The defender had also been the perfect model for the all-red kit introduced by Shankly during that term in a bid to make his players more fearsome to opposition.
Aerially dominant, Yeats was involved in every game when the championship was reclaimed in 1965-66, a season in which Liverpool were also close to a maiden European trophy, losing to Borussia Dortmund in the Cup Winners’ Cup showpiece.
Yeats continued to be a lynchpin for Shankly even as collective success faded, clocking up 201 appearances in the final four seasons of the decade.
He wore the Liver bird on his chest for the last time in April 1971, wrapping up almost a decade of service in which he had helped truly transform the club.
“The best centre-half I have ever seen,” said teammate Roger Hunt soon after. “With him in the team and at his best, we used to think we were unbeatable.”
Yeats returned to Anfield in the late 1980s for a 20-year spell as chief scout, with another highly-placed man on the Liverpool’s Greatest list – Sami Hyypia – one of his discoveries.
Softly spoken, Yeats looked back humbly on a personal legacy that will stand the test of time.
“Being the captain that took the club out of the Second Division after eight years was a very, very proud moment,” he said. “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.”