Denis Law was one of the greatest British footballers of all-time, arguably Scotland’s finest ever player, and a man whose very name conjured notions of skill, flair and toughness. Born during the privations of the Second World War, he went on to be one of the great figures in the vibrant, successful British game of the 1960s.

Law, who died on Friday at the age of 84, was the last surviving member of the great Trinity of Old Trafford – along with George Best and Sir Bobby Charlton – although injury robbed Law of a place on the night of their crowning glory, the 1968 European Cup final at Wembley. He was a brilliant goalscorer, the only player to glory in the nickname “The King of the Stretford End”. A skilful, hard, ruthless forward who always found a way.

He was a boy born into poverty in wartime Aberdeen, who played for Bill Shankly at Huddersfield Town and might have been a Liverpool great had Shankly had his way. He played for Manchester City in two spells and scored that infamous goal for City against a relegated United team in 1974, one of the most enduring moments in English football – not least for Law’s reluctance to celebrate. Fifty years since his last game for Scotland he remains the country’s all-time leading goalscorer on 30, tied with Sir Kenny Dalglish. At the age of 34, he played just a single World Cup game for Scotland, in 1974, his last cap.

In 2005, he and Charlton visited Best as the former lay dying of kidney failure in a London hospital. It was indeed moving that the three men were reunited for the last time in Best’s final days. After Charlton’s death in 2023, Law was the last living connection to a glorious era for United and one that filled the imagination of the British football public beyond club allegiance. His 1962 signing for United from Torino for a British record fee of £115,000 was a key moment in Sir Matt Busby’s rebuilding after the Munich air disaster, and the creation of the manager’s second great side that conquered Europe.

Although Law, Best and Charlton will forever be united in the collective memory of their achievements, they were very different men away from the pitch. Law, a very private family man, was so keen to get home that Charlton would later recall that if his Scottish team-mate was substituted, Law would be showered and on his way before his fellow players returned to the dressing room. “A loner” was how Charlton described Law. He was dedicated to his wife Diana and their five children. Even the taciturn Charlton had a much higher profile after his playing days were over.

Law will be remembered for his huge achievements on the pitch even if his trophy returns were relatively modest. Just two league titles and one FA Cup with United, he was in a hospital bed recovering from knee surgery when his team-mates beat Benfica at Wembley in the European Cup final of 1968. Yet it is testament to his status in the European game that he was the Ballon d’Or winner in 1964 – still the only Scot to be awarded the ultimate individual accolade.

In his public appearances, Law was a smiling, engaging character with a wit as sharp as his goalscoring. On the pitch he was unyielding. His small frame belied a mighty leap. He could dribble and shoot and Charlton would often say that when he, United’s great Englishman, had the ball on the wing, he needed not even to look up before hitting the front-post area with a cross. So sure was he that Law would be there having stolen a yard on the defender.

Law was not to be trifled with. He was banned for nine games in 1967 for a fight on the pitch with his fellow Scot, Ian Ure, then a centre-half at Arsenal. He was known for needling the most dangerous opposition defender in an era when the tackling could be calamitous for a vulnerable attacker. When Scotland played England, Law’s patriotism was not to be underestimated. Charlton would recall being called an “English b------” by his club team-mate, and wondered at his passion. Law scored the first goal in Scotland’s famous 3-2 Wembley win over world champions England in 1967.

But above all it was Law’s mastery of the ball and the art of goalscoring that set him apart. With the slightness of his frame and the cuffs of his long-sleeve shirt gripped in the palm of his hands he was unmistakable as one of the best players in the world.

“What the fans loved most about Denis Law, I believe, was his incredible aggression and self-belief,” Charlton wrote years later in the first volume of his 2007 autobiography. “There were times when he seemed to define urgency on a football field – all that some of his most brilliant interventions were puffs of smoke – and always there was this gleam in his eye, and the courage. They never made a big centre-half who could induce in Denis even a flicker of apprehension.”

Injury denied Law parts of his career, but his was a career built from great technical ability and great tenacity. He was a slight child with a squint so chronic that many considered him unsuitable for the professional game. It was only as a junior player at Huddersfield under Shankly that it was possible for Law to have surgery to correct the problem. He made his professional debut at 16 and joined City for the first time at 20. He played just one full season there before joining Torino in a period when the Italian clubs recruited top British talent. He returned to Manchester, and United, one year later and stayed 11 years.

Despite United’s post-Busby decline, Law did continue to perform when injury permitted, eventually being granted a free transfer in 1973 by his fellow Scot Tommy Docherty, whom he had recommended for the manager’s job. His 1974 goal for City against a struggling United team is often wrongly identified as the goal that relegated United. Results elsewhere would doom the club to relegation regardless but, nonetheless, Law took no pleasure in scoring it. His professional obligations, however, meant that he did his duty with a typically clever back heel.

He was never a manager and preferred a role out of the spotlight. Although Law had never played senior professional football in Scotland, he had come across the young Sir Alex Ferguson, just two years his junior, in the 1950s. The latter was once put on standby as a replacement for Law in a junior Scotland side. Law’s daughter Diana was for many years Ferguson’s chief aide in his press relations and was as at ease dealing with argumentative Scots as she was with argumentative members of the media.

Suffering from dementia in his later years, Law’s legacy remains as strong as ever. Only Wayne Rooney and Charlton have scored more goals for United than this remarkable Scot who played beautifully in an era of heavy balls, muddy pitches and vicious defenders. He was the last connection with an era still recalled with great vividness by so many – and pored over by those too young to have seen it. A modest man of great talent, there are many who have done great things at Old Trafford but few who merit a statue outside it. Law was of the few.