A great start to our week with this one - the subject is, of course, Denis Law, or more correctly Denis Law, Commander of the British Empire.
However the clue was the set, Panini`s "Footballers 1961/2", also known as "Calciatore 1961/2" which is generally regarded to be their first set of stickers! In fact this was incorrect, for not all of the cards were stickers, and for purists, the first Panini sticker set to be entirely composed of stickers was "Football 1972/3". Now you might be thinking that you have seen a set called Calciatori 1960-61 which beats this. That is actually a very odd story indeed, for it is a reprint, by the newspaper La Gazetta dello Sport, and it was not by Panini at all. You can read more about that at the FootballCartophilicExchange/Calciatori And to save you hitting the dictionary, Calciatore means footballer in Italian, but specifically it means a striker. A goalkeeper was a portiere, which technically means a gate keeper. I am certain that there were goalkeepers in the set though?
Now this is not Denis Law`s rookie card, that is the 1959 card issued by Top Flight Sweet Cigarettes where he is card 24/25, and it shows him at Huddersfield Town, his first team, between 1956 and 1960. And the text on that card ties the date down very well as it speaks of his recent transfer to Manchester, and this, of course, was Manchester City. The contract was signed on the 15th of March 1960. By the way, his transfer fee was the highest ever recorded, £55,000. He only stayed at Manchester City for a year, and his next club is shown on our card. This is actually a rather cool connection because both Panini and Torino are based in Italy. Panini is actually in Modena, but there is only about two hours driving time between the two. However sadly he did not get on well in Italy, and moved back to Manchester, but United, in 1962