No. 79 – Take a walk around my centre half, He’s a colossus!

No. 79 – Take a walk around my centre half, gentlemen, He’s a colossus!

‘œTake a walk around my centre half, gentlemen, He’s a colossus!’ A quote that will be remembered around Anfield forever…. When Bill Shankly acquired the cornerstone of his first great Liverpool team in the summer of 1961, he invited the gentlemen of the press to take a close-up view of Ron Yeats. “Go on, walk round him,” Shankly implored. “He’s a colossus.”

The inspirational, 6ft 2ins centre half cost just £30,000 from Dundee United. Yeats became the cornerstone for all the ambitions that Shanks had for our great club. Ron’s contribution was colossul from those wonderful days in the 60’s when the club came from the second division to the powerful force in Europe we became.

Yeats was made skipper and in 1961/62 led the Reds back to the top flight after eight years in the football wilderness. He remained at the heart of Liverpool’s defence for a decade and is the longest serving captain in the club’s history. He was also the first skipper in Liverpool history to lift the FA Cup after the Wembley conquest of Leeds in 1965.

Yeats spent 20 years as chief scout at Anfield before stepping down in 2006.

Ron Yeats
First team games: 454
First team goals: 16

Honours with Liverpool:
First Division Championship :
(1963/64) and (1965/66)
FA Cup : (1965)
Charity Shield : 1964 (shared), 1965 (shared) and 1966