New Delhi, Sep 7 : Ron Yeats, a colossus in Liverpool's club history, passed away on Friday night at the age of 86, having suffered from Alzheimer's in recent years. He was Liverpool's first captain to lift the FA Cup.

'Liverpool FC is mourning the passing of legendary former captain Ron Yeats.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,' Liverpool said in a statement on Saturday.

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.

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. Just months after his arrival on Merseyside he was appointed captain ' a role he would go on to fulfill for eight further full seasons..

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.

Yeats made a total of 454 appearances for Liverpool and remarkably, more than 400 of those were as skipper. Only Steven Gerrard has worn the armband for the Reds on more occasions.

Yeats 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.

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.'

/IANS