nationalcaps birth_date years caps goals image_size nationalyears image name caption fullname birth_place nationalteam height totalcaps totalgoals nationalgoals clubs position article_title
55 24 february 1940 1956 1962 -- 1973 1973 -- 1974 -- 1960 1960 -- 1961 1961 -- 1962 81 44 27 309 24 16 21 10 171 9 200px 1958 -- 1974 denis law.jpg denis law denis law in 2011 denis law aberdeen , scotland scotland 5 ft 9 in m 2 on 485 227 30 huddersfield town manchester city torino manchester united manchester city centre forward denis law

denis law

denis law -lrb- born 24 february 1940 -rrb- is a scottish former football player , who enjoyed a long and successful career as a striker from the 1950s to the 1970s .
law 's career as a football player began at second division huddersfield town in 1956 .
after four years at huddersfield , he was signed by manchester city for a transfer fee of # 55,000 , which set a new british record .
law spent one year there before torino bought him for # 110,000 , this time setting a new record fee for a transfer between an english and an italian club .
although he played well in italy , he found it difficult to settle there and signed for manchester united in 1962 , setting another british record transfer fee of # 115,000 .
he is best known for the 11 years that he spent at united , where he scored 237 goals in 404 appearances , second only to bobby charlton in the club 's goalscoring chart .
he was nicknamed `` the king '' and `` the lawman '' by supporters , and `` denis the menace '' by opposing supporters who generally feared and respected him .
he is the only scottish player in history to have won the prestigious ballon d'or award , doing so in 1964 , and helped his club win the first division in 1965 and 1967 .
he missed their european cup triumph in 1968 through injury .
law left manchester united in 1973 to return to manchester city for a season , and represented scotland at the 1974 fifa world cup .
he retired at the start of the 1974 -- 75 season .
law played for scotland a total of 55 times and jointly holds the scottish international record goal tally with 30 goals .
law holds a united record for scoring 46 competitive goals in a single season .
