Denis Law obituary: fond farewell to 'the King of the Stretford End'

On "windswept touchlines" in Aberdeen in the 1950s, people began to talk with excitement about a "puny, bespectacled kid with a squint who was somehow ramming home goals for his school and boys' club teams", said Michael Grant in The Times.

Small, thin and scrawny, with a terrible squint that forced him to wear glasses, there was little to suggest Denis Law "would make it as a footballer". Yet even while at primary school, he found the net with such regularity that his exploits frequently appeared in local papers.

In time, Law would go on to become one of the all-time greats of the British game – the scorer of 237 goals for Manchester United – placing him third on the club's all-time list, behind Bobby Charlton and Wayne Rooney – and arguably Scotland's greatest-ever footballer.

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His legendary status at Old Trafford – where he was known as "the King of the Stretford End" – was reflected in the emotional tributes paid to him following his death last week at the age of 84.

Humble beginnings

The son of a fisherman, and one of seven children, Law grew up in a house without central heating and often slept "three to a bed", said The Telegraph. He "learnt his football skills by making do with a ball of wool suspended from a hook in the kitchen".

At 15, he signed for Huddersfield Town, where he was told that to do well he'd need corrective surgery on his squint. The operation, as he later said, changed his life. Law "emerged from hospital a more confident teenager" and, in 1960, was signed by Manchester City, then in 1961 by the Italian club Torino.

His time there was unhappy, however: the "negative mentality" of the football didn't suit his attacking style, and he left Torino after just 27 appearances. In July 1962, Manchester United signed him for a then British record of £115,000. United at this time was a club still reeling from the Munich air disaster four years earlier, said Sachin Nakrani in The Guardian. In Sir Matt Busby's "masterfully constructed" side, Law was deployed alongside George Best and Bobby Charlton: the trio became known as the "Holy Trinity".

Law's early years at United were prolific: in 1963-64, he scored 46 goals in all competitions – still a club record – and the next year was Division One's top scorer as United won their first league title since Munich. (He won the Ballon d'Or the same year – the only Scot ever to do so.) In 1968, he missed out on "United's defining success of the era" – victory in the European Cup – because of a knee injury. His mood was "only slightly lifted" when Busby visited him in hospital a day after United beat Benfica in the final, bringing the trophy with him.

Fearless to the end

"Brave, athletic and spring-heeled", Law was an "instinctive" footballer who could score goals of many types, from leaping headers to deft flicks from low crosses, said The Times. "Even his tap-ins were a thing of predatory beauty." He was known, too, for his "regal" celebrations: arm raised, one finger pointing skywards, the others gripping the cuff of his shirt.

Although he was Scottish, he was "beloved of English football fans", but the affection wasn't always returned, said Richard Williams in The Guardian. A fierce patriot, Law described England's World Cup victory in 1966 as "the blackest day of my life", and gave no quarter to English club teammates when he faced them in internationals. In 55 caps for Scotland, he scored 30 goals – making him equal all-time top-scorer with Kenny Dalglish.

As a player, Law exhibited "absolute fearlessness", said Ian Herbert in the Daily Mail. And that spirit never left him: it was still evident four years ago, when he revealed he had Alzheimer's, and "described very precisely how the illness was limiting him". After Sunday's tribute, the fans at Old Trafford watched their team lose 3-1 to Brighton. What they wouldn't give for United's current side to display a fraction of Law's "warrior spirit".