- Yeats helped Liverpool win promotion to the First Division in his debut season
- The defender led Liverpool to two league titles and a first FA Cup victory
- Only Steven Gerrard has captained Liverpool in more games than Yeats
Liverpool have announced the death of their legendary former captain Ron Yeats at the age of 86.
The Premier League club confirmed on Friday evening that Yeats had died from Alzheimer’s disease, which he had suffered from in recent years.
“The thoughts of everyone at LFC are with Ron’s wife Ann, his entire family and friends at this incredibly sad time,” a Liverpool statement said.
‘Today the flags on all club grounds are flying at half-mast as a sign of respect.’
The Scottish defender joined Liverpool from Dundee United in 1961 and was appointed captain a few months after his arrival.
Former Liverpool captain Ron Yeats has died at the age of 86, the club has announced
Yeats, top, led Liverpool to their first FA Cup success in 1965 against Leeds United at Wembley
Only Steven Gerrard has captained Liverpool more times than Yeats in the club’s history
Yeats helped Liverpool to promotion from the Second Division in his debut season and became a key figure in the Bill Shankly era at the club.
During his ten years as a player, he made 454 appearances for Liverpool, which places him 22nd on the club’s all-time list.
More than 400 of those were as captain, with only Steven Gerrard wearing the armband more often for the Reds.
Yeats captained Liverpool to the First Division title in 1964 and 1966 and won the FA Cup in 1965.
Liverpool beat Leeds United 2-1 after extra time, Yeats becoming the first Reds captain to lead his team up the steps of Wembley to lift the FA Cup.
Yeats told the Queen, “I am utterly shattered” at the trophy presentation.
He was the unlucky scorer of an own goal as Liverpool lost 2–1 in extra time to Borussia Dortmund in the 1966 European Cup Winners’ Cup final.
The defender made two appearances for the Scotland national team during his spell at Liverpool, which ended in 1971.
Yeats moved to Tranmere Rovers, where he was player manager, before playing for Stalybridge Celtic, Los Angeles Skyhawks, Barrow, Santa Barbara Condors and Formby.
In 1986 he returned to Liverpool and became the club’s chief scout, a position he held until 2006.
Yeats, right, seen here winning the Liverpool Lifetime Achievement Award with Ian St John in 2015, had returned to the club in 1986 and was chief scout for two decades before retiring.
As Liverpool’s chief scout, Yeats was praised for encouraging the club to sign Sami Hyypia
Yeats was credited with signing Finnish defender Sami Hyypia, having encouraged the club to sign him after seeing him play for Willem II in the Netherlands.
Hyypia, who signed for £2.5million, was part of Liverpool’s Champions League winning team in 2005.
“It must be one of the best business deals we have done in years,” Yeats later said of the deal. “I had no part in proposing any compensation between the clubs, but when I heard how little money Liverpool had spent on Sami I nearly fell off my chair.
‘It was a bargain, a bargain. It was the kind of deal Liverpool did in the 60s and 70s, when they signed unknown players like me for cheap and gave them a chance on a bigger stage.’