Denis Law
Denis Law CBE (born 24 February 1940) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a forward. His career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, he was signed by Manchester City for an estimated transfer fee of £55,000, which set 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 involving a British player. 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 (equivalent to £2,610,060 in 2021).
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Law in 2011 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Denis Law | ||
| Date of birth | 24 February 1940 | ||
| Place of birth | Woodside, Aberdeen, Scotland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Centre forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1955–1956 | Huddersfield Town | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1956–1960 | Huddersfield Town | 81 | (16) |
| 1960–1961 | Manchester City | 44 | (21) |
| 1961–1962 | Torino | 27 | (10) |
| 1962–1973 | Manchester United | 309 | (171) |
| 1973–1974 | Manchester City | 24 | (9) |
| Total | 485 | (227) | |
| International career | |||
| 1959–1961 | Scotland U23 | 3 | (1) |
| 1958–1974 | Scotland | 55 | (30) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Law spent 11 years at Manchester United, where he scored 237 goals in 404 appearances. His goals tally places him third in the club's history, behind Wayne Rooney and Bobby Charlton. He was nicknamed The King and The Lawman by supporters, and Denis the Menace by opposing supporters. He is the only Scottish player to have won the Ballon d'Or award, doing so in 1964, and helped his club win the First Division in 1965 and 1967, as well as the FA Cup in 1963 and two Charity Shields. He missed their European Cup final triumph in 1968 through injury.
Law left Manchester United in 1973 to return to Manchester City for a season, and represented Scotland at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. He played only two competitive games in the 1974–75 season, retiring before the start of the League programme proper. Law played for Scotland a total of 55 times and jointly holds the Scottish international record goal tally with 30 goals. Law holds a United record for scoring 46 competitive goals in a single season. In 2023 Law became the last remaining member of the "United Trinity" following the death of Sir Bobby Charlton.