-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited
It is rare for a footballer to be a great, a legend and a king. Denis Law was all three.
The most treasured item of football memorabilia in my possession remains the esteemed Manchester Evening News United correspondent David Meek’s book United in Europe. Inside are scrawled two signatures: Law’s and George Best’s.
I was ten when a family friend met the greats at an after-dinner ceremony and got both of their autographs. The day after I regained the book, it was packed into my schoolbag for an imposed show-and-tell.
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A United-supporting friend once sat next to Law on a flight back to Manchester. He idolised Law but kept it quiet that Tommy Docherty had been close with his father.
They had only met on the flight and accompanied each other through passport control and to the carousel. Law’s luggage arrived first but he waited with his disciple until his bag came around.
In October 2017, Law was sat in front of the press box with his daughter, Di, and grandson for United’s first visit to Huddersfield Town since 1971. The rain was swirling and the Laws were using jackets as makeshift shelter yet the elder Law’s enthusiasm never wavered.
Law was paraded on the pitch at half-time that day with United 2-0 down. After a 2-1 loss, Jose Mourinho suggested the United players should explain why their attitude and desire were poor. Those accusations could never have been levelled at Law.
Law, shortly afte signing for United, in 1962
When the new Wembley opened in 2007 for the FA Cup final, a surviving member from the winning side of every previous final was paraded pre-match. With United about to take on Chelsea, no player was deified more than Law, the hero of United’s 1963 triumph.
United immortalised Law in bronze with a statue in the second tier of the Stretford End in February 2002. Since June 2008, a shrine of United’s ‘Holy Trinity’ has adorned the east stand concourse opposite Sir Matt Busby’s statue.
Law represented United impeccably in retirement before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Vascular dementia in August 2021. His appearances at Old Trafford became scarce but he was still in the directors’ box as recently as February 2023.
A colleague interviewed Law about his new book at the Football Museum in Manchester in 2013. She had spoken to him before at Rochdale Town Hall four years earlier and the mention of that engagement was instantly recalled by Law.
After their second interview at the Urbis, Law spent 15 minutes chatting with her while he waited for his cab. “He was just lovely to everyone.,” she said. “No airs and graces, very modest and self-deprecating. He thanked us for coming.
“He said someone young like me would have no idea who an old man like him was!” She thoughtfully got him to sign the book to me.
That elegant scrawl took me back to when I was ten.