Readers recall their encounters with the late footballing legend

In Richard Williams’ superb retrospective on the late, great Denis Law, he mentions that Denis was an idol of Rod Stewart’s (Denis Law: the balletic superstar who scored with an extrovert’s flourish, 17 January). I remember being a steward at a hugely chaotic Rod Stewart concert in 1972 in Manchester. Halfway through, the music stopped, Denis was brought on stage, and Mr Stewart went down on his knees and bowed before his hero. Denis, in keeping with his quieter off‑field demeanour, looked slightly overcome by the gesture. Having met him myself, I can attest that he was, in private, a warm, friendly and considerate man.
Des Browning
Manchester

• Denis Law was known for his robust use of the English language. Years ago I heard an anecdote from Prof Peter Worsley, then head of the sociology department at Manchester University. He was a big Man United fan and great admirer of Denis. Peter was standing in the urinals at Euston station before returning to Manchester when, to his surprise and delight, Denis arrived to use the adjacent stall. He looked across and said: “And how is Professor Peter Worsley today?” Peter stuttered something appropriate and then asked: “But how do you know me?” Denis replied: “You are still wearing your fucking name badge.”
Diana Woodward
Marsworth, Buckinghamshire

• United keen on 20-year-old Danish international
• Antony set to join Real Betis on loan for season

Manchester United are targeting ­Lecce’s Patrick Dorgu, with the ­Italian club’s asking price for the 20-year-old wing-back believed to be about €40m (£33.7m).

The fee is €10m more than United’s valuation for the player but Ruben Amorim is intent on the Danish ­international joining the club with negotiations regarding a transfer continuing.

Today’s fluff is just a shot away from you

Manchester City may have already spent in excess of £120m this month but they haven’t finished yet, with Andrea Cambiaso of Juventus a potential full-back recruit and Atalanta’s Éderson, rated at £70m, among the midfielders they have their eye on. The Mill knows what you’re thinking, but beyond the one at Atalanta and the one already at City there are no other Edersons playing top-flight football anywhere, so sadly the dream of a team full of them is destined never to be realised.

If City fail to land Éderson No2 they might sign their former player Douglas Luiz from Juventus, which is handy given that they already have the Italian side on speed dial, though like Chelsea they would ideally take him on loan and Juve are interested only in a sale. Talking of Juve and sales, the Italian side have valued defender Cambiaso, who turns 25 next month, at €80m and so will dismiss the €65m bid they are expecting to receive from Manchester.

• Manager called team ‘maybe the worst’ in club’s history
• Minority owner unconcerned by comments’ effect

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has no concern that Ruben Amorim describing his Manchester United team as maybe the worst in the club’s history will cause the players to lose faith in the head coach and adversely affect performance.

United are 13th in the Premier League with 26 points and a -5 goal difference before travelling to Fulham on Sunday for the late game. Ratcliffe’s view is that the squad understand Amorim has a fierce desire to win and can be passionate and that his outburst will soon be forgotten.

Harvey Elliott deserves a Liverpool start, Chelsea should go for the jugular at City and Mikey Moore would help Spurs

In a surprise to pre-season predictors, this match is as important as a fixture in January can be in the battle for Champions League football. Nottingham Forest head into the weekend level with second-placed Arsenal, while Bournemouth are three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and seven back from Forest. The scrutiny on both teams is growing but they keep answering the questions thrown at them. Despite having no out-and-out striker last weekend, Bournemouth put four past Newcastle, giving Nuno Espírito Santo a warning. Justin Kluivert scored a hat-trick, his second of the season, at St James’ Park as Andoni Iraola’s flexible front four excelled. Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo might feel more confident against a natural No 9 but Forest’s centre-back pairing will relish the challenge. Will Unwin

Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 3pm (all times GMT)

Brighton v Everton, Saturday 3pm

Liverpool v Ipswich, Saturday 3pm

Southampton v Newcastle, Saturday 3pm

• Fernandes stoppage-time strike sinks Rangers
• Manager tight-lipped over Garnacho’s future

Ruben Amorim admitted Manchester United’s stoppage-time 2-1 Europa League win over Rangers was “truly needed in this moment”.

It followed Sunday’s dismal 3-1 defeat by Brighton and was only a second victory at Old Trafford since mid-December. It also came after the head coach describing his team as possibly the poorest of the club’s history, though he subsequently said he regretted the comment.

Bruno Fernandes scored a dramatic added-time winner, just when it looked as though Cyriel Dessers had rescued a point for the visitors

3 min: Garnacho dribbles in from the left, in the old-fashioned jinking Scottish style, and has a whack. Straight at Butland. Meanwhile up in the stand, the one-time Rangers starlet Alex Ferguson watches on.

2 min: United are immediately on the front foot. Garnacho and Dalot probe down the left. Then a look for the one-time Rangers starlet Diallo on the right. Rangers yet to have a significant touch.

Winning is the only cast-iron way to control the message in football. So after Ruben Amorim’s various recent rhetorical wrong turns this added-time, sixth victory of a chequered 16-game Manchester United reign was needed.

On 88 minutes it seemed very far from on as Harry Maguire missed a header to enable Cyriel Dessers to steal in and equalise with aplomb. But, then, Bruno Fernandes’s late strike grabbed the points, his winner following Jack Butland’s odd, back-fisted punch for an own-goal opener that will haunt the No 1 for many a day.

• West Ham chasing Sunderland’s Dan Neil
• Ipswich sign Brighton’s Julio Enciso on loan

Napoli are pushing to reach an agreement with Manchester United over Alejandro Garnacho but their hopes of signing the winger could be derailed by Chelsea.

Garnacho’s agents attended Chelsea’s win over Wolves this week and the Argentinian’s future remains up in the air. Napoli have identified the 20-year-old as a replacement for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who has joined Paris Saint-Germain, but are yet to agree a fee. The Italian club have looked at Borussia Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi as an alternative.

• Transfer and loan deals have come to nothing
• Rashford has not played since 12 December

Marcus Rashford accepts he may have to stay at Manchester United for the rest of the season after failing to secure a move in the first three and a half weeks of the transfer window. Eleven full days of the window remain and the forward is intent on making himself available for as long as he is at the club.

Rashford has not played for United since 12 December and five days later said he was “ready for a new challenge” after Ruben Amorim left him out of the squad for the 2-1 win at Manchester City. Rashford has no issue with Amorim, who has said the England international was dropped for “training reasons”, and would be happy to play for United again.

Manchester United paid Ajax €100m for a player who has more bookings than goals or assists in the Premier League

By Ben McAleer for WhoScored

“We are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United​,” said Ruben Amorim after Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at home to Brighton. The manager ​had paced up and down the touchline as his side managed just one shot on target in the match – and that was a Bruno Fernandes penalty.

United were always going to need time to adapt to the manager’s ideas but even he knows that a return of 11 points from 11 games is not good enough. “Imagine what this is for a fan of Manchester United, imagine what this is for me,” said Amorim. “We are getting a new coach who is losing more than the last coach.”

As Manchester United prepare to take on Rangers in the Europa League, we take a look at some of the ‘Battle of Britain’ European games over the years

• Manchester City second in list with £708m earnings
• Top 20 revenue-generating clubs made £9.46bn last year

Real Madrid became the first football club to surpass €1bn (£844m) in revenue in a season when they substantially increased their financial firepower over their major European rivals.

According to the latest Deloitte Football Money League report, Madrid made €1.046bn (£883m) in the 2023-24 season, fuelled by match-day revenue doubling to €248m after the completion of renovations to the Bernabéu and a 19% increase in commercial revenue. They ended the campaign as winners of the Champions League, La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup.

Denis Law was one of the most exciting footballers I have ever seen. I saw him in action for the first time in TV highlights of an FA Cup match when he played for Huddersfield Town v West Ham United in 1960. He was mesmerising on the icy pitch and I wished he played for my team, Manchester United, which of course he later did.

He had a phenomenal range of skills, joining United as a mid-field “schemer”, swiftly becoming an out-and-out striker. I recall seeing him score a perfect hat-trick against Crystal Palace, left foot, right foot, forehead, each goal requiring different skills. He was electrifying, and fearless, especially in the air where he seemed to out-jump everyone and hang there as though on an invisible ladder.

• Coach says talking to squad post-game also a mistake
• Increased police presence for tie at home to Rangers

Ruben Amorim regrets saying his Manchester United team may be the worst in the club’s history and giving the post-match dressing down that reportedly damaged a television screen.

The head coach claimed that his public comments after ­Sunday’s 3-1 defeat by Brighton at Old ­Trafford were aimed more at his ­underperformance than his players. He also suggested changing-room criticism of his squad had been an error because he does not usually address them after a game.

• Manchester United manager furious with squad after loss
• Brighton defeat was a fourth in five home league games

Ruben Amorim reportedly smashed a television in the Old Trafford dressing room in a furious rant at his squad after Manchester United’s 3-1 defeat to Brighton on Sunday.

The result was a seventh defeat in 15 games for the Portuguese manager who succeeded Erik ten Hag in November, and a fourth reverse in their last five home Premier League games.

Our cartoonist pays tribute to the Manchester United and Scotland legend, who has died aged 84

• Buy a copy of this cartoon in our Print Shop
• David’s new book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now

Ruben Amorim thinks so, but other managers have faced similar struggles. Here is a trip down memory lane to some of the worst crises at Old Trafford …

If United’s current state feels like a lost decade, then the 1930s were its progenitor, much of it spent in the second tier, fans yearning for the early 1900s glory years under Ernest Mangnall, one of only three United managers – with Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson – to win the league title. United finished last in the First Division at the end of the 1930-31 season, winning seven games, losing their opening 12, conceding 115 goals, the manager Herbert Bamlett, better known as a referee, sacked with six fixtures to play. The previous owner, John Henry Davies, who had funded the Mangnall years, had died in 1927, stretching finances. According to the author and broadcaster Eamon Dunphy, the final game, against Middlesbrough, drew 3,900 to Old Trafford, marked by an “uncanny atmosphere” with “the shouts of derision echoing through the empty grandstand”. United would spend the next couple of seasons fighting off relegation to the Third Division North.

• Striker believed still to be keen to give his best for club
• United manager had said forward had ruled himself out

Marcus Rashford is ready and available to play for Manchester United, the Guardian understands, after Ruben Amorim indicated the forward had ruled himself out of contention for the defeat by Brighton on Sunday.

Rashford has not played for United since 12 December and declared five days later that he was “ready for a new challenge” after being left out of the squad for the Manchester derby.

Manchester United’s wing-backs are struggling, Foden is back to his best and Bournemouth are top-four contenders

Ruben Amorim is repeatedly learning that his team are worryingly susceptible out wide. Brighton’s first two goals came from players being given space on the flanks in the huge gaps between wing-backs and centre-backs. Kaoru Mitoma gifted Yankuba Minteh a tap in and the favour was repaid in the second half. Leny Yoro had terrible troubles against Southampton and there were similar struggles once again as Brighton tested him on the outside. Noussair Mazraoui had a forgettable afternoon, looking poor in possession, which helped Brighton for the opener and he failed to intervene before Mitoma steered the second home at the back post. Mazraoui was moved to the left and soon the third goal arrived as Yasin Ayari was given the freedom to cross the ball. The wing-back positions need specialists and those available to Amorim are unable to provide the defensive robustness and attacking support required, although he will be sticking with 3-4-3 whether they like it or not. Amorim needs to find a solution. Will Unwin