Soccer

Football mourns the loss of Liverpool great Ron Yeats

Yeats was one of Liverpool’s most notable former players.

Ron Yeats has died at the age of 86
Ron Yeats has died at the age of 86 (PA Photos/PA)

Ron Yeats, the first Liverpool captain to lift the FA Cup, has died at the age of 86, the club announced on Saturday.

The Aberdeen-born centre-back – whom manager Bill Shankly famously invited journalists to “take a walk around him, he’s a colossus” at his unveiling at Anfield – had been living with Alzheimer’s disease for some time.

Yeats, who died on Friday night, was signed from Dundee United in July 1961 by Bill Shankly and went on to make 454 appearances over more than a decade at Anfield, scoring 16 goals.