Obituary: Denis Law, the king of Man United's 'holy trinity'

With his eye for goal and effervescent personality, Denis Law was the darling of a generation as the Scotland striker played a key role in Manchester United’s rise from tragedy to triumph.

Law, who died on Friday at the age of 84, joined forces with Bobby Charlton and George Best to inspire United’s 1960s rebirth from the ashes of the Munich disaster.
Law’s time with United was a golden era and a statue — his finger pointed to the air in trademark celebration alongside Charlton and Best — stands outside Old Trafford to commemorate his iconic 11-year stay.

With 237 goals in 404 appearances in all competitions, Law ranks as the third highest scorer in United’s history.

Nicknamed ‘the king’ by fans, Law was the first of only four United players to win the coveted Ballon d’Or — he earned the prize for Europe’s top player in 1964 — and in 2003 was voted Scotland’s “most outstanding player of the past 50 years.”

Alex Ferguson, United’s most successful manager, was awed by his compatriot’s predatory instincts.

“To me, Denis is the best Scottish player without question. He was so lightning quick and had such reflexes that there was nothing he couldn’t achieve in the penalty box,” Ferguson said. “A cross would come and he’d jack-knife up out of nothing and knock a header in. He had a combination of incredible reactions, timing and awareness.”

Law was born in Aberdeen in 1940, the son of a trawlerman and the youngest of seven children.

He honed his skills using a ball of wool tied to his mother’s clothes and by age 15 his precocious talent was noticed by Huddersfield Town.

“We lived in a place called Printfield Terrace. The manager of Huddersfield was a guy called Andy Beattie, who was from Aberdeen. His brother lived in Printfield Walk, just across the road,” Law said.

“He must have seen me playing for the school, spoke to my mum and dad and said that they’d like me to go to a place called Huddersfield which was, of course, on the other side of the world! And that’s when it all started.”

Law was still only 16 when Bill Shankly gave him his Huddersfield debut in the Second Division and he progressed so quickly he won the first of 55 Scotland caps two years later.

He went on to net 30 times for Scotland, remaining their all-time joint top scorer with Kenny Dalglish to this day.

In 1960, Law, just 20, moved to Manchester City for what was then a British record fee of £53,000.

He scored 21 goals in a 15-month spell with City before making a then British record £110,000 move to Torino.

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