A Law unto himself

DENIS Law walks into the Westbury Hotel and old heads turn. It’s the sort of establishment that shrugs its shoulders when celebrities show up. But George Best has ambled in a while ago — and now Law.

Law has also spotted Best, and makes for the man who provided him with so much of his ammunition. Old friends and colleagues.

Best is the tragedy of that great United team, of course, a walking modern fable for all those cosseted Premiership superstars. Law was the great goal-scorer of his generation. Every record that belongs to Ruud Van Nistelrooy once belonged to Law. When United were struggling against mediocre opposition, whether domestically or in Europe, they knew the team were safe as long as Law was about. Always conjuring. Sound familiar? It should. Law and Van Nistlerooy are very similar creatures.

Our fathers would call him the greatest goal-scorer in the club’s history, and while we fawn at the artistry of Henry and the thrust of van Nistelrooy, we hanker for the pick-pocket that was Dennis Law.

He has just published his memoirs. Not his idea apparently, more the publishers. So, the past week he has been shuttled around the UK and Ireland, harassed by publicists in a manner he once only expected from centre-halves.

Van the Man, Scholes, Keane, they are all fabulous players and would have slotted in somewhere in the ’68 team, but you couldn’t compare. Different eras and all that. But Law can talk about his own career. The only player to be managed by both Shankly and Busby. Of course, he evaded the question as to who was better.

“Two brilliant men, in different ways. Shanks was the extrovert, Busby was more the introvert. But, they both have one thing in common, they wanted their team to play football, good football. It is interesting to think that four of the greatest managers of all time, Shankly, Busby, Jock Stein and Alex Ferguson, they all came from the same area, in and around Glasgow. And the success they have brought to respective clubs. Life is hard in that area and they brought that into their management style, the work ethic, because if you wanted anything in those areas, you had to be seriously dedicated.”

Again, he avoids the question as to how Ferguson rates with Sir Matt. “Well, he has to be right up there. He has won so many trophies, probably more than the other three.” The dynasty Ferguson created is, at least, comparable to Busby’s magical tenure in charge at Old Trafford. And he is now challenging Busby in the longevity stakes. Law sees many more similarities in the reign.

“When I came to United in 1962, it was as part of the re-building process after Munich. And it is amazing to think we nearly got relegated that year. We only just survived, but we did manage to put together a good Cup run.” In Law’s first year, he played in the Cup Final, back then still the staple of all boyhood dreams. It was winning the Cup, Law believes, that transformed United into the all-conquering side.

Twenty-seven years later, Ferguson’s backside was saved from the bacon-slicer by winning a Cup final. It is a point that not many people linger on, but Law says the similarity is uncanny. “That Cup success was the catalyst for us. The following season, Bestie came on, Pat Creand came down from Celtic. But the Cup was the start of things. That wasn’t a great year for us, there was a severe winter and there was 10 weeks without a game. There was no such thing as under-soil heating in those days, if there was any frost, chances are the game was cancelled. And we lost all our momentum in the league and never really recovered. But the Cup run kept us going.”

Kept them on and on until that famous night when Sir Matt, 10 years after Munich, led a Best-inspired United to the European Cup. While Law’s eyes light up at the memory, surprisingly it is not the most glittering moment of his career. As a proud Jock, he has others. “Yeah, the moment I was told I was called up to the Scottish team is a moment I will never forget.

“Being told you are going to play for your country, there is nothing like it in the world. I have so many great memories, memories with that man over there [pointing to Best], memories with Scotland. I was on the Scottish team that beat England when they were World Champions in Wembley, being picked for the Rest of the World side against England, scoring in the Cup Final against Leicester. It wasn’t my best goal ever, but to play in a Cup final is something every boy dreams of, to play, then score and your team win, well that is the biggest dream of all. There was a goal I scored against England with my head, that people talk about. I don’t know. I just jumped and the ball hit my head.”

I recalled seeing a Parkinson interview a few years ago when Law talked about the most infamous goal in the history of Manchester derbies. He remembered ‘hitting the ball so softly, I don’t know how the keeper didn’t save it.’

“It’s not one I want to relive. It is something that happened, obviously I didn’t want to score the goal, but ...no, no,” he says, shaking his head. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Perhaps, you need Parky’s knack to get people talking about themselves to re-live that moment of pain. United were condemned to the Second Division and Law, who almost broke down in tears after scoring the goal, retired, a couple of seasons too early.

He still has a passion for City, although nothing like his adoration for United. “I keep an eye out on all the clubs I played for. Huddersfield, Torino, both of whom are going through a bad time at the moment. United, obviously and City. It is something all retired footballers do. Just want to see how their former clubs are going.”

SO successful was Law’s career at Old Trafford that it is often forgotten that he was among the first British exports to Italy. And while the great John Charles had Italian jaws dropping everywhere he played, Law found the shock of a different footballing culture more of a struggle.

“In one way, I think it was a mistake,” he admits. “I was only 21, but 21 in those days was very young, not like 21 now. I loved everything about Italy but the football.

“The culture was brilliant, people were brilliant, food, everything. But the football was awful. It was so defensive, so negative. There was no real creativity in the game at all. After a couple of months, I knew I had to come home. I regretted going, but it did help me in one way. It made me more tactically aware.

“In Italy, there was always two defenders marking a striker. Always two defenders on top of you when you had the ball. So, when I came back to England, it was like there was nobody marking me. Of course there was, but there was only one defender, and you had a lot more space. You were more aware of where the ball was because in Italy, you had to be thinking. So it did make me a far better player.”

Moulded him into a European footballer of the year. Twenty years later, when Italy won the World Cup with the most adventurous national side ever to come from Europe’s leg, it was no surprise to Law that his ex-Torino teammate Enzo Bearzot was manager. “He was one of the few footballers in Italy at that time who wanted to play football. It was the first time Italian full-backs crossed the half-way line, before that full-backs were fined if they crossed the half-way line.”

It is international football Law looks back on more ruefully. All the honours were won with United, but he thinks the Scottish team in the sixties were as good as any other side. He recalls the 62 team, that lost narrowly to Czechoslovakia in a World Cup play-off. “That was a terrible night. We were playing so well, and we were 2-1 up with 10 minutes to go in Brussels. They got an equaliser and got a winner in extra-time. That was a great Czech side, they went on to lose to Brazil in the World Cup final, but we were playing them with a weakened side. There was a full league programme three days before the play-off and we lost four of our most important players.”

Scottish football was full of hard luck stories like that until Law and his compatriots gained a measure of revenge on the Czechs, beating them in 1973 to qualify for the World Cup in Germany. By that stage, he was reaching the twilight of his career. He knew his career was coming to an end in the days when Frank O’Farrell and Wilf McGuinness used him as a sub in Old Trafford.

Not that he was your traditional substitute. “I wouldn’t sit on the bench. I was never the greatest football spectator in the world, I generally can’t sit still and watch a match. So when United used to name me as substitute, I would just sit in the dressing-room until I was given the call to come on.”

Like his decision to retire. It has become common currency that Law decided to retire because of that meek back-heel, but he said it was just a matter of knowing his time was up. He came back from a World Cup and didn’t want to sit on a bench at Maine Road. Still, he has left a lasting impression on the game. Dennis Bergkamp’s father even named his son after the King of Old Trafford. “Bergkamp is a good player, not the best of spellers, though,” Law laughs.

But, it is with another Dutchman that most United fans will now associate Denis Law. Ruud Van Nistelrooy is the Denis Law for the modern game, the goal-scoring machine Old Trafford has craved since the King was putting the finishing strokes on Best’s mazy runs or Charlton’s penetrating passes. He may be even better than Law. Of course, that is a point with which our elders might beg to differ.