Denis Law was the kind of football hero that our broadcasters encourage us to forget when they take a brush and slather wide swathes of paint over the great players of the past and tell us that nothing of worth existed before the Premier League and English football’s Year Zero of 1992.
When news emerged on Friday, a few hours before Law’s death was announced, that Erling Haaland had signed a new nine-year deal at Manchester City, some of the talk centred around how much more likely it now was that the Norway striker would break ‘Alan Shearer’s record’.
It actually took Shearer, a magnificent centre forward who scored 283 top-flight goals, not 260, to point out what seems to have become an inconvenient truth for many outlets. ‘There were great goalscorers before I was born who have incredible records as well,’ Shearer reminded us.
It was typical of Shearer that he should point that out. He has always exuded respect for greats of the past and it is about time we stopped this silly charade of airbrushing the achievements of men like Law, Jimmy Greaves and Dixie Dean out of the conversation just because they do not fit broadcasters’ agendas.
So let’s be straight about it: the record that Haaland is chasing is not Shearer’s record of 260 Premier League goals because that is, essentially, a false construct. The record any goalscorer playing in our top flight should be chasing is the 357 league goals scored by Jimmy Greaves.
If broadcasters don’t want to talk about that, maybe it is because they worry that it demeans the product they are selling to today’s fans. Maybe they worry that the truth is that some — not all — of the players they lionise now couldn’t hold a candle to the kings of the past.
Manchester United legend Denis Law passed away on Friday at the age of 84
Law (right) alongside Sir Bobby Charlton (middle) and George Best (left) were an electric trio of world class talent together at United
Law, Best and Charlton will forever be immortalised at Old Trafford with the United Trinity statue
Law was one of those kings. At Old Trafford, he was The King. He still is, for many of us.
I interviewed him once in a lounge at his local golf club and loved his easy, mischievous charm. It remains one of the great privileges of my life to have spent some time in the company of one of the greatest players these isles have ever produced.
When I was growing up, my grandma, who lived opposite Dennis Viollet and his family in Urmston, and loved George Best above all other United players, used to tell me that Best and Bobby Charlton did all the hard work and Denis tapped them in.
As I got older, it did not take me long to realise that wasn’t true. Law was an instinctive, brilliant, innovative, clinical, natural goalscorer who scored 201 top-flight goals for United and City but he was so much more than that, too.
He was flamboyant, he was elegant, he was impudent, he was a genius. If you get time, take a look at some of the footage of him playing, and you’ll see.
Forget the fixation that some have with the backheel goal that he scored against United at Old Trafford at the end of the 1973-74 season when he had rejoined City at the close of his career. That was a footnote. A lovely finish, a curiosity that some persist in saying relegated United, even though it isn’t true.
Watch instead the famous game between England, newly crowned World Cup winners, and Scotland at Wembley in 1967 and see how Law runs the show, scores Scotland’s opening goal and inspires his country to a memorable 3-2 win.
Law (left) and Charlton (right) alongside Cristiano Ronaldo as he won his first Ballon d’Or award at Man United
Alan Shearer holds the record for the most Premier League goals but some of the greats before the competition began in 1992 have records that exceed even his
Law was flamboyant, he was elegant, he was impudent, he was a genius with the ball at his feet
Erling Haaland signed a new nine-year contract at Manchester City hours before Law’s death was announced
Or watch the footage of the Charity Shield between United and Spurs at Old Trafford, the same year, a game famous for Pat Jennings scoring past Alex Stepney with a goal kick but also illuminated by Law.
Watch United’s second goal and how it is begun by Law, deep in his own half. He runs at a Spurs midfielder and throws him off balance with a bewitching body swerve before playing the ball to Brian Kidd, who squares for Charlton to score with a thunderous drive.
‘That was a goal good enough to win the league, the cup, the Charity Shield and even the Grand National,’ the commentator shouts.
There was no one like Law then and there is no one like him now. He was a king of players, and of men, long before Year Zero.
