Date of Birth
05 May 1936
Birthplace
Musselburgh
Nationality
Scottish
Signed for LFC
1959
LFC Debut
22 Aug 1959
LFC Appearances
111
A Scottish Cup winner with Falkirk, Slater endured a difficult start to life at Anfield.
In his first three matches at the beginning of the 59-60 campaign he conceded eight goals and was quickly replaced by South African Doug Rudham, who played in the next 14 Second Division games.
The arrival of a new manager saw a change in Slater's fortunes and Bill Shankly kept faith with him from the day he arrived until the end of that season. In fact Slater played in 96 consecutive Football League matches before being replaced by Jim Furnell, who had just been signed from Burnley, when Liverpool travelled to the Midlands to play Walsall in March 1962.
Slater's days at Liverpool were numbered and Shankly sold him to his brother Bob who was boss at Scottish champions Dundee.
Slater's Dundee went all the way to the semis in the European Cup in his debut season, but lost to eventual champions AC Milan. After three years in Scotland he moved to Vicarage Road where he played 152 matches for Watford.
Slater was nicknamed "Shorty", because he was unusually short for a goalkeeper; only 5ft, 8 1/2ins (173 cm).
Other clubs:
Falkirk, Dundee, Watford