'Ron Yeats was a brilliant man, he is one of the all-time LFC greats'

In his role as chair of Forever Reds, the official former LFC players’ association, Aldridge developed a close bond with Yeats, who died on Friday night at the age of 86.

A central defender described as a ‘colossus’ by legendary manager Bill Shankly, Yeats was the first player to captain Liverpool to FA Cup glory, at Wembley in May 1965.

He made 454 appearances for the Reds, skippering the club on more than 400 occasions and winning the league championship twice.

Yeats was later brought back to the club by Sir Kenny Dalglish as chief scout in 1986, and among the players he discovered were former captain Sami Hyypia and Aldridge himself.

“Ron is one of the all-time greats of this club, without a shadow of a doubt,” Aldridge told Liverpoolfc.com.

“He was captain of this team when I first watched Liverpool in the mid-1960s and I was very fortunate to get to know the great man.

“He was a great footballer as well and was our first captain to lift the FA Cup at Wembley in 1965.”

On a personal note, Aldridge credits Yeats for helping him achieve the dream of putting on a Liverpool shirt.

“He actually scouted me when I was at Oxford United, so I will be forever grateful to him for that,” Aldridge explained.

“I’ll never forget as I walked through the main reception, the day I was getting introduced to the media, Ron was the first one there to shake my hand and it was just an honour to meet him.

“He was an absolutely brilliant bloke, loved a laugh as well and one of the greatest captains we have ever had.”

Aldridge’s own memories of Yeats include an amusing tale about meeting the Scot for the first time at Anfield, a moment that left him secretly wincing in pain.

“I had actually broken my hand and I didn’t want the club to know about it,” he recalled.

“As I walked through the door there was big Ron waiting for me with a handshake! I tell you what, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life! I just crumbled, and we had some good laughs about that over the years.”

Aldridge added: “I got to know him really well from the charity events and the parties we had, and every home game I saw him.

“Unfortunately, big Ron had Alzheimer’s for a number of years now and he was in a home. Thankfully with Forever Reds we were in a position to help him and the family, which was the least we could do.

“Ron was just a great fella, a great character and all of our thoughts are with Ron’s wife Ann and all of the family at this sad time.”