It is almost 50 years to the day since Bill Shankly arrived at Liverpool to begin what would become one of the greatest footballing transformations ever seen. Two of the Scots at the heart of his revolution have been remembering the man who stood up and declared “This is Anfield”.

Ron Yeats and Ian St John both arrived at Liverpool in 1961; it was Shankly’s first full season in charge and the year which heralded Liverpool’s return to England’s top flight. The no-nonsense manager had only been in the job a matter of months before tangible change started to grip the club.

Looking back, St John said: “When you think about a club who had gone down and down and down; he was the saviour.

“He was the man who resurrected it. And then he said things that actually happened: “We’re going to be the greatest team – we’ll be invincible and they’ll need to bring a team from Mars to play us.”

“We believed them; the crowd believed them and the main thing was the crowd followed him like the Pied Piper.”

If St John, who at £37,500 cost more than double Anfield’s previous record signing, was an example of Shankly’s flair, then Yeats represented the grit which would steel the club for their meteoric rise.

The former Dundee United defender was installed as captain the moment he arrived and went on to skipper the club for a decade.

He added: “I personally don’t think he gets the adulation or the praise that he should get because without that man coming to our club you wouldn’t see Liverpool as you see it today.”