Exclusive interview with Denis Law: "I didn’t ever think I would become a footballer. I just wanted to be an architect."

Even at 76 years old, a capacity for mischief has not left Denis Law. His likeness stands in the middle of the statue, arm raised, solitary finger pointing skywards in the celebratory pose that signalled yet another goal had just been scored. He is flanked on the plinth by two men who would become the closest of friends. To his left, ball under one arm, is Bobby Charlton, on the other side, his arm gently touching Law’s back, stands George Best. All face towards the front of the stadium, gazing towards the statue of Sir Matt Busby, the legendary Scots manager who survived the Munich plane crash of 1958 to mould United into European champions a decade later. As a club they may have metamorphosed over the years into a sprawling corporate monster but, in tributes like these, there remains an indelible link to United’s rich and often poignant past.

Law takes it all in with a smile and a sigh. He does not make it to Old Trafford too often these days but it does not take much to bring the memories flooding back. He, Charlton and Best were diverse personalities away from the dressing room but on the pitch they produced a remarkable synergy that turned United into one of Europe’s most feared and respected teams. The clamour around their statue is a sign of the reverence with which they are still held to this day, as tales of their heroics are passed from parent to child to grandchild. It is perhaps little surprise that plans are now underway to chronicle the trio’s endeavours in a film.

Only two of those swashbucklers in red shirts now remain, of course. Law and Charlton were among Best’s final visitors before his untimely passing aged 59 in 2005, the legacy of a life perhaps lived too well. “I still miss George,” admits Law. “That’s been 11 years now, he passed away too early. Maybe he enjoyed himself too much but he was a character. They called him the Fifth Beatle with his personality and the hair and the rest. He would be a real superstar if he was playing today, right up there at the top.”

He still sees Charlton – “Sir Bobby” as he calls him deferentially – whenever he can, and was pleased to report his friend had recovered well from illness last year. “He’s a good lad - a legend for club and country.”

It evidently still tickles Law that the three would become such a force on the field, and close friends off it, despite leading such disparate social lives. While Best’s champagne lifestyle was well documented, Law tended to be at home with wife Diana looking after their five children.

“We were three completely different characters who played together and did so well in the same team,” he says. “I don’t know why it all clicked but it just did. When the game was over the three guys were off doing their own thing. Besty would be out at a nightclub, I would be home doing the nappies, and Bobby would be doing his own thing, too.”

It is a similar story now. Once he is finished on this rare trip back to Old Trafford, Law is rushing off to attend the birthday party of one of his five grandchildren. A shoulder operation a few years ago put paid to his golf – “I was never that great a player anyway” – but, that aside, he is looking well and full of charm, going out of his way to shake hands with all of the stewards stationed outside the main reception before tooting his horn as he drives away at the builders waving fanatically at him from their precarious perch atop some scaffolding.

His humility is remarkable for someone who deserves to be considered one of the finest players to ever play for both United and Scotland. His, though, is a streak of modesty that has endured for more than six decades. Growing up as the youngest of seven children, he insists that not for one moment did it cross his mind that he would one day become a professional footballer. Instead he had designs on an alternative career. One can only speculate how the Aberdeen skyline may have altered had he taken that path but it is fair to surmise that the football world would have been irrevocably poorer.

“Growing up in Aberdeen I didn’t ever think I would become a footballer,” he says. “That was never in my mind at all. It wasn’t until I was 15 and leaving school that I was asked to go to Huddersfield for a trial. I had a squint in my eye and was still young so the idea of playing football for a career wasn’t something I had ever thought of. I wanted to become an architect. I was interested in that side of things and was doing quite well at school. You don’t think about becoming a footballer in those days. Not once did I think that was a realistic path for me. Did I know I had a talent? Not really, I just enjoyed playing football. Being able to play and send a couple of quid home to my mum was a big thing for me. There was just this thrill every time I played and that stayed with me throughout my career. I never at any point got fed up with it.”

He would keep enjoying it for almost 20 years, chalking up goal after goal, and milestone after milestone from Huddersfield to Manchester City to Torino to United and then back to City again to round it all off in 1974. He remains the only Scot to be crowned the European Footballer of the Year in 1964, won two league titles and an FA Cup with United, and played his part when they became the first English team to win the European Cup in 1968 (although he was injured and missed the final).

Such was his tenacity and talent it is not difficult to envisage him thriving in the modern game but Law sees it differently. “If I was still playing in today’s world I wouldn’t be on the pitch very long,” he says. “Football has become a lot like rugby with people pulling shirts every two minutes. The referees aren’t doing their jobs. These are fouls, they shouldn’t let the defenders get away with it. We’ve seen shirts getting pulled off players’ bodies at the European Championships – how are they getting away with that? I couldn’t imagine a guy pulling my shirt and getting away with it. I don’t think I would have coped very well in the modern game. If we were at a corner kick and a guy was pulling you like that, well, I couldn’t have stood for that.”

He is envious of the luscious green pitches that are prevalent in football these days – he eagerly directs me to a picture in a large, glossy coffee table book of him playing on what looks very much like a mudbath – reveals himself to be an admirer of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, while expressing his surprise at the recent discovery that Jamie Vardy is not a fresh-faced teenager but instead pushing 30.

“I have to be honest and say I had never heard of him before. I thought he was just a young guy who had broken through. So I went on the internet to look him up and couldn’t believe he was 28 or 29. And now he’s playing for England and scoring in the Euros. So that’s a great story. You don’t hear too much of that these days.”

It is an evident source of anguish to him that Scotland are not in France, too, although he is diplomatically positive on the direction the national team is taking under Gordon Strachan. “You look at the qualifying group England had and you think, that would have been nice for Scotland. We might have qualified then. I felt we had a chance and then unfortunately at the end it just collapsed. And it’s doubly disappointing when you see some of the other teams that are in there, too. I worry a bit for Scottish football but at least Gordon is bringing something back there. Scotland was always renowned for playing entertaining, attacking football and for a while before Gordon came in it had looked a bit dull. We wondered where the players were. But at least Gordon seems to have us going the right way again.”

Law is not a man to mull over his personal legacy but playing for Scotland evidently meant much to him, regardless of the baubles he collected in club football. A haul of 55 caps and just one appearance at a major finals seems scant reward for such a talent – his 30 goals remains a joint Scottish record alongside Kenny Dalglish – but, for Law, every international appearance was something to be cherished.

“When you’re 15 years of age and don’t know what you’re going to be doing with your life, and three years down the line you’re playing for your country – how does that happen?! That’s just a dream. There’s nothing bigger than playing for your country. There were so many good Scottish players about it’s just a shame we didn’t qualify and didn’t achieve what we might have. I’m not one really for regrets but you just wonder if things had been different in the qualification campaigns and in the way the team was run we could have gone further. You look at all the brilliant Scottish players in the 1960s especially and it seems hard to believe we didn’t get to a major finals. When you think of those players like Jim Baxter, John Greig, Willie Henderson, Billy McNeill, wee Jinky, Dave Mackay and the rest…the list goes on and on. There are still some good players in Scotland but not just the same amount as we had back then. There were really talented guys who only got eight caps as there was so much competition.”

He will be reunited with two of those former Scotland team-mates on a stage in Glasgow next month, Law joining Henderson and Greig to recant tales from the glory days to a no doubt enraptured audience. While Henderson will share memories of his days spent with the likes of Muhammad Ali and Telly Savalas, Law’s social life was rather more prosaic.

“I know Rod Stewart quite well but apart from that I’ve never been one to really mingle with celebrities. That wasn’t really me. I never hung about with film stars or TV stars. But I was with George, Bobby and the rest. They were all stars to me.”

- An Evening with Denis Law, John Greig and Willie Henderson is at the Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow on July 28. Tickets, now on sale three for two, are available from www.secc.co.uk and 0844 395 4000.