Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ On Saturday 14th September I watched the BBC Match of the Day for the first time in many a day, due to the VAR garbage and commentators who go out of their way to agree with such rubbish.
 |
| Ron Yeats “Big Ron” RIP. |
Yeats was an under 15 school-boy international who played for Aberdeen Lads Club, a junior side in his native city of Aberdeen, the same city Denis Law hailed from. Following breaking his leg he had a trial with Elgin City which was then a Highland League club. Elgin City did not offer Ron a contract, something they may have gone on to regret? In 1957 Yeats signed for Dundee United who were then a part time Scottish Second Division side. Prior to signing at Tannadice he worked in a Slaughterhouse in Aberdeen. When Jerry Kerr arrived at Tannadice Ron's career took an upward trajectory. So much was Ron Yeats regarded by Kerr as being vital to the team he sought to have him released by the military authorities to play each Saturday while he was doing National Service. South of the border Liverpool manager, Bill Shankly, also had eyes on Yeats.
Ron Yeats was one of the late great Bill Shankly’s first signings, bringing him from Dundee United in 1961 to Merseyside for a fee of £20,000. Yeats won six trophies with Liverpool over a ten-year period, two league titles, one FA Cup and three Charity Shields. Shankly made him Liverpool Captain, helping them win promotion to Division One the same year. Yeats captained Liverpool in their first ever FA Cup triumph over Leeds United after extra time in 1965. His first goal in the English First Division was, regrettably, against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The same year Ron Yeats arrived at Anfield Shankly also signed Ian Saint John, a prolific striker who was to prove invaluable to Liverpool in the coming years. Yeats was a colossal Centre Half who proved equally decisive in defence as was St. John in attack. Shankly once told reporters of Ron Yeats; “the man is a mountain, go into the dressing room, walk around him” which at six foot two inches was not much of an exaggeration. Everton supporters made up a song, copied by us at Old Trafford with a slight modification; “We hate Bill Shankly and we hate “Big Ron”, but most of all, we hate Saint John and we’ll hang the Kopites one by one, on the banks of the Royal Blue, Mersey."
A similar song was adapted by United fans, such was the imagination of football supporters in those glorious days of the sixties and seventies. In 1971 Liverpool sold Ron Yeats to Tranmere Rovers whose supporters claim, with much justification, are the true pride of Merseyside! Yeats spent three years at Tranmere as player-manager before moving to Barrow where he served the same position and then on to Santa Barbara Condors. He was capped for the Scottish national team twice.
It was with a feeling of nostalgic sadness I felt when I heard the news of Ron Yeats death, another childhood memory of football's great days back in the sixties and the following decade. The rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool, always simmering, was just beginning to take hold, this eventually by the eighties reaching fever pitch as heated rivalry turned to absolute hatred and, in football terms, all-out war. Though Manchester City were still considered our main rivals and ‘hates’, the fucking ‘Blue Bastards’ as we called them, to be reciprocated by ‘fucking Red Cunts’ by their fans, fuelled by the Matt Busby – Joe Mercer friendly banter, the two were great mates away from football as were Busby and Shankly. Matt was often regarded as the ‘mentor’ of the era, a time epitomised by players like Ron Yeats, Ian Saint-John, Ian Callaghan, Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee, Francis Lee and, at Old Trafford, the immortal “Holy Trinity” of George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law along with Brian Kidd, Wille Morgan, David Sadler and many others. Another childhood memory gone sadly and it made me realise how the years have passed.
Ron Yeats was one of the toughest defenders in the game and was the backbone of Shankly’s defence. His nickname was the “colossus”. He made his Liverpool debut in a Second Division game against Bristol Rovers at the Eastville Stadium in 1961. Liverpool won the match going on to gain promotion that year to the top flight. Ron Yeats captaincy was instrumental in gaining promotion which was, arguably, the start of the club’s assault on England’s and Europe’s best.
Football, even todays half-cocked version, should never forget players like Ron Yates. He was an inspiration to Liverpool FC and their supporters as he propped up the defence against all comers. That defence was difficult to breach, though I fondly remember Bobby Charlton doing just that with a thunderous shot in front of the Kop at Anfield.
Ron Yeats is another footballer who has died who I, and I dare say many others from that generation, can remember well. Even though he played for the ‘enemy’ he was, along with all that Liverpool team, regarded with respect and admiration in defence. Unlike the prima donnas who dance like a bunch of fairies on today’s football pitches hoping some bloke in a hotel, VAR, will overrule a referee if a decision has gone against him (women’s football has not yet been affected by this disease) Ron Yeats and all that generation just got on with the game. Those were the days when we were taught at school to always play to the referee’s whistle, something in today’s farce it is impossible to do. In footballs hall of fame for defenders he would be joined by Tommy Smith, Nobby Stiles, Tony Dunne, Pat Crerand, Bill Foulkes, Norman Hunter, Jack Charlton, Paul Reaney, Bobby Moore, Tony Book (that old man, Tony Book, can he play football can he fuck, with a nick, knack paddy whack…) and more recently, Denis Irwin. Wherever footballers go when their time is up Ron Yeats will be among good company, from Billy Meredith to Bobby Charlton and all those greats in between, including the Busby Babes of 1958.
Ron Yeats – 15th November 1937, 6th September 2024 aged 86.
 |
| Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist. |
No comments