The life and times of Denis Law – from impoverished in Aberdeen to the pinnacle of football

dailyrecord.co.uk:

When The King was born in wartime Aberdeen in February 1940, shoes were for Sunday. The youngest of seven children - four boys and three girls - Denis Law’s impoverished background in a tenement flat in the Woodside district of the Granite City was in stark contrast to his future life as football royalty.

It is said that the son of a fisherman went barefoot until the age of 12 and wore hand-me-down shoes throughout his early teens.He certainly never denied the claim or the suggestion that his first pair of boots were a second-hand birthday present from a neighbour.

But in a classic case of pauper to prince, Denis rose above his humble beginnings to wear his crown with pride. He also remained a man of the people after defying the odds to become a winner of the prestigious Ballon d’Or awarded to the player voted the best in Europe by a panel of football writers from across the continent.Yet few youngsters appeared less likely to aspire to greatness in the field of sport than the young Law.

Slightly built and wearing a pair of national health style wire spectacles in an effort to correct a noticeable squint, he looked more suited to pushing a pen than controlling a football in a way that few others could do.