Goals Ga-Law

by Peter Erlam

Journalist Peter Erlam's memoir details his lifelong passion for football and cricket, sports he has played for six decades. It is inspired by his boyhood hero Denis Law and driven by a misguided fantasy that one day he could line up alongside the Manchester United star. More realistically, the narrative develops around his pursuit of the autographs of the United Trinity, George Best, Bobby Charlton and, of course, the 'Lawman'. Goals Ga-law! starts with the author standing on an upturned beer crate on the Old Trafford terraces to get a better view of the action as a nine-year-old. It concludes 60 years later on Malta with the author representing Kent Seniors in an ill-fated cricket tournament. Randomly, Law has an interesting link with the island stretching back to the season United became the first English side to enjoy European Cup glory. Running through the book like a golden thread is Erlam's admiration for a man who had an unerring eye for scoring goals - 237 for the club and 30 for Scotland - despite him suffering from a serious squint as a youngster.