Denis Law predicts bright future with Strachan

Denis Law: Attacking football. Picture: SNS

Arguably the greatest player ever to be produced by this country, our joint leading goalscorer (30 from 53 caps, compared to Kenny Dalglish’s 30 from 102), the former Manchester United idol has been thrilled by Strachan’s have-a-go approach to the job.

Like many staunch patriots, Law was appalled by the ultra-negative 4-6-0 formation previous manager Craig Levein used in the 1-0 defeat against the Czech Republic in Prague four years ago – to the extent that he can’t even bring himself to name the man responsible for that white flag selection.

“I’m absolutely delighted that Gordon’s managing Scotland,” said Law, the first person ever inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. “There’s one thing about Gordon: he is a manager who wants his teams to be positive.

“He’s attempting to play good attacking football and he has got the crowd behind him now. We don’t have to mention names but there was one before who didn’t even have a forward line. How does that come about?

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“We are Scotland. We were always an attacking team that tried to play nice football and score goals. The good thing about Gordon is that that’s back.”

Law admits that he could barely believe what he was watching during that shameful night in Prague.

“Unbelievable,” he said. “It was a sad day for Scotland. It was very disappointing. How can you win games, how can you entertain people? Was it all about avoiding defeat? Yes. I know it’s changing as the years go on and we don’t have the players in numbers [that we used to], but good players are still coming through and Gordon will take us forward. If it happens for Scotland, it will happen under Gordon because he wants to entertain the people.”

Law is looking forward to the Republic of Ireland’s visit on Friday but next week’s clash with the Auld Enemy also excites him.

“I was at Wembley last year when they brought the fixture back,” he said. “We played extremely well, even though we lost 3-2. But that wasn’t the point: the point was that people realised that Scotland were back on the international scene. The crowd loved it. They really got behind Scotland. It makes life easier for me at the golf course, too, when Scotland are doing well. They really did rub it in. It would be nice to get them back.

“Can we beat them? Of course we can. What a stupid question. Even the last time we played well and we were unlucky to lose. But you feel going into this next meeting that it’s going to be even more of a game.

“You do feel we can beat them, yes. I’m not just saying it. There’s a real feeling about us now. I think even English fans are looking at us and thinking Scotland have a team again. It’s been a while since they thought that.”

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