Ron Yeats
Yeats in 2007
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ronald Yeats | ||
| Date of birth | 15 November 1937 | ||
| Place of birth | Aberdeen, Scotland | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Playing position | Centre half | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1955–1957 | Aberdeen Lads' Club | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1957–1961 | Dundee United | 96 | (1) |
| 1961–1971 | Liverpool | 358 | (13) |
| 1971–1975 | Tranmere Rovers | 97 | (5) |
| 1975 | Stalybridge Celtic | ||
| 1975–1977 | Barrow | ||
| 1976 | → Los Angeles Skyhawks (loan) | ||
| 1977 | Santa Barbara Condors | ||
| 1977 | Formby | 10 | (0) |
| 1977–1978 | Rhyl | ||
| National team | |||
| 1964–1966 | Scotland | 4 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1971–1974 | Tranmere Rovers | ||
| 1975–1977 | Barrow | ||
| 1977 | Santa Barbara Condors | ||
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
Ronald "Ron" Yeats (born 15 November 1937 in Aberdeen, Scotland) is a Scottish former footballer. He was the captain of the first great Liverpool team of the 1960s.
Yeats was an Under-15 schoolboy international who played for Aberdeen Lads FC, a Junior club in his home town of Aberdeen. Yeats had a trial with Elgin City, then a Highland League club, but was not offered a contract. He was signed by Dundee United, who were then a Scottish Division Two club, in 1957. Previous to signing for Dundee United, he worked in a slaughter house in Aberdeen.
Yeats played almost 100 matches for Dundee United and his manager Jerry Kerr regarded him as so vital to the fortunes of the team he sought his release to play each Saturday from the military authorities while Yeats served his National Service. Those efforts paid off when Yeats helped guide United to promotion in April 1960, briniging First Division football to Tannadice for the first time since 1932.
Yeats, a stockily-built 6 ft 2 in central defender, was bought by manager Bill Shankly in 1961 from United for a fee of around £20,000 and was immediately installed as captain as Liverpool gained promotion from the Second Division after eight seasons away from English football's top flight. He made his debut in a 2–0 league victory over Bristol Rovers at Eastville on 19 August 1961, his first goal came 2 years later in the 75th minute of the 1–0 First Division victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford on 23 November 1963.
When Yeats was signed, Shankly was so impressed and proud of the physical presence of his new player that he told waiting journalists "The man is a mountain, go into the dressing room and walk around him". Yeats lived up to the reputation and the nickname ("The Colossus") his huge frame gave him, playing at the heart of Liverpool's defence for a decade and winning the club's first major honours in nearly 20 years. Shankly later described Yeats's arrival, along with that of striker Ian St John (also in 1961), as the "turning point" as Liverpool began their quest to compete with — and beat — the best in England and in Europe.
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