In the words of Bill Shankly, a ‘colossus’ in club history, the Scot died on Friday night at the age of 86, having sadly suffered with Alzheimer’s in recent years.

A July 1961 signing from Dundee United, defender Yeats was one of the transformative players of Shankly’s fledgling revolution at the Reds, helping lift the club out of the doldrums of an extended spell stuck in the Second Division.

“Walk around him,” the manager told the media when Yeats was unveiled that summer. “He’s a colossus.” As so often, Shankly was right.

During his debut campaign in 1961-62, Yeats made 41 league appearances as promotion was finally secured, and within two seasons he and his teammates were raising aloft the top-flight title.

Such was his impact and influence, just months after his arrival on Merseyside he was appointed captain – a role he would go on to fulfil for eight further full seasons.

Ron was once more a mainstay while the Reds finished four points clear of Manchester United in 1963-64 to add the sixth championship success in LFC history.

Perhaps the most indelible image of his playing career at Anfield occurred the following year, with Yeats the man to climb the steps at Wembley and collect the FA Cup for the first time.

Shankly’s side ended the long wait to win the trophy – and banished fears of a curse on the club – by beating Leeds United 2-1 after extra-time. “I’m absolutely knackered!” he told the Queen during the trophy presentation.

That season also marked the Reds’ first foray into European competition, with their run beginning with a qualifier in Reykjavik, including a tie versus Cologne won by virtue of a coin toss selected by Ron, and culminating in the semi-finals.

A landmark campaign also saw the introduction of the club’s now-famous all-red kit, with Shankly’s colossus chosen as the model and suggesting socks should be the same colour to complete the look.

“I had to run down the tunnel, up the stairs and then out,” he later explained. Shankly was smitten: “You look about eight feet tall in that. You’ll scare the living daylights out of them.”

Glory continued to flow. ‘Rowdy’, as he was known by Kopites, featured in all 42 games when Liverpool reclaimed the First Division title in 1965-66 by a six-point margin.

He helped Shankly’s charges reach a maiden European showpiece that term, too, though was the unfortunate scorer of an own goal as they lost to Borussia Dortmund in the Cup Winners’ Cup final, played at his home country’s Hampden Park.

Yeats totalled a minimum of 48 matches in each of the next four seasons, and when the time came to say farewell to Liverpool as a player in late 1971, his games tally stood at 454 – still the 22nd-highest figure in history.

Remarkably, more than 400 of those were as skipper. Only Steven Gerrard has worn the armband for the Reds on more occasions.

Ron went on to represent Tranmere Rovers, Stalybridge Celtic, Los Angeles Skyhawks, Barrow, Santa Barbara Condors and Formby before hanging up his boots in the late ’70s.

His LFC story was not over, however. In 1986, Yeats was brought back to the club in the position of chief scout, serving for 20 years before retiring in 2006.

Among the players to have caught his eye was one Sami Hyypia – a bargain purchase from Willem II who would go on to cement his own place as a revered Reds defender.

Speaking of his greatest achievements at Anfield, Yeats once said: “There have been two of them. Being the captain that took the club out of the Second Division after eight years was a very, very proud moment.

“We won the league by eight or nine points that season and to follow that by being the first captain of Liverpool to lift the FA Cup is something I am very proud of.

“I do not go round with the medals on my chest, it is just there for me to say.”

The thoughts of everyone at LFC are with Ron’s wife, Ann, all of his family and his friends at this incredibly sad time.

Flags across club sites will be lowered to half-mast today as a mark of respect.

Rest in peace, Ron Yeats 1937-2024