Reuben Bennett (21 December 1913 – 14 December 1989) was a Scottish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player and manager who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

for Hull City, Queen of the South,

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

and Elgin City. He was then manager of Ayr United and a founder member of the ''

Boot Room The Boot Room was a famous room at Anfield, the home of Liverpool F.C. From the 1960s to the early 1990s it was a meeting place where the Liverpool coaching staff would sit, drink tea and discuss the team, tactics and ways of defeating the next ...

'' coaching staff at

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

."Reuben Bennett" career profile
on Queen of the South Football Club Limited

Player

In Bennett's playing days, he was a goalkeeper with Hull City and

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from t ...

club Queen of the South. After his war service, he joined Dundee where in three seasons from 1946 to 1949, he made 21 league appearances. Among his Dundee club mates was

Bobby Ancell Robert Francis Dudgeon Ancell (16 June 1911 – 5 July 1987) was a Scottish football player and manager. He played as a left back for St Mirren, Newcastle United, Dundee and Aberdeen. He won two full caps with the Scotland national football t ...

. Bennett then moved to Elgin City.

Manager and trainer

After retiring as a player, he was

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

with Ayr United from May 1953 to 9 April 1955. Coaching was his strength but he was not cut out for management and the 1954-1955 season was punctuated by some demoralising results. Despite his two cup quarter final places, his team also squandered two good promotion chances after mediocre league performances and he left as manager in April 1955. After resigning, he later became assistant trainer for

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

then trainer at Third Lanark. Bennett joined Liverpool's coaching staff when Phil Taylor was team manager. However Taylor resigned on 17 November 1959. In December Taylor's replacement was announced as

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish football player and manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winnin ...

who immediately set about rejuvenating the club with relish. Shankly arrived at a decayed club in stagnation but recognised the strength of the existing coaching staff of Bennett,

Bob Paisley Robert Paisley OBE (23 January 1919 – 14 February 1996) was an English professional football manager and player who played as a wing-half. He spent almost 50 years with Liverpool and is regarded, due to his achievements with the club, ...

and Joe Fagan. Shankly elected to retain all three with Bennett staying on board until 1986. Shankly started holding his coaches meetings in the Anfield boot room. In this informal environment, between them they discussed tactics and plans. Thus the management philosophy behind Liverpool's success over the next three decades was born. A fitness fanatic, at Liverpool Bennett was entrusted by Shankly with responsibility for player training and physical condition. Shankly signed

Ian St. John John "Ian" St John (; 7 June 1938 – 1 March 2021) was a Scottish professional football player, coach and broadcaster. St John played as a forward for Liverpool throughout most of the 1960s. Signed by Bill Shankly in 1961, St John was a key me ...

from Bennett's former club Motherwell and Ron Yeats from Dundee United after the season's end in 1961. Yeats was immediately installed as captain. Liverpool were emphatic winners of the Second Division title (then the second tier of English domestic football) in 1962 by eight points. In the top division they were champions in 1964 and 1966 as well as winners of the FA Cup in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

. In Europe, Liverpool reached the European Cup semi-final in

(losing to the eventual winner

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

) and European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1966 (losing to

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

after extra time at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

in Bennett's native Scotland). A string of domestic and European trophies were then captured in the 1970s and 1980s. Bennett's retirement in 1986, at the age of 72, came in the year that Liverpool won the double in their first season under the management of

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former football player and manager. During his career, he made 338 appearances for Celtic and 515 for Liverpool, playing as a forward, and earned a record 102 full caps for th ...

. He had served under five managers—Phil Taylor, Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish—in 30 years at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 ...

. Bennett, who died in December 1989 at the age of 76, is the only one of the original Anfield boot room quartet who did not manage Liverpool at some point during his career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Reuben 1913 births 1989 deaths Hull City A.F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Elgin City F.C. players Ayr United F.C. managers Third Lanark A.C. non-playing staff Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff Footballers from Aberdeen Scottish footballers Scottish football managers Motherwell F.C. non-playing staff Association football goalkeepers Scottish Football League managers Aberdeen East End F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players Association football coaches