Ronald Yeats (15 November 1937 – 6 September 2024) was a Scottish footballer who played as a centre half.
He started his professional career with Dundee United in 1957 before joining Liverpool in 1961. He became club captain and won six trophies—two league titles, one FA Cup and three Charity Shields—over the following ten years. In 1971, he joined Tranmere Rovers, where he spent three years as player-manager before serving in the same role at Barrow and Santa Barbara Condors.
He also won two caps for the Scotland national team.
Career
Yeats was an Under-15 schoolboy international who played for Aberdeen Lads' Club, a Junior club in his home city of Aberdeen. In 1956, following a leg break, Yeats had a trial with Elgin City, then a Highland League club, but was not offered a contract.
Dundee United
In 1957 he was signed by Dundee United, then a part-time club of Scottish Division Two. Previous to signing for the club, he worked in a slaughterhouse in Aberdeen.
Yeats's career took an upward turn following Jerry Kerr's appointment: Kerr regarded Yeats 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. In 1959–60, Kerr's first full season in charge, St Johnstone finished as Division Two champions. United's challengers for the second promotion spot were Hamilton Academical and Queen of the South. Hamilton were beaten 5–1 at Tannadice with seven games to go before a crowd of over 11,000, putting Hamilton firmly in United's rear view. United went to Palmerston Park to play the Ivor Broadis inspired Queen of the South with three games to go. United returned home with a 4–4 draw to maintain their one-point advantage over QoS. Promotion was clinched with a last game of the season 1–0 home win against Berwick Rangers before a crowd of near 17,000. This brought top division football back to Tannadice Park for the first time since they had been relegated in 1932.
In the following 1960–61 season, United retained their top division place, finishing in ninth. Other players to flourish like Yeats were the forward pair Dennis Gillespie and Jim Irvine. Yeats played 118 matches (95 in the league) for Dundee United.
Liverpool
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 the "turning point" as Liverpool began their quest to compete with — and beat — the best in England and in Europe. Yeats made his debut in a 2–0 league victory over Bristol Rovers at Eastville on 19 August 1961. After Yeats's first season, Liverpool gained promotion from the Second Division with a runaway eight-point margin over their nearest rivals (two points for a win)
Liverpool were the 1963–64 Football League champions. The success of Liverpool then dried up, and he was one of the high-profile victims of a massive cull of the older players which Shankly ruthlessly undertook in 1970 in an effort to rebuild the side for a new decade. After 454 games, Yeats left in 1971.
Yeats won both his full caps for Scotland during the three seasons when the Liverpool team of the 1960s were at their peak. The first came on 3 October 1964 in a 3–2 defeat to Wales at Ninian Park, Cardiff. His second was a year later in December 1965 in a World Cup qualification decider away to Italy. The Scots had beaten the Italians 1–0 at Hampden Park. However Jock Stein's side missing the absent Denis Law went out when losing 3–0 in Naples.
Later years and retirement
Yeats served Tranmere Rovers for three years as player-manager.
Yeats had a short spell playing for Stalybridge Celtic. He then served Barrow as player manager.
In 1976 at age 38, Yeats joined the Los Angeles Skyhawks of the American Soccer League at the request of Skyhawk coach Ron Newman. In his only season there, he played sweeper and anchored the defence of the A.S.L. champion Skyhawks. In 1977, Yeats became the player coach of the American Soccer League's Santa Barbara Condors expansion team.
Returning to Liverpool, he had a short spell at the start of the 1977–78 season playing for Formby before moving to Rhyl in November 1977. In 1986 Yeats returned to Anfield as the club's chief scout responsible for delegating duties to the club's talent spotters. He remained in that role until his retirement in May 2006.
Death
In January 2024, it was announced that Yeats was living with Alzheimer's disease. He died from complications of the disease on 6 September 2024, at the age of 86.
Legacy
Yeats was voted 29th in the official Liverpool website poll "100 Players Who Shook The Kop".
In April 2009, Yeats was made an "Honorary Scouser" by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool.
He is referenced in the Everton song "Royal Blue Mersey" in the line "We hate Bill Shankly, and we hate St. John, but most of all we hate Big Ron."
Career statistics
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|National cup
!colspan="2"|League cup
!colspan="2"|Europe
!colspan="2"|Others
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division
!Apps
!Goals
!Apps
!Goals
!Apps
!Goals
!Apps
!Goals
!Apps
!Goals
!Apps
!Goals
|-
|rowspan="5"|Dundee United
|1957–58
|Scottish Division Two
|15||0||2||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||17||0
|-
|1958–59
|Scottish Division Two
|19||0||4||0||3||0||0||0||0||0||26||0
|-
|1959–60
|Scottish Division Two
|33||1||2||0||5||0||colspan="2"|–||0||0||40||1
|-
|1960–61
|Scottish Division One
|28||0||1||0||6||0||colspan="2"|–||0||0||35||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!95!!1!!9!!0!!14!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!118!!1
|-
|rowspan="11"|Liverpool
|1961–62
|Second Division
|41||0||5||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||46||0
|-
|1962–63
|First Division
|38||0||6||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||44||0
|-
|1963–64
|First Division
|36||1||5||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||41||1
|-
|1964–65
|First Division
|35||0||8||0||0||0||9||1||1||0||53||1
|-
|1965–66
|First Division
|42||2||1||0||0||0||9||0||1||0||53||2
|-
|1966–67
|First Division
|40||2||4||0||0||0||5||0||1||0||50||2
|-
|1967–68
|First Division
|38||2||9||0||2||0||6||1||0||0||55||3
|-
|1968–69
|First Division
|39||2||4||0||3||0||2||0||0||0||48||2
|-
|1969–70
|First Division
|37||3||6||0||2||0||3||0||0||0||48||3
|-
|1970–71
|First Division
|12||1||2||0||0||0||2||0||0||0||16||1
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!358!!13!!50!!0!!7!!0!!36!!2!!3!!0!!454!!15
|-
|rowspan="4"|Tranmere Rovers
|1971–72
|Third Division
|19||2||4||0||0||0||colspan="2"|–||0||0||23||2
|-
|1972–73
|Third Division
|42||1||2||0||1||0||colspan="2"|–||0||0||45||1
|-
|1973–74
|Third Division
|36||2||2||0||4||0||colspan="2"|–||0||0||42||2
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!97!!5!!8!!0!!5!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!110!!5
|-
|Formby
|1977–78
|
|10||0||3||0||0||0||colspan="2"|–||2||0||15||0
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!560!!19!!70!!0!!26!!0!!36!!2!!5!!0!!697!!21
|}
Honours
Dundee United
- Scottish Division Two promotion: 1959–60
Liverpool
- Football League First Division: 1963–64, 1965–66
- Football League Second Division: 1961–62
- FA Cup: 1964–65
- FA Charity Shield: 1964, 1965, 1966
L.A. Skyhawks
- American Soccer League: 1975–76
References
External links
- Profile at the Liverpool F.C. website
- Thisisanfield.com Forgotten Heroes
- Player profile at LFChistory.net
- Exclusive interview at LFChistory.net
- Another Exclusive interview at LFChistory.net
- Ron Yeats at liverweb.org.uk
- Gazetteer for Scotland famous people