Paul Rouse: Denis Law stood for the swagger and style of Scottish identity

Denis Law had a deep loyalty to Scotland. He may have lived and worked outside the country of his birth for all of his adult life, but there was no denying his Scottishness.

YOUNG TURKS: Denis Law, then of Manchester City, with rock star Rod Stewart, both are holding a Royal Banner of Scotland in 1974. Pic: B. Gomer/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

More than 30 years ago, I saw Denis Law walking down a Manchester street. It was a sight that was both normal and not at all normal.

He looked different than anyone else on that street. He was not a big man and he was not expensively dressed, but he exuded charisma and the sort of confidence that was real and likeable. He walked with a lightness of foot that left it easy to imagine how elusive he was in the penalty area.