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The Greatest Scottish Lawman?by James Andrew of Miller Hendry Solicitors
Is Denis Law the greatest Lawman that Scotland has produced? Born in Aberdeen in 1940, he had an obsession for football. In the 1954/55 season, he was spotted by a scout for Huddersfield Town who invited him to go for a trial. The Manager, on seeing him, said "The boy's a freak. Never did I see a less likely football prospect - weak, puny and bespectacled." He got the job. Law made his début aged 16. In 1960 he moved to Manchester City for a then British record transfer fee of £55,000 - commission to Denis "precisely nothing". After only one season he was sold to Torino but Denis didn't like their style of football and found adapting to it difficult. Badly injured in a car crash in 1962, he requested a transfer and eventually signed for Manchester United in July 1962 for another British record transfer fee of £115,000. Denis won the European Footballer of the Year award in 1964/65 and Manchester United won their first League title since the Munich disaster of 1958. Denis was the top scorer with 28 league goals. Despite playing all of his Club football outwith Scotland, he was ever the patriotic Scot. When England reached the final of the World Cup in 1966, Denis couldn't bear to watch. Two years later, he asked for a pay rise and threatened to leave the club if he didn't get one. Matt Busby placed him on the transfer list refusing to be held to ransom by any player. Denis went to see him and Busby presented him with a written apology for signature and then showed it to the press once Denis had signed. However, Denis later revealed that the incident was a sham and that it was merely designed to warn other players not to do the same thing - Denis got his money. Manchester United's greatest triumph was at the end of the 1967/68 season when they won the European Cup but Denis had a knee injury and missed both the semi-final and the final. Denis himself did play in the semi-final the following year against AC Milan but United were knocked out after a goal by Law had been disallowed. In 1973 Denis moved back to Manchester City bringing his career almost full circle and ironically scored one of the goals that helped relegate favourites Manchester United. In true Law fashion, it was a reflex back heel. This was his last goal and indeed his last kick in English League football. Denis did however reach the heights playing his final games for Scotland in the World Cup in 1974. He finished his career as Scotland's record goal scorer with 30 - no wonder Denis is "the King". And you thought I knew nothing about the Law! |
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Last updated 28 February, 2006 by Pragmatix Communication | Sitemap |
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