The Law of Manchester

Sometimes in great cities there exist great divides that can only ever be bridged by Great Men; Manchester is one such place, City-United one such divide and Denis Law was one of very few such men ever to have lived.

Born is the northern suburbs of Aberdeen in February 1940, whilst the world was busy tearing itself apart in WW2, it was down in the far southern city of Manchester that he would proceed to tear the world apart in his own inimitable fashion.

Sure he started his career over the Pennines with Huddersfield Town but it was only when he moved across to Manchester that things really took off.

Bill Shankly tried to tempt him to join the history being made at Anfield before Law decided that the Blue side of Manchester was the place for him.

How different things could have been if he had stayed there for more than a single season before being tempted by the bright lights of Turin. Though he would only play a single season for Torino before being tempted back to Manchester, landing on the red side of town this time with Matt Busby at the helm rebuilding United in the wake of the devastating Munich air disaster.

Part of that rebuild saw Law linking up with the duo he will be linked to forever more, George Best and Bobby Charlton.

As an integral part of United’s holy trinity he more than paid back his record transfer fee,£115,000, multiple times over as a mercurial striker whose goals saw United win the FA Cup in 1963, League titles in 1965 and 1967, plus the Ballon d’Or in 1964.

His crowning glory should have been firing United to their historic European Cup triumoh in 1968, only for a persistent knee injury to rob him of the night that should have been rightfully his. The King may have missed out on the greatest match, but his place in United history was secured long before that.

Having been part of the United’s Holy Trinity it’s only fitting that’s the final United game of his lifetime was topped off by a trinity of goals from Amad Diallo that secured the most miraculous of comebacks.

Law’s own playing association with United wouldn’t end quite so successfully as he returned to City for the 1973/74 season, his last as a professional player and put the final nail in United’s coffin with a delicious backheel goal that rubber-stamped his old employer’s relegation.

Other results meant that United would’ve gone down no matter the result of this match, but that hasn’t stopped that goal turning Law into a City hero.

A man that remains a hero with 2 of the biggest rival fanbases in the North-West of England more than 50 seasons after his retirement and can unite them both in grief at his passing is truly worthy of the epithet ‘THE GREAT’

How City could do with another player of his like to join them this month as their last match of The Lawman’s life saw them throw away a 2-0 lead and certain victory against Brentford, a team that spent his whole career yo-yoing between the Third and Fourth Divisions.

Given his Scottish routes and his final competitive games spent representing Scotland at the 1974 World Cup, Law’s interest in London teams is debatable but I had to get a London link in there somewhere.

Brazilian great Pele once said that Denis Law would fit into the Brazilian National team and given the football they were playing at that time, not to mention their 3 World Cup wins during the glory days of Law’s professional career that’s one hell of a compliment and extremely well-deserved.