Denis Law remembered in emotional tribute by Man Utd legend – 'He was and always will be my hero'
Never meet your heroes. It’s a guiding principle dished out to those keen to avoid being let down and disappointed by the icons they’ve placed on a pedestal.
But if Jim McCalliog was going to make an exception for that rule, it had to be for Denis Law. Former Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolves and Manchester United star McCalliog has his own special place carved out in Scottish football’s history books. After all, it was his debut strike at Wembley in 1967 which sent the Scots on their way to the nation’s most cherished ever victory over England.
But it was not the prospect of facing the then world champions which had McCalliog - then 20 - breaking out in a sweat, rather a staged photo op with a man he’d grown up idolising. Tearfully, the Scotland legend told Record Sport : “If you were a football fan growing up in my day, you just loved Denis Law. We all did. He just looked so different with that shock of blonde hair. But it wasn’t just how he looked, it was how he played. He was fearless, ferocious.
“I can remember going up to Hampden in 1961 after school on a Wednesday afternoon to see him place for Scotland against Czechoslovakia. He scored two goals that day which almost put Scotland into the World Cup.
“Then later once I became a professional myself, it was fantastic to go to England and play against him. Watching him on the pitch was like watching a brilliant piece of theatre. He was so captivating with how he moved his arms and the way he’d attack the ball.
“He was an amazing footballer, he had everything. He's the only Scot to win European Footballer of the Year and for me he’s up there with Kenny Dalglish and Jim Baxter as the best this country has ever produced.
“But there’s this saying that you should never meet your heroes because you’ll only end up disappointed. Nothing could be further from the truth where Denis was concerned. He was an amazing, humble guy. So ordinary when you met him.
“And yet he was such a role model for anybody like me aspiring to play the game. Playing against him was one thing. Playing alongside him was ever better. I was playing for Sheffield Wednesday when I got my first call up to face England.
“The match at Wembley was on the Saturday but the midweek before, Wednesday had a league game against United. The press boys wanted a photograph of me and Dennis together before we set off to London.
“I remember being asked if was up for it? I said, ‘You must be joking!’ But it was all set up and we both met up outside the dressing rooms before the game.
“That was the first time I'd met him properly. I have to admit, I was more nervous meeting Denis than playing against the world champions in front of 99,000. But that was how highly I rated Denis Law. He was and always will be my hero.”
That meeting was the start of a life long friendship between the pair. But McCalliog admits he was gutted to miss out on the chance to team up again when he joined United in 1974.
By that point, Law had crossed Manchester to join City. It was a move which saw his Old Trafford reputation sullied in the eyes of some Red Devils fans, who wrongly accused the Law Man of relegating his old side when he netted in an infamous final-day derby clash. It’s a fallacy McCalliog is keen to put straight.
“Some people still saying that Denis relegated United - that’s simply not true,” he insisted. "It was Birmingham who sent us down. They won their games and got the points which meant they stayed up.”
It might not have been his fault, but McAlliog remembers his friend struggling to shake the sense of responsibility. He continued: “Denis didn’t celebrate his goal, he just walked off the pitch.
“That’s because there was a fan invasion and the game was abandoned. I was one of the first back to the United dressing room - and there sat in the corner still in his City strip was Dennis. In the United dressing room!
“He was sat with his head on his knees. I went over and I said, ‘Are you ok?’ He said, ‘No’. I was trying my best to console him when in walked our manager Tommy Docherty. I thought he’d go mad finding Denis in there - but fair play to the Doc, he walked up and he shook hands with Denis. It was an amazing gesture.”
But it was an act of kindness returned by Law that will live with McCalliog forever. He said: “The biggest thrill I ever had was when I rang Denis and I asked him if he would do the forward for my book that I wrote a few years back.
“He said to me, ‘no problem Kiddo’, which is what he used to call me. When he said that, I just burst out in tears. It just meant so much to have someone like Denis Law say the things he said about me. I’ll treasure those words.”
