players were magical, all with very special qualities.

  Denis Law fitted perfectly into that threesome.

  DANNY McGRAIN

  Sixty-two caps (four with Law) 1973-82

  My first thought when I was informed that Denis Law was being brought back into the Scottish international squad in 1973 was, ‘Wow! I’m going to meet Denis Law.’ My second thought was, ‘Double wow! I’m going to be playing in the same team as Denis Law!’

  Seriously, that’s how much it meant to me to meet the player I had adored for such a long time. When the squad of players were told to meet at the old North British Hotel at George Square in Glasgow, I got there early in the hope of introducing myself to Denis and having time for a wee chat. I half-expected him to turn up on a golden chariot pulled along by white horses with horns sounding and all that sort of stuff!

  When I arrived, Denis was already in the foyer, drinking a cup of tea. This was the bloke I had idolised from afar and there he was standing right in front of me, the great Denis Law. What a nice, genuine bloke. He may have been a superstar in a lot of people’s eyes, including mine, but he was one of the most approachable guys you’ll ever meet. It was impossible not to be impressed by him. Back then, we didn’t get to see as much football as we do on TV today. I had witnessed Denis in action, of course, and it was obvious he was a very exciting player, but, in most cases, it was only a fleeting glimpse of his ability. Actually getting to play alongside him was something else altogether. Then you really got to see what a class act he truly was.

  It was an absolute delight to play alongside him in the team that beat Czechoslovakia 2-1 on that wonderful night that cemented Scotland’s place in the 1974 World Cup Finals in West Germany. As a proud nation we had been out in the wilderness for far too long. Denis, as ever, played his part. He really put himself about that evening and all he needed to top it off was a goal. Sadly, that didn’t happen, but no-one was complaining as we got the victory we craved and deserved.

  It was also a privilege to be in the same team as Denis when we played Zaire in Dortmund in our first game in soccer’s most glittering showpiece. What a special, extraordinary evening that was for everyone involved. I didn’t know it at the time, but I would be one of his last teammates on a football pitch. I look upon that as an honour and distinction. I wish there had been more, though.

  I saw Denis a few years later when we were at a function in Aberdeen. We were sitting at separate tables, but, once again, I was impressed by my old mate. To be honest, he was being pestered by well-meaning fans who wanted autographs and photographs. I don’t mind that sort of stuff, but only after I have finished my meal. But there was Denis, halfway through his courses, happily smiling and doing everything that was asked of him.

  That, too, was typical of the man.

  STEVE ARCHIBALD

  Twenty-seven caps 1980-86

  In 1980, I chatted to Steve Archibald, then with Aberdeen, for an article that would be seen in the 22nd edition of the prestigious International Football Book. He was in good company with star names such as Michel Platini, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Roberto Bettega appearing in the same Christmas must-have gift. I knew Denis Law was Archibald’s hero. Here’s how the interview went:

  ‘Two years ago I was presented with a marvellous and treasured memory. It was not my hat-trick against Celtic or my international call-up, or even being nominated as potentially one of the top strikers in Scotland. No, I’m afraid it’s none of those. In fact, it was far removed from the football field . . . only the opening of a new store in Aberdeen.

  ‘Before you get the impression that I have lost my marbles, let me hastily explain that it was at that store that I finally met my boyhood idol, the player who meant so much to me. The one and only Denis Law. I was really thrilled to shake Denis’s hand and, fortunately, there was a photographer in attendance to get a snap of myself and the maestro himself. That photograph has pride of place in my house. I show it to everyone who pops in. The reason I mention the incident with Denis is merely to illustrate what I think football is all about. Denis Law . . . those two words spell magic to me. Law was a flamboyant character and a menace to rival defences with his incredible acrobatics in the penalty area. His timing was immaculate. How many times did you see him fail to make contact with a high ball when he swooped for it? I remember a goal he scored against England at Hampden in 1966 that typified Law.

  ‘I was still at primary school in Toryglen, virtually a long throw-in from Hampden, but I recall that goal as though it were scored yesterday. A corner-kick was swung over from the left wing to the near post and Denis appeared from nowhere, leapt high above the defence, snapped his head and sent a really fierce header whizzing past the great Gordon Banks, who didn’t even get the opportunity to move a muscle. Ano
ther great Scot who played that day was little Jimmy Johnstone, the former Celtic wizard of the wing, and he scored two goals from tight angles. But, unfortunately, England still managed to win 4-3.

  ‘Denis Law was a player with a charisma all of his own. He was a showman, a character and an entertainer. I would love to think that when I finally retire – and I hope that day is a long way off considering I have just turned 24 – fans might think of me along similar lines. But, of course, I realise I could never be another Denis Law. There could only ever be one Denis Law.’

  Over three decades later, I caught up with Steve Archibald in Barcelona, where he now resides with wife Monica, daughter Kersty and son Elliot. What does he think of Denis Law today? Here’s how he now views his all-time football hero.

  I rate him even higher than I did back then. I’ve seen a bit more of life now, of course. I know a bit more about the game. I’ve since played for Spurs and Barcelona and a whole clutch of other clubs. I’ve seen management at a lower level with East Fife and I had my experience at Airdrie. I feel a lot more equipped now to air my thoughts on Denis. What he achieved was just awesome; something special. If I am asked, and I am often, who is the best striker of them all, the greatest in the world, one name immediately pops into my mind – Denis Law. It’s impossible not to think of him. And it’s great that he is Scottish.

  You look back at all those spectacular goals and they underline what a fascinating talent he was. That arm in the air salute was really his signature. Denis always possessed that spark and that desire to be successful. His battling qualities were something else altogether. He was an obvious believer that if you don’t fight the fight then you won’t score the goals. And that man wanted to score goals. People might have misconstrued his style as being slightly arrogant. I don’t think he was an arrogant person. I just believe he played with a self-assurance and if your job in the team is to get those goals, then you need to show that composure. Denis had it. He possessed a lot of dig, but he was an accomplished footballer, too. It wasn’t all about snarling and snapping at defenders, although he was never afraid to mix it even with the biggest of them. If a defender saw a hint of fear in your eyes their job was half-done. They would never have seen that with Denis. No chance.