April 27, 1974: The Denis Law Game

April 27, 1974: Denis Law scores the last goal of his club football career. He wished he hadn't.

Born on February 24, 1940 in Aberdeen, Scotland, he began his career with Yorkshire team Huddersfield Town in 1956, where the manager was a fellow Scot, future Liverpool manager Bill Shankly. Another Scot, Manchester United manager Matt Busby, offered Huddersfield £10,000 for the teen star in 1957, but they turned him down.

In 1960, Busby tried to buy Law again, but Manchester City offered £55,000, then a record transfer fee for a British player. He played the 1960-61 season at Man City, and played the 1961-62 season at Torino of Turin, Italy, who offered City £110,000, a new record for a British player, and double the previous record they had paid for him.

Unfortunately, Law was one in a long line of fine British players who tried to play in Italy, following the success of Wales' John Charles at the other Turin team, Juventus. Most flopped, including England's Jimmy Greaves at AC Milan in 1961, and Law's fellow Scotsman Joe Baker, also with Torino in 1961-62. Baker was badly hurt in a car crash in which Law sustained minor injuries, and their tenure in Torino was stormy.

It got so bad that Italy's Serie A closed itself off to foreign players, only opening back up again in 1980, and Ireland's Liam Brady found success at Juventus. But Wales' Ian Rush flopped there, and England's Paul Gascoigne was a disaster at Rome team Lazio. In the Premier League era, Italian players would find more success in England, including Gianfranco Zola at Chelsea and Paolo Di Canio at West Ham United.

Busby finally got his man, breaking the British transfer record by paying Torino £115,000. Law became a part of the Manchester United "Trinity" with Bobby Charlton and George Best. He helped them with the FA Cup in 1963, the Football League in 1965 and 1967, and the European Cup in 1968 (though he was injured and did not play in the Final). In 1964, he was named winner of the Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball) as world player of the year.

Denis Law was Scottish. How Scottish was he? (I should say, "is": As of April 27, 2022, he is still alive.) He was so Scottish, on the day of the 1966 World Cup Final, in which his Man United teammates Charlton and Nobby Stiles were defeating West Germany for England, he was playing golf, instead of watching the Final on television. He chose to play the "sport" that Scotsmen invented over watching England win the World Cup.

And he did also excel for his country, leading Scotland to win the British Home Championship in 1962, 1963 and 1967, and sharing it in 1960 (in a 3-way tie with England and Wales), 1964 (in a 3-way tie with England and Ireland) and 1972 (officially, tied with England, though England won head-to-head). He scored the opening goal in Scotland's 3-2 win over World Cup holders England at Wembley Stadium in London in 1967, earning the Scots, as did their 1928 forebears, the nickname the Wembley Wizards.

And while it wasn't a game for his country, Law was chosen for the Rest of the World team that faced England in the FA Centenary Match at Wembley in 1963. He scored the only goal for Rest of the World, as England won 2–1, on goals by Greaves and Terry Paine, Greaves netting the winner in the 90th minute.

Law went back to Manchester City to finish his career. Though they had won the League in 1968 and the FA Cup in 1969, City were not good in 1973-74, finishing 14th. But United had fallen apart in the post-Busby years. The next-to-last game of the League season for United was a derby at Old Trafford on April 27. United needed to beat City to stand any chance of avoiding relegation.

Law didn't even want to play, but it was to be his last League game, and at his old stomping grounds. In the 81st minute, with the score still 0-0, Law was posted in front of his ex-teammate, United goalie Alex Stepney, when Francis Lee sent a cross along the ground, and Law backheeled the ball into the net. Announcing for the BBC, Brian Moore said, "Lee... put across for Law! Denis has done it! But no elation there at all from Denis Law."

The United fans cheered their former hero on his last goal, even though it guaranteed their relegation. At the time, unless they brought a transistor radio to the game, no one knew that United were already relegated: Birmingham City beat the already-relegated Norwich City, meaning the Brummies would finish ahead of Man United, no matter what. Despite beating Everton, Southampton were the 3rd and last relegated team.

Also on that day, Leeds United defeat Queens Park Rangers 1-0, at QPR's home ground of Loftus Road in West London, to win their season finale. This, combined with Liverpool losing 1-0 to Arsenal at Anfield 3 days earlier, clinched the Football League title for Leeds.

The way the schedule worked out, due to postponements, Liverpool had 2 games left, but even if they had won them both, they couldn't overtake Leeds. As it turned out, Liverpool drew both games. Leeds United won the title by 5 points over Liverpool. And Arsenal and Coventry City played to a 3-3 draw at Highfield Road in Coventry.

Law made one final competitive-game appearance, in the Scotland team's opening game of the 1974 World Cup in Germany, a 2-0 win over Zaire. The Scots did not advance.

United got back up the next season, and haven't gone down since. Oddly, their Captain was former Arsenal star, and future Arsenal title-winning manager, George Graham.

UPDATE: Denis Law died on January 17, 2025.

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April 27, 1974 was a Saturday. American-style football was out of season. The NBA, NHL and WHA Playoffs were all between games. There was 1 game in the ABA Playoffs: The Utah Stars beat the Indiana Pacers, 109-87 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers, 6-1 at Shea Stadium, where they were groundsharing with the Mets while the original Yankee Stadium was being renovated. David Clyde went the distance for the win, while Pat Dobson didn't get out of the 3rd inning. Roy White got 2 hits, while the rest of the Yankees combined only got 5.

* The New York Mets lost to the San Francisco Giants, 11-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Baltimore Orioles, 11-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Catfish Hunter outpitched Mike Cuellar. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-2 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-4.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium the next season.) Hank Aaron, having hit his 718th and 719th career home runs over the 2 preceding games, did not play. Roric Harrison, the starting pitcher, hit a home run.

* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-7 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Astros jumped on Bob Moose for 5 runs before the Pirates even came to bat, backing starting pitcher Tom Griffin. Willie Stargell went 2-for-4 with a walk.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the California Angels, 6-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Jim Perry pitched a 4-hit shutout. For the Angels, Frank Robinson went 0-for-4. He would be traded to the Indians that season. At the end of it, he was appointed their manager, the 1st black manager in MLB.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ed Brinkman hit 2 home runs. Al Kaline, in his last season, went 2-for-5.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-0 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Jim Slaton pitched a 4-hit shutout. Rookie Robin Yount went 2-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Ken Reitz doubled Bake McBride home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Lou Brock went 0-for-4 with a walk. Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with a walk. Johnny Bench went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Boston Red Sox, 10-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-2 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Dave Winfield went 0-for-4. Mike Schmidt and Dave Cash hit home runs for the Phils.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 5-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.