21st January

Happy birthday Thommo
1954 - Phil Thompson was born in Kensington, Liverpool. He notched thirteen times in 477 games for the reds, many as skipper, as we won two European Cups, seven League titles, the UEFA Cup, FA Cup, UEFA Super Cup, two League Cups and five FA Charity Shields. He later had two separate spells on the backroom staff, under Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Gérard Houllier, and is now working in the media.

1906 - Forward Harry Barkas was born in Wardley Colliery. He only played five reds games, all in the First Division, after arriving for £1,500 from Gateshead in December 1930, returning there in 1932.

Martin’s bow
2008 - Centre-back Martin Škrtel made his reds debut as a substitute for the injured Álvaro Arbeloa in our 2-2 home draw with Aston Villa, our fourth successive tie in the League. Yossi Benayoun gave us the lead before Villa hit back through Marlon Harewood and a Fábio Aurélio own goal in the space of three minutes. Peter Crouch came off the bench to bag a late leveller.
1905 – Forward James Garside played the first of his five senior reds games as we were held to a 1-1 draw in the Second Division at Anfield by Lincoln City, with our goal coming from right-half Robbie Robinson.

In comes Scott
2005 - Young keeper Scott Carson signed from Leeds United for £750,000, with Paul Harrison going on loan in the opposite direction. Carson made just nine first-team appearances, only managing to keep two clean sheets. He moved on to West Bromwich Albion for £3.25m in July 2008 after loan spells with Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa and Charlton Athletic.

Meanwhile, young midfielder John Welsh signed a new contract on the same day that tied him to Anfield until summer 2007. However, he moved to Hull City a year later, in exchange for winger Paul Anderson. Meanwhile, future red Daniel Agger played for Denmark Under-21’s as they lost 1-0 to Panama A in an unofficial international in Panama City.

Jürgen’s ten tons
2023 - Jürgen Klopp took charge of his thousandth game as a Manager as Chelsea held us to a dour goalless draw at Anfield.

Recent disappointments
2021 – Gini Wijnaldum skippered the reds for the first time as Burnley won 1-0 at Anfield behind closed doors. Ashley Barnes’ late spot-kick brough to an end our 68-game unbeaten home League run. On the same day, young midfielder Tyler Morton signed a new contract.
2017 – Swansea City won 3-2 at Anfield, with Fernando Llorente netting twice shortly after the break. A Roberto Firmino brace brought us level but future Blue Gylfi Sigurðsson grabbed one of his five goals past us to date to secure the victory.
2012 – Craig Bellamy bagged our consolation as we tamely lost 3-1 at Bolton Wanderers with ex-red David N’Gog on the winning side.

Beglin’s bad break
1987 - Jim Beglin had his leg broken by Gary Stevens in his 98th and final reds game, with Ian Rush nabbing the only goal of our League Cup Fifth Round tie late on at Goodison. We reached the Final that season for the sixth time.

Africa’s finest
2003 - El-Hadji Diouf was named as the Glo-CAF African Footballer of the Year for the second successive season, a feat since surpassed by Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o who won the award three times in succession.

That evening, he scored the opener in our 2-0 Worthington Cup Semi-final second leg win over Sheffield United at Anfield, with Michael Owen grabbing the decisive second in extra time, to take us through to Cardiff 3-2 on aggregate. This was our 400th goal in all competitions under the sole charge of Gérard Houllier.

Red centurions
2004 - Jamie Carragher made his comeback from a broken leg, playing his 200th League game as a late Kenny Miller strike denied us all three points at Wolverhampton Wanderers, after Bruno Cheyrou had put us ahead. This was our 200th League match since Gérard Houllier took sole charge, which had been rearranged after a flooded pitch before Christmas.
1950 – Centre-half Laurie Hughes reached a century of League appearances for the reds in our 2-0 defeat of Birmingham City at Anfield. Jimmy Payne and Albert Stubbins scored the goals.

A first double
1899 - We beat Everton 2-0 at Anfield to complete the first ever League double in this fixture. Johnny Walker and Tom Robertson netted our goals.

Beginnings and end
1939 – Right-half Harry Eastham nabbed his fourth and final reds goal as we thumped Stockport County 5-1 in the FA Cup Fourth Round at Anfield. Willie Fagan had a penalty saved, but Berry Nieuwenhuys and Jack Balmer struck twice apiece, with Duggie Reid bagging the first of his six goals against the reds.
1933 - Outside-left Alf Hanson made his reds bow as we lost 5-2 at Aston Villa. Gordon Hodgson and Syd Roberts were on target for the reds, with centre-forward Les Bruton playing his eighth and last game for the club. Tom Waring nabbed two of his six goals against the reds, with Eric Houghton also scoring one of his six past us, Joe Beresford netting one of his four and James Gibson also on target.
1911 - Forward Joseph Brough played his eleventh and final reds game as we lost 2-0 at Nottingham Forest. Grenville Morris struck the last of his six goals past us, with Jack Armstrong also netting.

A rare defeat
1978 - Birmingham City left Anfield with a 3-2 win to inflict on us one of just eleven home League defeats during the whole of the 1970’s. Birthday boy Phil Thompson and Ray Kennedy netted our goals.

500 away
1925 - We won 4-1 at Aston Villa in our 500th away League game, in a match postponed from three weeks earlier. Jimmy Walsh bagged a brace with Harry Chambers and Danny Shone also on the scoresheet as Len Capewell nabbed one of his six goals past us.

Other birthdays
1961 - Former reserves forward Colin Russell was born in Liverpool. He only ever tasted half an hour of first team action for the reds, coming on for Howard Gayle in a home League defeat to Sunderland in May 1981. He left for Huddersfield Town in 1982.
1904 - Scottish international right-half Tom Morrison was born in Coylton, Ayrshire. He signed from St. Mirren in February 1928 for £4,000 and struck four times in 254 reds games. He failed to win any honours during his spell at Anfield but had won the Scottish Cup with St. Mirren before joining the reds. He was a member of the Sunderland team that won the League title in 1936, having moved to Wearside in November 1935.

Brucie’s back
1989 - Bruce Grobbelaar returned to the side after recovering from meningitis, with lookey-likey strike pairing John Aldridge and Ian Rush netting in a 2-0 defeat of Southampton at Anfield.
1967 - We also beat the Saints at home, with Chris Lawler and Alf Arrowsmith on target in a 2-1 victory in what was Bill Shankly’s 300th League game in charge.

Twice against the Tractor Boys
We have twice entertained Ipswich Town on this day in history.
1961 - We were held to a 1-1 draw in a Second Division meeting, when winger Kevin Lewis netted and Ted Phillips scored one of his five goals against the reds. Inside-forward Jimmy Harrower played his 105th and last reds game.
1986 - Paul Walsh, Ronnie Whelan and Ian Rush struck as we won 3-0 in our Fifth Round League Cup tie. We were then knocked out by Queens Park Rangers in the Semi-final.

Off on loan
2011 – Reserves defender Stephen Darby rejoined Notts County on loan, for whom he played a further eighteen times.
2009 – Jermaine Pennant moved to Portsmouth on loan. He had hit the target just three times in 81 reds games after signing from Birmingham City for £6.7m in July 2006. He appeared fourteen times for Pompey without scoring.
2000 - Phil Babb temporarily joined First Division Tranmere Rovers. He played seven times for the Lilywhites, before returning to the stiffs at Anfield.

Ton up for Rigo
2006 - Ex-red Rigobert Song won his hundredth full international cap for Cameroon in their 3-1 defeat of Angola in the Africa Cup of Nations Finals in Cairo. On the same day, Jari Litmanen was making his 99th appearance for Finland as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Saudi Arabia in a tournament in Riyadh, in what was Roy Hodgson’s first game in charge of the Finns.
2010 – Song also represented his country, as they drew 2-2 with Tunisia in a MTN Africa Cup of Nations group game in Angola.
2017 – Future red Mohamed Salah played for Egypt as they beat Uganda 1-0 in a group game in Gabon.

Kolo Touré has played three times for the Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations Finals on this day.
2002 – He was booked as they were held to a goalless draw by Togo in Mali.
2006 – He was on the winning side as Morocco lost 1-0 in Egypt, with the Ivory Coast making it all the way to the Final that year.
2008 – Nigeria lost 1-0 in Ghana.

2007 – Lucas captained Brazil as they drew 2-2 with Chile in a Sudamericano Sub-20 "Juventud de América" game in Paraguay, with five players in total dismissed.
2016 - Future red Ozan Kabak played for Turkey Under-16’s in their 2-0 friendly defeat of the Czech Republic.

Young English reds
1975 - Future red David Johnson netted as England Under-23’s beat their Welsh counterparts 2-0 in Wrexham. Phil Thompson made his debut at this level, on his 21st birthday, while future red Joey Jones also played.

Other reds games
1956 – We beat Leicester City 3-1 in a Second Division match at Anfield, with Billy Liddell scoring a brace, including a penalty, and Alan Arnell also on target.
1928 – Sunderland won 5-2 in L4 with Fred Hopkin and Tommy Reid scoring our goals. Bobby Marshall struck one of his six goals past us, with Dave Halliday netting two of his twelve. Len Hargreaves also scored for the visitors, with reds keeper Arthur Riley punching the ball into his own net.
1922 – Harry Chambers bagged the only goal of our trip to Huddersfield Town late on.

On the move
2004 - John Toshack took charge of Real Murcia, having been appointed two days earlier. This was the fourth Spanish club he had managed. They were bottom of the table in the Spanish League and he could not prevent them returning to the Second Division after just one season in the top flight.
2014 - Paul Ince was sacked as Manager of Blackpool after just eleven months in charge, leading them to just twelve victories in 42 games.

2020 – Keeper Dan Atherton joined Marine on loan. On the same day, left-back Jack Robinson signed for Sheffield United from Nottingham Forest, so far playing eighteen times for the Blades.
2019 – Ex-reds right-back Glen Johnson announced his retirement from playing, having been released by Stoke City at the end of the previous season. On the same day, future reds Wataru Endō and Takumi Minamino played as Japan beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 in an AFC Asian Cup Round of 16 tie in the United Arab Emirates.