Interview with Denis Law: Mary Hannigan talks to one of the greatest strikers of all time and finds him as witty and individualistic as he was in his hey-day

FACTS

Born: Aberdeen, February 24th, 1940.

Club career: Huddersfield (1956-60), Manchester City (1960-61), Torino (1961-62), Manchester United (1962-73), Manchester City (1973-74).

International career: 55 caps, 30 goals for Scotland, debut at 18 in 1958, last game in June 1974.

Career highlights: Two English Division One titles (1964-65, 1966-67) and an FA Cup (1963) with Manchester United; scored 46 goals in 40 games for United in the 1963-64 season; European Footballer of the Year (1964); scored one of Scotland's goals in a 3-2 win over England at Wembley in 1967 (after which Law insisted Scotland should be declared unofficial world champions).

Career lows: Missed the 1968 European Cup final through injury; discovered that his United career was over (after being given a free transfer by Tommy Docherty) while watching television in a bar in Aberdeen; scored the goal (for Manchester City) that effectively relegated United in 1974 ("the most depressing day of my life").

Other honours: Chosen by the Scottish Football Association as Scotland's nominee for a "golden player" award ("the greatest player this country has produced in the last 50 years") - the awards will form part of UEFA's 50th jubilee celebrations in 2004.

QUOTES

"Denis was the best in the business, he could score goals from a hundredth of a chance, never mind half of one."

- George Best

"He didn't just act as if it was his ball, he acted as if it was his stadium."

- Paddy Crerand

"The greatest thing on two feet."

- Bill Shankly.

"The most exciting player in the game."

- Matt Busby

"The blackest day of my life."

- Law's description of the day England won the World Cup

"He is the top man, an excellent player. One of his greatest attributes is he never gives anything up. He's always in there battling - in fact, he is a bit like a Scot. I would say he is better than I was."

- Law on Ruud van Nistelrooy

"Folklore would have it that his father was a fan of mine and named him after me. I'm very flattered - but where did the extra 'n' come from?"

- Law on Dennis Bergkamp

"Denis Law once kicked me at Wembley in front of the Queen. I mean, no man is entitled to do that, really."

- Bobby Robson

"A few of my pals came into the ward to watch the game on television with me, they brought a crate of McEwans in with them - you have to get your priorities right haven't you? So, by the time Bobby Charlton got the fourth goal, I couldn't remember too much about it."

- Law, in hospital in Manchester at the time, on his memories of the 1968 European Cup final

"Son of a fisherman from Aberdeen, played for his country when only 18, His football magic is a sight to see, As he leads United on to victory - Denis, Denis Law, King of the Football League."

- Manchester United terrace song from the 1960s

"Denis Law was my favourite player - ever."

- Jimmy Greaves

He's not convinced he's wearing well but, at 63, he's as recognisable now as he was the day he won the European Footballer of the Year award . . . 39 years ago. Still skinny, still slight, still the possessor of the grin of a rascal and, of course, that unmistakable hair - as trend-setting in its day as anything David Beckham's hairdresser has conjured up since.

"I never watch old videos or films of myself," he says. Never? "Never. I get embarrassed watching myself."

Is it the hairdo?

"Oi," he says, indignantly, proudly patting his head, still blonde, still spiky, still unmistakably: Denis Law. "When I look at some of the photos they ask me to sign I say, 'who is that?' Embarrassing. I'm in the kit and it looks like it was taken 75 years ago. It's like Dorian Gray in reverse, the picture stays the same but I grow older. And older. And the brain has gone dead, too."

No fear, though, of being asked, "Didn't you used to be Denis Law?" Those videos and old films have frozen his football genius in time; no need to rely on yellowing newspaper cuttings to convince the young folk of just how great he was. They can see for themselves.

When a half-decent centre-forward emerges at Manchester United they dig out the old films and treat the post-Law generation to some of his finest moments - goal . . . wheels away, arm in the air - and then ask the question: how does this new fella compare to Law? Still the yardstick by which every United centre forward is measured. His face, his legend still recognised wherever he goes. Much to his bemusement.

"I was in Mauritius last month," he laughs. "I went to reception to get my key the first night, there was a man sitting behind the desk, watching a game on the television. He looked up, smiled and said: 'United are one up.' And this was in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It astounded me," he says, shaking his head. "There's really nowhere you can go, even now."

He's in the middle of a two-week tour promoting his autobiography, The King. London, Manchester, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin - he's lost count of the cities he's visited in the first week, and lost count of the number of times football has hit the front pages in the same spell.

All the time Law's contemporaries have been queuing up to condemn today's footballers and their off-the-field behaviour. "It wasn't like that in our day," they've insisted. Law isn't so sure.

"A lot of it happened in our day too - there were some people who couldn't handle it then either - I don't think it's any different in that respect. It's just that anything that happens now, well, the coverage just goes on and on, paper after paper, television, radio, everything, it's non-stop. But, no, it hasn't been good for football.

"The one part of it that upsets me is talk of footballers bragging at waitresses, and so on, about how much they earn - ah, I think that's disgusting, absolutely disgusting. Doesn't matter what you're on, £40 or £40,000 a week, you shouldn't be treating people like that. The old saying is, 'treat people as you'd like to be treated yourself'. That's what we were taught when we were young - respect. That part disgusts me.

"If you're earning the kind of money these fellas are on you should be dedicated beyond belief really; it's your life. But in all walks of life young people who suddenly start earning big money can go off the rails, it's not just football. But it's up to the managers - and parents and families as well - to teach them a bit of responsibility.

"It's funny, I just remembered the other day, in the middle of all this news, that we used to get a little book at United with the rules of the club, with our name written on it. One of the rules said you couldn't travel more than 20 miles outside the city without notifying, and getting permission from, the club. Can you imagine that now?" he laughs. "Beckham flying to China, New York, whatever. It's a different generation, different times."

So, how did Denis Law avoid going off the rails?

"Well, you played in front of 60,000 at Old Trafford, the adrenalin was pumping, all that excitement - then you went back home and there was a clothes line of dirty nappies - that brought you back to earth in a very short time," he says.

"So, you're up there one minute, two or three hours later, runny noses, dirty nappies, there's not much glamour in that.

"So, yeah, football's not what it was, it's changed a lot, some of it for the better, some for the worst, but at the end you're still judged on what you do on the pitch, those 90 minutes. Once you stop doing it on the pitch they won't put up with anything else, same then, same now. There were a few guys in our day who were a bit wild, but so long as they did it on the pitch it was not a problem."

Speaking of George Best . . . if he found it hard to adjust to life after football it was no less difficult for Law. In his book he talks of just how hard it was to accept that his playing days were over, how unprepared he was for "the real world".

"It was a sudden decision. I came back from the World Cup with Scotland and saw the writing on the wall at Manchester City, knew I'd probably start in the reserves that season. I just thought, well, I'm not coming back from the World Cup to go in to reserve team football - that is where you start, that is not where you finish.

"It's an awful thing, pride, but that's what it was, pride. Just woke up one morning and thought, 'nah, I'm not doing that'. And just retired.

"I'd made my decision, I couldn't really go back on it, so I had to battle with it. I was a football player, for the previous 18 years, I didn't know anything else. I thought about coaching kids, but I wasn't the type of person to be able to tell young boys that they weren't good enough, shatter their lives really, all that - you have to do some awful things as a manager. Nah, not for me.

"So it was a worrying time, yeah. You hear a lot about guys who were in the profession, retired and just couldn't cope. They miss that adrenalin, the camaraderie, all that. I was like that for two or three years as well. You don't miss the actual game as much, it's the lads, the dressing-room chatter, going away.

"I was at United for 11 years, so it was like being in a job, then you've got to leave and do something different. After a while you just have to say, 'that life is over now, it's finished'. You've got to forget about it, you've got to move on, do something you mightn't particularly like or want to do, but through necessity you've got to do it because you've got a family to look after."

That "necessity" led Law to taking a job selling carpets for a company owned by a Manchester United supporter.

"It was quite tough, but it taught you how to live in the real world, because you're so protected as a football player: you're taken here, taken there, you're well looked after. But all of a sudden you're on your own, having to do normal things that people take for granted, but they weren't normal to us.

"It was difficult dealing with that, embarrassing as well, a bit humiliating to be honest. Met some good people, but, nah, didn't enjoy it."

After selling carpets, the BBC came calling, in 1975, and asked Law to work for them as a match summariser, an invitation that heralded a 20-year career in the media.

"But then it all changed. Back then your game was on a Saturday or a Wednesday, you knew where you were. All of a sudden it was a Sunday, a Monday night, in Newcastle or somewhere, so I just got fed up travelling about. Don't do it any more.

"It was a bit of both - my decision and probably the people wanted fresh faces or voices."

These days, then, he spends his time "spoiling" his grandchildren, reading books, doing the odd after-dinner speech here and there. Taking it easy. Enjoying life.

He's not convinced, anyway, that he would have fitted in comfortably with today's brand of football punditry. Like when it finishes 0-0, the game was dire, but they try to convince you it was a classic?

"Exactly," he laughs. "But when you watch football like that what you do is turn the sound down, just watch the game and then you can make your own mind up. Don't listen to them. I never listen, always turn the sound off. People putting their opinions on you. But, of course, they're selling the game, aren't they?

"But I was never a great watcher of football anyway, and I'm still the same today - I'm very choosy about what I watch. And I just can't look at it as 'life and death', never could. For me it was a job.

"When I was away with United and people rang my home looking for me my wife would say, 'he's at work'," he laughs. "Like I was at the office or in the factory - but she was right, I was at work.

"Of course I love football, but not in the way some of these supporters do. I think some of them are as daft as a brush, taking it so seriously. There are more important things in life than a football match, but you realise how dedicated people are.

"It's amazing. To be honest, I never asked for a footballer's autograph in my life. In fact, I've only ever asked for one autograph - Charlton Heston's."

Charlton Heston?

"Aye, we met him in Spain years ago."

Did he ask for yours?

"No - didn't know me from Adam. I was just a 'saawcer' player he'd never heard of."

And the players these people worship today? Do any of them excite you?

"Well, in England, I'd have a lot of respect for Michael Owen, and, of course, Ruud van Nistelrooy. Love the way he works so hard, chases everything, never gives up, that's my kind of player. Excellent forward. Has it all. Yeah, comparisons are made, two United centre forwards."

You were quoted as saying he's better that you were? "Was I?" Yeah. "Well . . . maybe," he grins.

Outside England? Zinedine Zidane? "Aaah," he says, throwing his arms in the air, "now you're talking. There's a player. Brilliant. Naturally brilliant. Did you see his goal in the European Cup final in Glasgow? The volley? Genius. And then he shrugs, like it was nothing. It's easy for him. So easy. I could watch him forever. Pure class," he sighs.

How does Beckham compare? He grins. Shakes his head. "No," he says, "no, he doesn't compare. Fine player, a very fine player, and I think he'll get even better in Spain, but no, he's not in Zidane's class, whatever the media tells you."

He grins again. You can see why Law gave up punditry. That's one game he could never play, with any conviction. The real game? Played it like few others.

The King, by Denis Law (Bantam Press, €21.99).