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Denis Law

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   Denis Law
   Denis Law (seated) signing for Manchester United in 1962.
   United's manager Matt Busby is on the right in the picture.
   Personal information
   Full name Denis Law
   Date of birth February 24, 1940
   Place of birth Aberdeen, Scotland
   Nickname The King, The Lawman
   Position Striker
   Club information
   Current club retired
   Professional clubs*
   Years Club Apps (goals)
   1956-1960
   1960-1961
   1961-1962
   1962-1973
   1973-1974 Huddersfield Town
   Manchester City
   Torino
   Manchester United
   Manchester City 91 (19)
   50 (23)
   27 (10)
   309 (171)
   26 (12)
   National team**
   1958-1974 Scotland 55 (30)

   * Professional club appearances and goals
   counted for the domestic league only and
   correct as of June 9, 2006.
   ** National team caps and goals correct
   as of May 30, 2006.

   Denis Law (born February 24, 1940, in Aberdeen, Scotland) is a retired
   Scottish football player, who enjoyed a long and successful career as a
   striker from the 1950s to the 1970s.

   Law's career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield
   Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, Manchester City signed
   him for a transfer fee of £55,000, setting a new British record. Law
   spent one year there before Torino bought him for £110,000, this time
   setting a new record fee for a transfer between an English and an
   Italian club. Although he played well in Italy, he found it difficult
   to settle there and signed for Manchester United in 1962, setting
   another British record transfer fee of £115,000.

   He is best known for the eleven years that he spent at United, where he
   scored 236 goals in 409 appearances and was nicknamed The King and The
   Lawman by supporters. He won the prestigious European Footballer of the
   Year award in 1964, and helped his club win the First Division in 1965
   and 1967. Law left Manchester United in 1973 and returned to Manchester
   City for a season, then represented Scotland in the 1974 FIFA World
   Cup. Law played for Scotland a total of 55 times and jointly holds the
   Scottish international record goal tally with 30 goals. Law is also
   United's second highest goalscorer behind Bobby Charlton

Growing up

   Denis was the son of George Law, a fisherman, and his wife Robina, and
   was the youngest of seven children. The Laws were a poor family, living
   in a council tenement in Aberdeen, and his father regularly had to
   visit the local pawnbroker. Law did not own a pair of shoes until he
   was fourteen, and his first pair of football boots was a present from a
   neighbour.

   He supported Aberdeen Football Club and watched them when he had enough
   money to do so, watching local non-league teams when he did not. His
   obsession with football led to him turning down a place at grammar
   school, as he would have had to play rugby there instead. Despite
   having a serious squint, he showed great promise once he was moved from
   full back to inside-left, and was selected for Scotland schoolboys.

Huddersfield Town

   In the 1954/5 season, he was spotted by Archie Beattie, a scout for
   Huddersfield Town, who invited him to go for a trial. When he got
   there, the manager said, "The boy's a freak. Never did I see a less
   likely football prospect — weak, puny and bespectacled." However, to
   Law's surprise, they signed him on 3 April 1955. While he was at
   Huddersfield, he had an operation to correct his squint, which greatly
   enhanced his self confidence, and meant he no longer had to play
   football with one of his eyes closed.

   Huddersfield's relegation to what was then the Second Division made it
   easier for Law to get a game, and he made his debut on 24 December
   1956, aged only sixteen, in a 2–0 win over Notts County. Manchester
   United's manager Matt Busby shortly offered Huddersfield £10,000 for
   Law, a lot of money for a footballer at that time, but the club turned
   the offer down. He was not picked to play for Scotland in the 1958 FIFA
   World Cup, but scored on his debut against Wales on 18 October 1958 and
   quickly established himself as a first choice player. Bill Shankly was
   manager of Huddersfield between 1957 and 1959, and when he left for
   Liverpool he wanted to take Law with him, but Liverpool were unable to
   afford him at that time.

Manchester City

   In March 1960, Law signed for Manchester City for what was then a
   British record transfer fee of £55,000, although Law's share of the fee
   was "precisely nothing". Although a First Division side, City had
   narrowly avoided relegation the previous season, and he genuinely felt
   that Huddersfield had a better team at the time. Law made his debut on
   19 March, scoring in a 4–3 defeat to Leeds United. In April, he scored
   two goals in a 4–1 win over Aston Villa that ensured City's survival in
   Division One.

   Although he had thought about leaving, he was playing well and in 1961
   Law scored an incredible six goals in an FA Cup tie against Luton Town.
   Unfortunately for him, the match was abandoned with twenty minutes to
   go, so his six goals didn't count. To make matters worse for him, he
   scored in the replay but Luton won the match, and City were out of the
   Cup.

   He played but did not score in Scotland's match against England on 15
   April 1961. Scotland lost the match 9–3, and Law described it as his
   "blackest day". The following November, Law represented the Football
   League in a match against the Italian League, losing 4–2.

   Although he enjoyed his time at City, he wanted to play in a more
   successful side and was sold to the Italian club Torino in the summer
   of 1961.

Torino

   Law's time in Italy did not go according to plan. Another Italian club,
   Internazionale, tried to prevent him becoming a Torino player as soon
   as he arrived, claiming he had signed a pre-contract agreement with
   them, although they dropped this claim before the season started.

   Players in the UK were not treated well at the time, and the maximum
   wage for footballers had only recently been abolished there, so he was
   pleasantly surprised to find that pre-season training was based in a
   luxury hotel in the Alps. However, Torino took performance-related pay
   to something of an extreme, giving the players bags full of money when
   the team won but little, if anything, when they lost. Like many British
   footballers who have gone to play in Italy, Law did not like the style
   of football and found adapting to it difficult. The ultra-defensive
   catenaccio system was popular there at the time, so forwards did not
   get many chances to score. He continued to play for Scotland while he
   was at Torino, although the club were not keen to release him for
   international matches and had put a clause into his contract stating
   that they were not obliged to do so.

   On 7 February 1962, he was injured in a car crash when his teammate Joe
   Baker drove the wrong way around a roundabout and clipped the kerb as
   he tried to turn the car around, flipping it over. Baker was almost
   killed, but Law's injuries were not life-threatening.

   By April, he had put in a transfer request, which was ignored. The
   final straw for Denis came in a match against Napoli when he was sent
   off. After the match, he was told that Torino's coach, Beniamino
   Santos, had instructed the referee to send him off because he was angry
   at Law for taking a throw in, which he had been told not to do. Law
   walked out, and was told that he would be transferred to Manchester
   United. A few days later, however, he was told that he was being sold
   to Juventus and that the small print in his contract committed him to
   going there whether he wanted to or not. He responded by flying home to
   Aberdeen, knowing that Torino would not get a penny in transfer fees if
   he refused to play at Juventus.

   He eventually signed for United on 10 July 1962, for a new British
   record fee of £115,000.

Manchester United

The glory years

   Law moved back to Manchester, boarding with the same landlady that he
   had lived with during his time as a City player. His first match for
   United was against West Bromwich Albion on 18 August 1962, and he made
   an excellent start, scoring after only seven minutes. The match
   finished in a 2–2 draw. However, United's form had been erratic since
   the Munich air disaster in 1958, and because of their inconsistency
   they spent the season fighting relegation. In a league match against
   Leicester City Law scored a hat trick but the team still lost. They
   found form in the FA Cup though, with Law scoring another hat trick in
   a 5–0 win against his old club Huddersfield, and they went on to reach
   the final against Leicester City. Leicester were strong favourites,
   having finished fourth in the league, but Law scored the first goal as
   United won 3–1 in what turned out to be the only FA Cup final of his
   career. He also married his wife Diana that season, on 11 December
   1962.

   Unfortunately, an incident had taken place that season which Law felt
   had repercussions in years to come. In a match against West Brom on 15
   December 1962, the referee Gilbert Pullin consistently goaded Law with
   taunts such as "Oh, you clever so and so, you can't play", and after
   the match, Law and his manager Matt Busby reported the matter to the
   Football Association. A disciplinary committee decided that Pullin
   should be severely censured, but he did not accept their verdict and
   quit the game. Law later claimed that "in the eyes of some referees,
   [Law] was a marked man" and blamed the incident for the "staggeringly
   heavy punishments" that he received later in his career.

   Law scored a number of goals early in the 1963/4 season and was
   selected to play for a Rest of the World side against England at
   Wembley, scoring their goal in a 2–1 defeat. He later described this as
   the greatest honour of his career. His season was interrupted by a
   28-day suspension for a sending off that he received against Aston
   Villa. The unusually cold winter forced United to play many of their
   fixtures in a short space of time, and their results suffered. Law
   later blamed this for United's failure to win a trophy in that season.

   In 1964/5, Law won the European Footballer of the Year award, and
   Manchester United won their first league title since Munich. Law's 28
   league goals that season made him the First Division's top scorer.

   The following season, Law injured his right knee while playing for
   Scotland against Poland on 21 October 1965. He had previously had an
   operation on the same knee while at Huddersfield, and the injury was to
   trouble him for the rest of his career.

   In 1966 Law asked United's manager Matt Busby to give him a pay rise at
   his next contract renewal, and threatened to leave the club if he
   didn't get one. Busby immediately placed Law on the transfer list,
   announcing that "no player will hold this club to ransom, no player".
   When Law went to see him, Busby pulled out a written apology for him to
   sign, showing it to the press once he had done so. Law later claimed
   that Busby had used the incident to warn other players not to do the
   same thing, but had secretly given him the pay rise.

   Law scored in Scotland's famous 3–2 victory over England on 15 April
   1967, less than a year after England had become world champions.
   Manchester United won the league that season, but Law felt that the
   victory over England was even more satisfying.

   In 1967/8, United won the European Cup for the first time, but Law's
   knee injury was causing him serious problems and he missed both the
   semi-final and the final as a result. He was regularly given cortisone
   injections to ease the pain, but playing while the knee was still
   injured was causing long-term damage. He visited a specialist in
   January 1968 who wrote to United claiming that a previous operation to
   remove the cartilage from the knee had failed and recommending that a
   second operation be performed, but Law was not shown the report for
   several years and had to continue full training.

   In 1968/9, United reached the semi-final of the European Cup, playing
   AC Milan, but were knocked out after Law had a goal disallowed. Busby,
   who had now been knighted, resigned at the end of the season and
   United's decline began.

The decline

   Wilf McGuinness took over as first team coach at the start of the
   1969/70 season. United finished eighth in the league, but Law missed
   almost all of the season through injury, and in April 1970 he was
   transfer listed for £60,000. Nobody made a bid for him, so he stayed at
   United.

   After a poor 1970/1 season, Frank O'Farrell took over as United
   manager. They made a good start to the 1971/2 season and finished 1971
   five points clear at the top of the league, with Law having scored
   twelve goals. However, results deteriorated and they finished the
   season in fifth place. Law scored in the first match of the following
   season (1972/3), but his knee injury was troubling him again, and he
   failed to score for the rest of the season. The poor results continued
   and O'Farrell was sacked.

   Law recommended that United replace O'Farrell with Tommy Docherty, whom
   he knew from playing for Scotland. The club followed his
   recommendation, and things started well with the team's improved
   results lifting them into mid-table.

Final season (1973-74)

   Docherty gave Law a free transfer in the summer of 1973, and he moved
   back to Manchester City. He played in City's 2–1 defeat in the League
   Cup final, against Wolves. In City's last game of the 1973/4 season,
   Law famously scored a goal against Manchester United which guaranteed
   their relegation from the First Division, only six years after the
   European Cup final that he had missed. Law's backheel gave City a 1–0
   win, but he was devastated to have relegated United (it turned out they
   would have been relegated even if the match had been drawn, but Law did
   not know this at the time) and he did not celebrate the goal, walking
   off the pitch with his head down as he was substituted immediately
   afterwards. This turned out to be the last time he kicked a ball in
   club football.

   Scotland reached the World Cup finals in the summer of 1974, for the
   first time since 1958. Although he had not played much first team
   football in the preceding season, Law was included in the squad and
   played in their first match, against Zaire. He didn't score, but
   Scotland won 2–0. Law was "very disappointed" not to be picked for the
   following match against Brazil, and was not selected for the following
   match against Yugoslavia either. Although Scotland were not defeated in
   any of their matches, they did not qualify for the second phase and
   were out of the World Cup.

After football

   Law still had a contract with Manchester City, but their manager Tony
   Book told him that he would only be playing reserve team football if he
   stayed there. He did not want to end his career in this way, so he
   retired from professional football in the summer of 1974. Since then,
   Law has often worked as a summariser and presenter for radio and
   television. As of July 2005, he is still married to Diana, and they
   still live in the Manchester area. They have five children, and their
   daughter, also called Diana, works as a press officer for Manchester
   United.

   Law was made an Inaugural Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame
   in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game.

   On 23 February 2002, a statue of Law was unveiled at Old Trafford, in
   the part of the stadium known as the Stretford End. He had a successful
   operation to treat prostate cancer in November 2003 and was awarded an
   honorary doctorate from the University of Aberdeen on 5 July 2005.

   The emergence of Dutch international Dennis Bergkamp in the 1990s
   uncovered a story that the player's parents, who were fans of
   Manchester United in the 1960s, named their son after Law, although
   Dutch authorities refused to recognise the name unless it was spelt
   with two n's as they felt it was otherwise too similar to Denise.

   On November 25 2005, Law was at the bedside of former United team-mate
   George Best as he lost his battle against multiple organ failure.

Career summary

   Clubs:
     * Huddersfield Town (1956–1960)
     * Manchester City (1960–1961)
     * Torino (1961–1962)
     * Manchester United (1962–1973)
     * Manchester City (1973–1974)

   Honours:
     * FA Cup (1963)
     * English First Division (now called the Premiership) (1965, 1967)
     * European Footballer of the Year (1964)

   (Law was a Manchester United player when the team won the European Cup
   in 1968, but he missed the match through injury).
     * Inaugural Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame (2002)
     * Scotland's Golden Player (most outstanding player of the past 50
       years) by the Scottish Football Association (November 2003, to
       celebrate UEFA's Jubilee)

Club appearances and goals by season

   In all competitions:
   Season        Club        Appearances Goals
   1956-57 Huddersfield Town          18     3
   1957-58 Huddersfield Town          20     6
   1958-59 Huddersfield Town          26     2
   1959-60 Huddersfield Town          27     8
   1959-60 Manchester City             7     2
   1960-61 Manchester City            43    21
   1961-62 Torino                     27    10
   1962-63 Manchester United          44    29
   1963-64 Manchester United          41    45
   1964-65 Manchester United          52    39
   1965-66 Manchester United          48    24
   1966-67 Manchester United          38    25
   1967-68 Manchester United          27     9
   1968-69 Manchester United          36    21
   1969-70 Manchester United          20    12
   1970-71 Manchester United          34    16
   1971-72 Manchester United          41    13
   1972-73 Manchester United          12     3
   1973-74 Manchester City            26    12
   TOTAL                             587   300
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Law"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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