16th February

A reds stalwart passes on
2004 - Geoff Twentyman died in a Southport hospital after a long illness. He played 184 times at left-half after signing from Carlisle United for £10,000 in December 1953, bagging nineteen goals. He returned to Anfield as Chief Scout in 1967, a position he held for nineteen years. Among the players he recommended to the club were Ray Clemence, Kevin Keegan, Phil Neal, Ian Rush and John Toshack. On the same day, future red Ragnar Klavan played for Estonia in their 5-2 friendly defeat in Malta.

Happy birthday Rickie
1982 - Rickie Lambert was born in Kirkby. The boyhood red signed from Southampton for £4m in June 2014, netting three times in 36 games before moving on to West Bromwich Albion in July 2015.

Harry’s farewell
2008 - Harry Kewell played his 139th and final reds game as we were dumped out of the FA Cup by Barnsley, coming off the bench to replace Ryan Babel. Dirk Kuyt gave us the lead but the Tykes hit back through Stephen Foster’s header, with the reds missing a host of good chances before a late, late Brian Howard strike consigned us to a 2-1 Fifth Round defeat at Anfield. Keeper Charles Itandje was making his seventh and last reds appearance.

Reds debutants
1992 - Hungarian István Kozma made his reds debut as a substitute for Jamie Redknapp in a goalless FA Cup Fifth Round tie at Ipswich Town. It was one of just ten first-team appearances he made in his two seasons at Anfield.
1974 - We also faced the Tractor boys at the same stage when Brian Hall and Kevin Keegan struck to hand us a 2-0 victory.

1938 - Harman van den Berg made his reds bow in a 3-1 League win at Everton. Jack Balmer scored the fastest derby goal in history, inside the first fifteen seconds, with John Shafto adding a brace in the final ten minutes, the last of his seven reds strikes. Tommy Lawton bagged one of his six derby goals for the Blues.

Half ton for Al
2021 – Alisson Becker kept his fiftieth clean sheet in his 114th game for the reds as we beat RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. 2-0 behind closed doors in the first leg of our UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie in Budapest. Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané both struck in the second half.
1907 – Sam Raybould scored as he played his 200th League game for the reds as we won 3-2 at The Wednesday, with Bill McPherson and Jack Cox also netting.

A new England keeper
1907 - Keeper Sam Hardy made his England debut as they beat Ireland 1-0 in a British International Championships game at Goodison Park. He went on to win 21 caps in total.

Jack’s farewell
1952 - Jack Balmer played his 288th and final reds League game in a 1-1 home draw with Charlton Athletic, with Cyril Done netting his 37th and last reds goal and Billy Kiernan nabbing one of his five goals against us. During his reds career he scored an impressive 110 goals in 309 games in all competitions.

Gunned out
2014 – We lost 2-1 at Arsenal in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup, when we fell behind to goals from future red Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski before Steven Gerrard pulled a goal back from the spot. We were later denied a second blatant penalty claim as the home side went on to lift the trophy for the eleventh time later that year.

Other cup wins
2022 – Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah struck after the break as we won the first leg of our UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie 2-0 at Internazionale, on our way to the Final in Paris.
1980 – We won an FA Cup Fifth Round tie with Bury 2-0 at Anfield with both goals coming from substitute David Fairclough. Keith Kennedy lined up against his brother Alan for the first time in this game. Unfortunately, we fell at the Semi-final to Arsenal, after four matches.
1898 - Our other FA Cup win on this day in history saw us come from behind to beat Newton Heath, who later became Manchester United, 2-1 in a Second Round replay thanks to left-back Billy Dunlop’s first reds goal and forward Dan Cunliffe’s sixth and final reds goal. However, we were knocked out by Derby County in the next round. Forward Joe Lumsden was making his eighth and last reds appearance.

First defeat
1895 - We suffered our first Anfield defeat in the FA Cup, in our fifth home fixture in this competition. Nottingham Forest won 2-0 in this Second Round tie. Keeper Bill McCann made his seventeenth and last reds appearance.

Macca the captain
1993 - Steve McManaman skippered the England Under-21’s for the first time as they thumped San Marino 6-0 in a European Championships qualifier at Kenilworth Road. McManaman scored, as did future reds Academy coach Mike Sheron and Jamie Redknapp on his debut. Fellow red Rob Jones also made his Under-21’s bow in this game.

Five for Thomas
1918 - Thomas Bennett struck five goals, scoring in his third consecutive game as we trounced Burnley 7-1 at Anfield in a Wartime League game. Inside-forward Harry Lewis scored in his fourth consecutive game, while Arthur Metcalf was also on the scoresheet.

Young champions
2010 – England Under-17’s won the Algarve Tournament after holding Portugal to a goalless draw. Conor Coady skippered the side, with Jack Robinson, Andre Wisdom and future red Conor Thomas also playing.

A century on the south coast
2000 - We took part in a friendly at Bournemouth to commemorate the Cherries’ centenary year. Richie Partridge, Patrik Berger, Danny Murphy and Titi Camara all netted in our 4-0 win at Dean Court. On the same day, Brad Friedel played for the USA as they beat Peru 1-0 in a Gold Cup game in Miami.

Internationals on target
1972 - Future red Kenny Dalglish bagged a brace at the Baseball Ground for Scotland Under-23’s as they drew 2-2 with an England side that included Kevin Keegan, who was making his debut at this level.
2015 – Future red Diogo Jota scored for Portugal Under-19’s as they beat Norway 4-0 in a friendly in Spain. Meanwhile, future red Bobby Adekanye played for the Dutch Under-16’s in their 1-1 friendly draw with Germany in Portugal, with the Germans winning a penalty shoot-out 6-5.

Disappointment against the Mancs
1977 - We held Manchester United to a goalless draw in our First Division meeting at Old Trafford, our third straight fixture there without any score. On the same day, future red Avi Cohen played for Israel as they drew a friendly 1-1 in Australia.
1946 - Worse came when we were thumped 5-0 in a Wartime League encounter at Anfield.

A rare stalemate
1970 - We were held to a goalless draw at Anfield by Newcastle United, the only such stalemate against the Geordies at home since April 1930.

Other reds games
1985 – We were held to a 1-1 draw at York City in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup with Ian Rush putting us in front after the break. Ricky Sbragia struck a late leveller. We went on to win the replay, making it to the Semi-final that season.
1982 – We lost 2-0 at John Toshack’s Swansea City. Leighton James and Alan Curtis scored for the Swans, who included ex-reds Colin Irwin, Ray Kennedy and Max Thompson.
1971 – John Toshack headed in the only goal of West Ham United’s visit to L4.

1963 – We thumped Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-1 in a home League match, with Jimmy Murray netting one of his four goals against the reds. Kevin Lewis and Ian St. John each struck twice.
1957 – Blackburn Rovers held us to a 2-2 draw in a Second Division encounter at Ewood Park. Tommy Briggs opened the scoring for the home side before Johnny Wheeler drew us level after half time. Billy Liddell gave us the lead, but Peter Dobing then grabbed the first of his eight goals past us.
1924 – Our visit to Sunderland ended goalless.
1901 – We lost 1-0 at Bolton Wanderers, thanks to one of Laurie Bell’s four goals against the reds.

Youngsters on the move
2010 – Ex-reds reserves forward Andy Parkinson signed for Gateshead, failing to score in fourteen Conference outings for them.
2009 – Reserves centre-half Godwin Antwi joined Hereford United on loan. He played five times for the League One outfit.
2006 - It was announced that winger Adam Hammill and full-back Calum Woods had made the step up to begin training at Melwood on a full-time basis.

King Kenny a dad once more
1988 - Kenny Dalglish became a father for the fourth time, as his wife Marina gave birth to Lauren at around 2:30 in the morning, to add to eleven-year-old Paul and daughters Kelly and Lynsey. On the same day, future reds Nigel Clough and Michael Thomas both played for England Under-21’s in their 1-0 win over Scotland in the first leg of their European Championships Quarter-final at Pittodrie.

Also in international action
1995 – Future red Sami Hyypiä played for Finland in their 2-2 draw with Trinidad & Tobago in Trinidad.
2015 – Ex-Academy Manager Steve Cooper took charge of England Under-16’s as they lost 3-2 to Switzerland in the UEFA U16s Development Tournament in Burton, with young red Okera Simmonds in action.
2017 – Keeper Vítězslav Jaroš came off the bench as the Czech Republic Under-16’s beat Bulgaria 2-1 in a friendly in Tel-Aviv.
2018 – Fulham’s Fábio Carvalho played for England Under-16’s as they beat Spain 2-0 at St. George’s Park.