Bert Slater
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Robert Slater | ||
| Date of birth | 5 May 1936 | ||
| Place of birth | Musselburgh, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | 21 July 2006 (aged 70) | ||
| Place of death | Brechin, Scotland | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Tranent | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1953–1959 | Falkirk | 134 | (0) |
| 1959–1962 | Liverpool | 99 | (0) |
| 1962–1965 | Dundee | 70 | (0) |
| 1965–1969 | Watford | 134 | (0) |
| Total | 437 | (0) | |
| National team | |||
| Scotland under-23 | 1 | (0) | |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Robert Slater (5 May 1936 – 21 July 2006) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Slater played for Falkirk, Liverpool, Dundee and Watford during the 1950s and 1960s. He also played once for the Scotland under-23 team.
Born in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland, Slater started his career as a 17-year-old at Falkirk. He won a Scottish Cup winners medal in 1957 and made his debut was in front of a 90,000 predominantly Rangers crowd.
Liverpool signed him in exchange for Tommy Younger on 12 June 1959. He made his debut two months later at Ninian Park on 22 August, Cardiff City spoiled his day beaten the reds 3–2, Cardiff actually provided all 5 goals as City's Danny Malloy scored 2 own goals both being only 4 minutes apart. He kept his first clean-sheet on 12 December 1959 at the Eastville Stadium, Bristol Rovers were the side that were unable to break down the Reds defence as Liverpool won 2–0.
Slater was small for a goalkeeper standing at just 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) and was nicknamed "Shorty" but he was immediately put into the Liverpool goal upon his arrival in 1959 but after a disastrous start to the season the No.1 shirt was handed to Doug Rudman, but when Bill Shankly arrived Bert got his place back and went on to clock-up 30 appearances in all competitions. He followed this up by being an ever-present during the 1960/61 as Liverpool, incredibly finished 3rd (top 2 gained promotion) for a fifth straight season. Shankly rallied his troops and also brought in Ron Yeats and Ian St John to strengthen his side, it worked, Liverpool won the division by 8 points and were promoted to the top tier of English football after an 8-year break, Slater played his part by appearing 29 times, but he now had serious competition as Shankly had signed James Furnell from Burnley.
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