I spent years marvelling at Denis Law's skills on the park but discovered another side to him full of mischief and fun

Denis Law played with his jersey outside his shorts and his heart on his sleeve.

He may have developed an unusual accent that was a mix of Oxford English and Scots lampooned by comedians, but he never completely lost his Aberdeen twang - or love of country. I first encountered Denis as a young journalist and I remained in awe of a player many regard as the finest to represent his country. The King, the Lawman, Denis The Menace…call him what you like, the man was quite simply a class individual

After years of brief encounters and telephone interviews, I had the good fortune to get to know Denis up close during the 1990 World Cup in Italy. He was there in his role as a radio commentator while I was representing my newspaper. They say that you shouldn’t meet your heroes for fear of being disappointed. But spending time socialising in Denis’s company was a delight.

After years spent marvelling at the skills of a slightly built man who seemed to be able to hang in the air and who was blessed with the heart of a lion the way he courageously refused to back away from hatchetmen, I was intrigued to discover another side to Denis. Full of mischief and inclined to harmless schoolboy-type pranks, Denis was a bundle of fun and a great storyteller who rarely had a bad word to say about anyone.

Denis remains Scotland’s joint top scorer with Kenny Dalglish with 30 in 55 internationals and you can bet that every one of those goals meant the world to him. Pulling on a dark blue jersey added an extra dimension to Denis’ game to the extent that Pele claimed that Law was the only non-national who could have played for Brazil.

The late, great Jim Baxter also discovered just how passionate his team-mate was when it came to playing against