Last Friday the sad news came through that the great footballer Denis Law had died. He was 84. This was no surprise as like many footballers of his generation he had been suffering from dementia for some time, possibly the result as some believe, of heading so many footballs. He was undoubtedly one of the best footballers in the world and though there were other great players playing with Denis in the Manchester United team nevertheless Denis was regarded as the King of the Stretford End, the part of Old Trafford which is populated by the keenest of fans. Martin Edwards, who later became Chairman of the Club, but whose father Louis was a major shareholder in the Club remembers that second season as I do when Denis scored 46 times in all competitions, a Club record that is likely to stand for ever. I have met Martin and have also met Denis a number of times. He was not only one of the greatest footballers but he was also a thoroughly nice and decent man.

Remarkably he is the only man to have two statues dedicated to him at Old Trafford – one on the Stretford End concourse, the other as part of the United trinity statue overlooking the stadium’s forecourt where he’s immortalised alongside fellow greats George Best and Sir Bobby Charlton. There is a third statue commemorating Denis Law in his home town Aberdeen. He never played for their team and after moving down first to Huddersfield in 1955, and then across to Manchester in 1960, apart from his brief time in Italy he stayed with his family near Manchester. But he would sometimes get himself suspended at Christmas so he could go back to Aberdeen to celebrate Hogmanay with his old mates.

Denis loved football from a very early age and despite wearing glasses and having a squint in one eye he was making an impression on people even at primary school. At 15 he signed for Huddersfield in England. He had been spotted in Aberdeen by a scout called Archie Beattie whose brother Andy was manager of Huddersfield. He was succeeded by the great Bill Shankly who would go on to become one of Liverpool’s greatest managers. Denis had an operation on his eye and at 16 he became Huddersfield’s youngest ever player.

He first played for Scotland at 18 and made an impression straight away with his fearlessness and goalscoring. In 1960 Huddersfield sold him to Manchester City for a British record of £55,000. He spent just one season there scoring 19 goals in a mid-table team. Italian clubs had stated to poach British stars like Jimmy Greaves and Denis was sold to Torino for £110,000, a record for a British player. Denis hated Italy. He found the football cheerless and excessively defensive. Matt Busby stepped in. He had admired Denis for years and saw him as a key factor in rebuilding the team after the Munich Air Disaster in which eight of their great team were killed. To sign Denis Matt Busby broke the British transfer record paying £115,000 which seems very modest by today’s standards. It was certainly value for money as Denis was to go on to score a total of 239 goals in 409 appearances, a total only exceeded by Bobby Charlton and Wayne Rooney but they both played many more games.

The first time United fans saw Law score for the Reds was on 18^th August 1962, on his debut against West Bromwich Albion. I was there and saw him score another 17 goals that season including the decisive goal against Leicester City in the FA Cup Final at Wembley. This was the first trophy that United had won since the Munich air crash in 1958.  His sparkling form was recognised across Europe and he was named European Footballer of the Year in 1965, the only Scot to ever win the ultimate individual accolade.

Denis continued to bang in the goals and helped United to win the league championship in 1965 and 1967. That meant qualification for the European Cup, forerunner of today’s Champions’ League. But the Champions’ League is a misnomer as you don’t have to be the champion to qualify. In England a top four finish is good enough now. Back in the 1960s only the champion clubs from around Europe took part and Denis was in the team that got to the final in 1968. Unfortunately Denis missed out on the final. He had injured his knee and was recuperating in a Manchester hospital. The following day he had a bedside visitor – Matt Busby, along with the European Cup which his teammates won convincingly beating a fine Benfica side 4-1after extra time at Wembley. United were the first English club to win it.

That turned out to be the high point and Denis struggled with his injuries. A new manager Tommy Docherty came in and he moved Denis back to Manchester City on a free transfer. The United side was no longer challenging for the top positions in the league and indeed faced the possibility of relegation. City and United played a derby game which City won owing to a single goal that Denis backheeled into the net. At that time it looked as though that meant United would be relegated. Denis asked to be substituted as he was so upset and he never played in league football again. As it turned out United would have gone down anyway.

He continued to play for Scotland and helped them to qualify to play in the 1974 World Cup finals in West Germany, where he made the last of his 55 appearances for Scotland, having scored a record 30 goals. This was later matched by Kenny Dalglish but he took over 100 matches to do it. In northeast Scotland there will always be regret that he never played for Aberdeen. One of Sir Alex Ferguson’s first managerial roles was Aberdeen. “If we were to lose a Denis Law again the man responsible would be sacked,” Sir Alex Ferguson warned the club’s scouts when he swept into Pittodrie as manager in 1978, 22 years after Law left the city for good.

Denis Law stands alone among former United stars for a number of reasons. Others have come close. His teammates with whom he shares a statue, George Best and Sir Bobby Charlton were incredible players. Best was unlucky in that being born in Northern Ireland he would never have the international chances that Law and Charlton had. Charlton of course was a World Cup Winner. more recently Eric Cantona imposed his unique personality on the club and helped it back into being a Championship winner but his attack on a Crystal Place supporter can never be forgiven. Paul Scholes is right near the top of my list- he played high quality football but was lacking the personality of a Law or a Cantona. When Denis Law scored, and he had numerous ways of scoring, he would always mark the occasion with a characteristic pose pointing to the sky with a stretched-out finger. That is reproduced in the Trinity Statue.

I mentioned that I had met Denis Law a number of times. When I worked for Sony every year we used to take buyers from our major national accounts to Las Vegas for the CES show. There we would present our upcoming strategies for the year ahead and then our national accounts managers would sit with individual buyers and agree a programme of activities. After a few years of doing this the buyers said they were bored with Las Vegas as indeed I was. One buyer made it clear that he was only allowed to visit company sites but I said “Well, we’ve got factories all over the world.” One year we went to Thailand, adopted football as a theme and invited several famous football figures. One of these was Denis Law so of course I made sure he was sitting next to me at dinner. He was charming, he was funny, he was friendly to everyone. For all the esteem in which he was held, there was nothing remotely pompous or self-important about him.

Later on I worked for a firm that had a number of lines of sports clothes and therefore some of our key retailers were in the sports market. I got to know one very well which was a sponsor of the club, and they invited me to a match where I sat in the director's box and was invited into their dining room later for drinks. I had the chance to talk to Denis Law and Bobby Charlton. Denis offered me a glass of whisky and Bobby offered me a cup of tea.

Later, sometime later, a drinking culture developed at Manchester United. It took a change of manager and several players to deal with that. Denis Law would never have got involved in that. I am not saying he didn’t enjoy a drink. I’ve just told you that he offered me a whisky. But he really preferred to be with his wife Diane and their five children. He had many friends and I will close with just a few tributes from some of them
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His great friend George Best described him as: “ up there with the all-time greats. Electric. As a bloke and a pal he’s different class.” Wayne Rooney: ”Legend. Thoughts with all Denis’s family and friends.” Scottish international Joe Jordan said Law was “a proper icon, he had a special edge to him, not just as a player but as a person.” Former United captain Gary Neville added “ A great footballer and a great man. It’s a privilege and an honour to have spent time in your company.”