Ron Yeats, Scots footballer who led Liverpool to 1960s glory as Bill Shankly’s ‘colossus’

Shankly credited Yeats and Ian St John with sparking Liverpool’s renaissance and unveiled him to the press saying: ‘The man is a mountain!’

Ron Yeats, who has died aged 86, was fundamental to the rise to greatness of Liverpool Football Club in the 1960s, as Bill Shankly’s captain and, in the great manager’s words, “colossus”; during 10 seasons at Anfield, Yeats led the side in more matches than anyone has except Steven Gerrard, and claimed not only two league titles but also Liverpool’s first FA Cup.
Yeats, a left-footed centre-half, had at 23 helped to propel Dundee United back into Scotland’s First Division for the first time in almost 30 years. Told in 1961 that Liverpool wanted to sign him, he was instructed to meet Shankly at Edinburgh station. 
Then serving in the Army, Yeats stood 6 ft 3 in and weighed 14 ½ stone, his physique filled out by work as a slaughterman. The only uniform that fitted him dated from the Great War. “Some size you are!” said Shankly admiringly. When Yeats was unveiled to the press, the manager invited reporters to walk around him, quipping: “The man is a mountain!”
Shankly would observe that it was the arrival of Yeats and of another Scot, Ian St John, that sparked the team’s renaissance. Reputedly, he had asked Yeats where Liverpool was, the answer being: stuck in the Second Division. “But with you,” he said, “we’ll be in the First next season.”
Dominant in the air and persuasive in the tackle, if never comfortable on the ball, the wholehearted Yeats helped form the spine of the side, with Tommy Lawrence in goal behind him and Roger Hunt upfront with St John. In 1962, with Yeats having succeeded Dick White as captain, Liverpool duly won promotion to the First Division as champions of the Second by a margin of eight points.
With the addition of youth-system discoveries such as Ian Callaghan and Tommy Smith, who often partnered Yeats in defence, the team won the league in 1964, the club’s first such title for almost 20 years. That matched Everton’s haul of six, but taunts still came from their neighbours over the Reds’ failure to win the FA Cup.
That was rectified the following year against Leeds at a cacophonous Wembley, where Yeats stood a full foot taller than his counterpart as captain, Bobby Collins. With the match 1-1 after 90 minutes, St John scored the winner in extra time with a glancing header. Yeats had been told beforehand that should it be he to whom the Queen presented the trophy, he should confine his remarks to “Yes, ma’am” and “No, ma’am”.
But when the monarch opened the conversation by saying: “You must be exhausted”, Yeats replied: “Absolutely knackered”, drawing a smile from the sovereign. Some 300,000 people turned out to watch the trophy paraded through Liverpool, with the club becoming as integral to the city’s sense of self as were the Beatles.
“Big Ron” or “Rowdy” (after Rowdy Yates, Clint Eastwood’s character in the Western TV series Rawhide) led Liverpool into Europe for the first time. Before their match against Anderlecht in 1964, Shankly had the idea of making his players seem more imposing by dressing them in a single colour.
The team had until then played in white shorts and socks. Shankly had Yeats swap these for red and told him: “You look about 7 ft!” In their new strip, the side seemed poised to reach the European Cup final in 1965, only to lose the second leg of their semi-final to Inter Milan after contentious refereeing decisions.
They did get to the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup a year later. The match, against Borussia Dortmund, was staged at Hampden Park, but his homeland proved unlucky for Yeats, who conceded the decisive score when a long shot over his head rebounded from the frame of the goal and off him into the net. Indeed, in an era when playing outside Scotland was frowned on, Yeats went unappreciated by its football establishment and was only picked twice for the national side.
Liverpool finished second in the league in 1969, but defeats to Johan Cruyff’s Ajax and then in 1970 to lowly Watford in the FA Cup prompted Shankly to rebuild the side. As the likes of Larry Lloyd, John Toshack and Kevin Keegan came in, Yeats was pushed out. He had made 454 appearances for Liverpool – 417 as captain – and scored 16 goals.
The third of four children, Ronald Yeats was born in Aberdeen on November 15 1937. When he was five, the family were bombed out of their house after the city was blitzed by the Luftwaffe. Ron played his first games of football on streets still cratered by the blasts.
At Causewayend Primary School, his abilities were spotted by his teacher, Miss Allen, whom he credited with ensuring that he was picked for his first team. He went on to play for Aberdeen Lads’ Club and represented Scotland at Under-15 and Under-19 level. Ron had left school at 15, however, training as a mason before following his father into Aberdeen’s slaughterhouse, the city being historically the centre of the Scotch beef trade.
After a cartilage operation eased a painful knee, allowing him to move more freely, Yeats was scouted by Celtic. He heard nothing from the club, however, only learning years later that the scouts who had watched him had then been the victims of a car accident. Instead, he was signed as a 19-year-old by Dundee United, who played as part-timers.
On a Saturday, Yeats – already married to his first wife, Margaret, with whom he would have three daughters – would rise as usual at 3 am to work in the slaughterhouse. He would finish his butchering by 9 o’clock and then take the train 70 miles to turn out at Tannadice Park. 
When called up for National Service, in which he served with the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) for two years, he was stationed at Aldershot. None the less, Dundee United obtained dispensation for him to keep playing for them, and each week he would travel 1,000 miles to do so.
More important for his continued development as a footballer, Yeats later reflected, were his games as captain of the Army team, alongside established stars such as Alex Young. It was in a match for the side against Liverpool that Shankly first saw Yeats play.
After leaving Anfield, Yeats had three years as player-manager at Tranmere Rovers. He described this afterwards as the worst decision of his life. He did not see eye-to-eye with the owner, who (he felt) was not prepared to fund the purchase of new players and sold Steve Coppell cheaply to Manchester United.
Thereafter, Yeats had spells playing for Stalybridge Celtic and Barrow, and then a stint in California, where in 1976 he won the ASL championship with LA Skyhawks. He hung up his boots two years later, aged 40, while at Rhyl.
After a decade running a fruit and vegetable shop in Liverpool, he returned to Anfield as the club’s chief scout. He retained the post for 20 years, serving from the era of Kenny Dalglish to that of Rafa Benitez. Among the players he spotted were John Aldridge and another centre-half who would captain the team, Sami Hyypiä. Latterly, however, like many players of his generation, he had been living with Alzheimer’s disease.
Ron Yeats is survived by his second wife, Ann, and by his children.
Ron Yeats, born November 15 1937, died September 6 2024