Law, the King who spoke the language of the gods!

Denis Law (1940-2025)
Law, the King who spoke the language of the gods and that year in Italy between sun, chains and accidents.

For British football he was an icon, in Italy we had the pleasure of seeing him for only one year: 1961-62, at Torino.

Talent experienced as a gift, the natural aptitude to seek beauty in every gesture. And then that disheveled elegance that the champions of his generation had, who lived through the 60s celebrating fantasy in power.

They called him The King, because that’s what he was: a king without a crown, escorted simply by his passion for football. A Scotsman from Aberdeen, he had a relationship with the ball of loving senses. His dribbling, sometimes electric and sometimes harmonious, remained fixed in the collective memory for a long time. Everywhere, not just in Great Britain.

Suffice it to say here that another champion, the Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp, is named in his honor. His father was enchanted by Law’s exploits, so – with his newborn son – he left the house, went to the registry office and named him Dennis, adding an “s” so as not to confuse it with the feminine pronunciation of Denise.

The most notable trophy in Law’s trophy cabinet is the Ballon d’Or, won in 1964 (the only Scottish player to do so, since the player he considered his heir, Danny Dalglish, only came in 2nd years later), beating two Spaniards: Luisito Suarez, then playing for Inter, and Amancio of Real Madrid.

He played for both Manchester teams in a city of terraced houses, chimneys and low skies. City at the beginning and end of his career, United in his most brilliant years, culminating with the conquest of an FA Cup (1963), two Charity Shields (1965, 1967), two national titles (1965, 1967) and – above all – the European Cup won in a fateful year, 1969, in the fabulous team that included two other legends, Bobby Charlton and George Best: together they formed a legendary trio, to the delight of the manager, Matt Busby, and the Red Devils fans. By the way, it is said that Busby before the matches, took the three champions aside and told them: “Go on the pitch and tear them to pieces”.

Best had a lot of respect for him, he recognized his vivid, special talent. He said of Law: “Denis and I speak the same language”.

A language made of dribbling, out-of-print inventions, poetry to be recited every time the ball ended up at their feet. The Scot was a number 10 with the pace of a midfielder, a disguised centre-forward, capable of scoring over 330 official goals throughout his career – which began in 1956 at Huddersfield Town and ended in 1974 at City – 30 of which with the Scotland shirt (a record for the Tartan Army on par with Dalglish), which he wore for sixteen long years.

In the 1969 edition of the European Cup he closed with double satisfaction: in addition to the cup, he also won – with 9 goals – the title of top scorer. But the goal that went down in history, his own and that of the city of Manchester, Law scored on April 27, 1974, in the last year of his career. He had returned – after the fabulous years with the reds – to City. And in a derby at Old Trafford he scored the winning goal, he scored it with a backheel, condemning – the irony of fate – United to relegation to the Second Division.

The “Granata” intuition.

He arrived in Italy in 1961, at just twenty-one years old. Torino bought him from Manchester City, along with his teammate Baker. The intuition was had by the great Gigi Peronace, who saw the spark of the champion in the boy and snatched him from Inter, who had first optioned him. The grenadier club paid 110,000 pounds for him. A good investment partly repaid: 27 appearances in the championship, 10 goals, but also many breaks. Looking back at the film of his season in Serie A, one can say that it was a great missed opportunity. There were many misunderstandings.

Law didn’t understand Italy; he didn’t put in the effort. He didn’t settle in. And to think that he had started the championship well, so much so as to impress the lawyer Agnelli who “booked” him for Juventus. But then he disappeared. Once, years later, he said that he loved everything about our country. The people, the food, the sunny days. Everything but football. “It was far too defensive”. Clearly, too defensive. Those were – it must be said – the years of catenaccio, of very armored defenses, of stoppers who followed the opposing center forward into the locker room. He was also penalized by a dramatic accident, which could have had fatal consequences.

Hospital

One evening he was in the car, an Alfa Romeo, with Baker: the latter was at the wheel and at a crossroads he took the road in the opposite direction to the direction of travel, when he realized his mistake, he tried to remedy it with an imprudent and reckless maneuver, but the car overturned, and the two players ended up in hospital.

He didn’t even bond with his teammates, much less with the coach, Benjamin Santos. Legend has it that – during a match with Napoli – it was Santos himself who urged Law’s expulsion, loudly asking the referee, who finally carried out the expulsion. Santos was furious because Law hadn’t followed his tactical instructions. Legend, of course. When he left Italy, returning to his homeland, he began to shine with his own light again.

In 1962 he married Diana, his lifelong companion, who gave him five children. After retiring, Denis Law worked for a long time as a pundit. What remains of him is the memory of a smiling champion, with blond hair in the wind, the arrogant air of someone who – in those years – could afford to make, with football, a small great revolution.

Translated by Pjerin Bj
February 27, 2025

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Sports Vision + Plus / Champions Hour in activity since 2013

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