Trophies: Second Division (1961-62), First Division (1963-64, 1965-66), FA Cup (1965)
Ron Yeats was hailed as a physical ‘colossus’ before making a colossal impact on the fortunes of Liverpool FC.
The towering centre-back was brought to the Reds by Bill Shankly in 1961 as he sought to accelerate his revolution of a club languishing in the Second Division.
Signed from Dundee United, the manager invited journalists to ‘walk around’ Yeats at his unveiling, such was his imposing stature.
Within months of his arrival, Yeats was appointed as Liverpool’s captain too – a role he would fulfil for eight years and more than 400 matches. Only Steven Gerrard has worn the armband more frequently at the Reds.
After the Scot was deployed to the back line at Anfield – and fellow new arrival, compatriot and friend Ian St John added to the attack – Liverpool immediately got the promotion to the top flight they craved, with Yeats missing only one league match en route to the Second Division summit.
It was a stepping stone to even greater glories for the player and the team. In just their second season back in the First Division, 1963-64, the Reds won it by four points.
And in the next campaign, history was made as Yeats skippered Shankly’s team to the club’s first ever FA Cup triumph, with Leeds United defeated 2-1 after extra-time at Wembley.
Having told the Queen he was ‘absolutely knackered’ from the 120 minutes of play, ‘Rowdy’ – Yeats’ nickname – took the honour of finally collecting a trophy some feared the Reds were cursed to never win.
The defender had also been the perfect model for the all-red kit introduced by Shankly during that term in a bid to make his players more fearsome to opposition.
Aerially dominant, Yeats was involved in every game when the championship was reclaimed in 1965-66, a season in which Liverpool were also close to a maiden European trophy, losing to Borussia Dortmund in the Cup Winners’ Cup showpiece.
Yeats continued to be a lynchpin for Shankly even as collective success faded, clocking up 201 appearances in the final four seasons of the decade.
He wore the Liver bird on his chest for the last time in April 1971, wrapping up almost a decade of service in which he had helped truly transform the club.
“The best centre-half I have ever seen,” said teammate Roger Hunt soon after. “With him in the team and at his best, we used to think we were unbeatable.”
Yeats returned to Anfield in the late 1980s for a 20-year spell as chief scout, with another highly-placed man on the Liverpool’s Greatest list – Sami Hyypia – one of his discoveries.
Softly spoken, Yeats looked back humbly on a personal legacy that will stand the test of time.
“Being the captain that took the club out of the Second Division after eight years was a very, very proud moment,” he said. “We won the league by eight or nine points that season and to follow that by being the first captain of Liverpool to lift the FA Cup is something I am very proud of.
“I do not go round with the medals on my chest, it is just there for me to say.”
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