Reuben Bennett (21 December 1913 – 14 December 1989) was a Scottish professional football player and manager who played as a goalkeeper for Hull City, Queen of the South, Dundee and

Elgin City Elgin City Football Club (also known as City or The Black and Whites) is a professional senior football club based in Elgin, Moray. Elgin was founded in 1893 and originally played their football in the Highland Football League. The club was g ...

. 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

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."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 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. Bennett then moved to

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 activities ...

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 Bobby Ancell at Motherwell then trainer at Third Lanark. Bennett joined Liverpool's coaching staff when

Phil Taylor Phil Taylor may refer to: * Phil Taylor (musician) (1954–2015), English drummer, best known as "Philthy Animal" Taylor * Phil Taylor (darts player) (born 1960), English darts player * Phil Taylor (American football) (born 1988), American footbal ...

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 association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool F.C., Liverpool. Shankly brought su ...

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 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 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. In Europe, Liverpool reached the European Cup semi-final in 1965 (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 after extra time at Hampden Park 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

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in their first season under the management of Kenny Dalglish. He had served under five managers—Phil Taylor, Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish—in 30 years at Anfield. 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