Denis Law is Scottish football royalty - we've never had a more natural goalscorer than him

Denis Law - known as ‘The King’ and ‘The Lawman’ - is one of the greatest players to come from these shores. His passing at the age of 84 leaves a void in the firmament of our national sport. We are highly unlikely to see a player like him from Scotland again.

It is hard to fathom a Ballon d’Or winner from Scotland these days, nor a forward with such an impressive strike rate. Law was deemed Europe’s best in 1964 and he scored 30 goals in 55 caps for his country, making him one of Scotland’s joint-top scorers alongside Kenny Dalglish. More than a goal every second game is a magnificent record.

Law won the English Premier Division twice with Manchester United, as well as the FA Cup. He was part of the European Cup winning squad of 1968, although he was cruelly denied participation in the semi-finals and final due to a knee injury. He also played for Huddersfield Town, Manchester City and Torino. He will always be regarded as a Man Utd legend, scoring 237 goals in 404 games - currently third in the record books at Old Trafford.

A mark of a true great is not just their impact on the pitch. This particular correspondent never had the privilege of either seeing or meeting Law, but those who were fortunate enough to shake his hand speak of an immensely kind, generous, warm character.

After football, Law became a patron of Football Aid and set up the Denis Law Legacy Trust. He was appointed CBE in 2016 for services to football and charity, was given honorary degrees from Aberdeen, St Andrews and Robert Gordon universities, has had statues commissioned in his honour at Old Trafford and in Aberdeen and also received the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen, the place of birth. That is no ordinary list of accolades.

“We have lost one of football’s giants both as a player and a gentleman,” a fellow Man Utd icon Bryan Robson said when he learned of his death. “It’s incredibly sad. Denis was more than just a fantastic footballer, he was a fantastic man. So generous with his time and everything delivered with that great sense of humour of his.

“He would always be in my greatest ever Manchester United XI. He was a player so many of his peers idolised and with good reason, that iconic image of him with his sleeves pulled down and the one-arm salute after scoring. No one could represent what Manchester United stood for better than him. Full of flair on the pitch and a gentleman off it.”

Law’s journey to the top is widely documented. Raised by fisherman father George and mother Robina in a tiny council flat a stone’s throw from Pittodrie Stadium in Aberdeen, he went barefoot until the age of 12 and, when he finally did receive his first pair of shoes, they were hand-me-downs that had previously belonged to his three brothers. His sight as a teenager was badly affected by a squint but he was a maestro with the ball, a skilful player with an unerring eye for goal.

Huddersfield took a chance on him in 1956, despite their manager at the time Andy Beattie saying: “The boy’s a freak. Never did I see a less likely football prospect – weak, puny and bespectacled.”

Beattie got one thing right - Law was freakishly talented. After tearing it up at Huddersfield, he moved to Manchester City and then Torino in Serie A. He failed to truly settle within Italy’s catenaccio-dominated style and after a year abroad, he was signed by the great Sir Matt Busby as Man Utd rebuilt following the devastation of the Munich disaster. He formed the Reds’ ‘Holy Trinity’ alongside Bobby Charlton and George Best.

Missing out on the club’s European Cup win over Benfica due to injury signalled his powers beginning to wane. His return to Man City is remembered by scoring a back-heeled goal against his old side, which he declined to celebrate, on the day the Reds were relegated to the Second Division.

Law never played club football in Scotland, which is very rare for one of the country’s diamonds. Nevertheless, he was hugely devoted to his country. “Being selected for your country, that’s the highest,” he once said of pulling on the dark blue shirt. He scored in the famous win over then world champions England in 1967 at Wembley. He was part of the squad that went to Argentina for the 1974 World Cup. “A true great, we will never see the likes again,” the Scottish Football Association wrote on Friday evening.

Just last year, ahead of the European Championships, The Scotsman created its best Scotland XI of the past 50 years. Pat Nevin joined me and our chief football writer Alan Pattullo is debating who should get in and while Law was in the twilight of his career in that era, he was named. “Have a look at his numbers, the players he was playing with.,” said Nevin. “He was one of the best players in the world. A sniffer of goals. There’s an old phrase, natural goalscorer. That’s him. We’ve never had a more natural goalscorer than Denis. Period.”

It is often difficult to compare generations but what would Law be worth now? Law’s passing was announced on the same day that Erling Haaland - regarded one of the best strikers in world football right now - signed a nine-and-a-half year deal with Man City, earning reportedly £500,000 per week. He is currently valued well over £100 million. One could not help but wonder where Law’s talents would fit into the modern-day game.

From such an unforgiving start, Law had a glorious career. He sadly revealed in August 2021 he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Vascular dementia and is survived by his wife Diana, sons Gary, Andrew, Robert and Iain and daughter Diana.

His memory will never leave the Scottish game.