7th January

Xabi from his own half
2006 - Jan Kromkamp made his reds bow in a thrilling FA Cup Third Round tie at Luton Town. We took the lead through Steven Gerrard before falling 3-1 behind with Djibril Cissé having a penalty saved with the score at 2-1. Florent Sinama-Pongolle bagged a brace with his first goal being our thirteenth from a substitute that season, a new club record, while his second was his ninth and last for the club. Xabi Alonso also struck twice, with our final goal being an outrageous strike from inside his own half, with the keeper making his way back from a corner. Scott Carson made his ninth and final reds appearance in this game.

1939 - We also faced the Hatters at the same stage of the Cup with left-winger George Paterson grabbing his only reds goal in a 3-0 Anfield victory. Jack Balmer added two strikes.

At last at the Bridge
2004 - Bruno Cheyrou’s first League goal handed us our first win at Stamford Bridge for fifteen years, as we beat Chelsea 1-0 despite the absence of Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard. El-Hadji Diouf was unjustly sent off, with his red card later rescinded, and Jerzy Dudek went off injured to be replaced by debutant Patrice Luzi for the last quarter of an hour, becoming the 52nd senior keeper in our history, and only the fourth man to never concede a goal in his entire reds career between the sticks, although this was his only senior outing.

1978 - We lost at Stamford Bridge, being knocked out of the FA Cup at the Third Round stage, with Joey Jones playing his hundredth and last game against his future employers. David Johnson and Kenny Dalglish bagged our goals as we lost 4-2. Steve Finnieston netted one of his four strikes past us, with Clive Walker bagging a brace and Tommy Langley also on target.

Death of a legend
1968 - Ephraim Longworth died in Liverpool. He signed from Leyton in June 1910, playing at right-back for us until 1928, making a total of 370 reds appearances in seventeen years without ever finding the net. He also became the first red to captain England. He then served as Reserve team trainer, before joining the ground staff.

Beginnings and ends
2023 – Dutch forward Cody Gakpo debuted as we were held to a 2-2 draw in an FA Cup Third Round encounter in L4. Gonçalo Guedes put the visitors ahead with Darwin Núñez equalising on the stroke of half time. Mohamed Salah put us in front before Hwang Hee-chan levelled, with Wolves denied a late winner due to a controversial offside call.
2019 – Winger Rafael Camacho and midfielder Curtis Jones both made their reds bows, with centre-half Ki-Jana Hoever coming off the bench after just six minutes for his debut to become our youngest ever player in the FA Cup as we lost a Third Round tie 2-1 at Molineux. Keeper Simon Mignolet and left-back Alberto Moreno both played their final reds games. Mexican forward Raúl Jiménez gave the home side the lead with Divock Origi equalising after the break. However, Rúben Neves struck the winner shortly afterwards, with Xherdan Shaqiri later hitting the woodwork.

Happy birthdays
1989 - Left-back Emiliano Insúa was born in Buenos Aires. He made 62 senior appearances, netting his only goal in our Carling Cup defeat at Arsenal in October 2009. He initially arrived on loan from Boca Juniors in January 2007 before signing permanently for £1.675m seven months later. He joined Galatasaray on loan in August 2010, joining Sporting Clube de Portugal permanently a year later.

1906 – Forward Harry Race was born in Evenwood, County Durham. He signed from Raby United in February 1928, scoring eighteen times in 43 games before being sold to Manchester City in August 1930 for £3,000.
1931 - Centre-half Alex South was born. He struck once in just seven appearances after signing from his hometown club Brighton & Hove Albion for £5,000 in December 1954, before moving on to Halifax Town in October 1956, for whom he racked up over three hundred games.

Management moves
2000 - Steve McMahon was appointed Blackpool Manager, with Gary Ablett arriving at the club on non-contract terms on the same day. He remained in charge of the Seasiders until June 2004, leading them to promotion via the play-offs in his first full season. Ablett only made twelve appearances for Blackpool before retiring.
2012 – Ex-reds reserves midfielder Jim Magilton was named as Melbourne Victory boss. He stayed for just three months, winning only two of his twelve games in charge.
2013 - Dean Saunders became Manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers, but he could not prevent them from being relegated to League One and was sacked after just four months in the job.

Sadio the best
2020 - Sadio Mané was named CAF African Footballer of the Year, having been runner-up to Mohamed Salah for the previous two years. Salah and Joël Matip were also named in the CAF African Team of the Year. On the same day, the club announced a deal with Nike as official kit supplier from 2020/21.

A great day for the reds
We have only lost one of our eighteen first-class games on this day, winning twelve.
1905 - These victories include a 6-1 thumping of Chesterfield in a Second Division match at Anfield when Robert Robinson, Alex Raisbeck, Arthur Goddard and Maurice Parry all netted, the latter while making his hundredth reds appearance, in addition to Sam Raybould’s brace. Future reds keeper Sam Hardy was on the losing side.

Towards the Semi-final
1998 - Extra-time strikes from Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler at St. James’ Park took us past Newcastle United 2-0 and into the Semi-finals of the Coca-Cola Cup, where we went out to First Division Middlesbrough.
1933 - We also beat the Geordies in a First Division game. Gordon Hodgson scored a brace, including one from the spot, with Dave Wright also on target in our 3-0 win.

Scouse git at Anfield
1967 - Scenes for the BBC comedy Till Death Us Do Part, starring Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett and Tony Booth, were filmed during our 2-0 defeat of West Ham United at Anfield. Peter Thompson struck both goals to send us to the top of the table, as well as hitting the post.

Knocking the Sky Blues out
We have twice faced Coventry City in the Third Round of the FA Cup on this day in history.
1961 – Inside-forward Jimmy Harrower struck his 22nd and final reds goal with Roger Hunt and Kevin Lewis also netting as we won 3-2 at Anfield, although we went out at home to Sunderland at the next hurdle.
1970 - Bobby Graham struck our equaliser as we drew 1-1 at Highfield Road, although we won the replay 3-0 and got as far as the Sixth Round that season. Neil Martin had netted the last of his four goals against the reds.

Wearside stalemates
We have twice drawn with Sunderland on this day in history.
1899 – We were held to a goalless top-flight draw at Anfield with keeper Harry Storer playing his hundredth reds game.
1922 - We drew an FA Cup First Round tie 1-1 at Roker Park, with Dick Forshaw on target for the reds. We won the Anfield replay 5-0 but went out at the next stage, beaten at home by West Bromwich Albion.

Honours even with Rovers
We have also twice shared the spoils with Blackburn Rovers on this day in history.
1950 - We held them to a goalless draw at Ewood Park in the Third Round of the FA Cup, winning the replay as we reached the Final for the second time in our history. Ex-red Bob Priday featured for the home side.
1911 - We were held to a 2-2 draw in a First Division match, with Jack Parkinson and Arthur Goddard on target for the reds. Johnny Orr scored the first of his five goals past us, with Billy Garbutt also on the scoresheet for the visitors.

Signing on
1952 – Ronnie Moran signed pro terms with the reds. He spent 49 years at Anfield, making 379 senior appearances and bagging seventeen goals. He helped us to win the Second Division in 1963 and the League title the following year, before joining the coaching staff. He took charge of the reds for ten games in between Kenny Dalglish’s departure and Graeme Souness’s appointment, having another spell in temporary charge while Souness recovered from his heart operation. He died in March 2017.
1957 - Centre-half John Nicholson signed as a professional, but he could only make one senior appearance before joining Port Vale in August 1961, playing over 200 League games for them.

On the move
1955 – Inside-right Sammy Smyth left the reds to sign for Bangor back in his native Northern Ireland. He had signed from Stoke City for £12,000 in December 1952, netting twenty goals in 44 games.
1987 - Ex-red Michael Robinson joined Club Atlético Osasuna from Queens Park Rangers. He struck twelve times in 59 La Liga games before becoming a well-respected pundit in Spain.
2015 - Steven Gerrard announced that he would sign for LA Galaxy when his contract expired at the end of the season. On the same day, First-team doctor Zaf Iqbal left the club to return to London due to family illness while future reds forward Takumi Minamino joined Red Bull Salzburg from Cerezo Osaka after fifteen goals in 82 games for the J1 League side.
2016 - Joe Cole joined Coventry City from Aston Villa on a free transfer after a successful loan spell, netting twice in 22 outings in total. On the same day, centre-half Ben Davies joined Newport County on loan from Preston North End, playing twenty times for the Exiles.

2019 – Keeper Kamil Grabara joined AGF Århus on loan, with midfielder Ovie Ejaria moving to Reading on a temporary basis. Grabara played sixteen League games in Denmark, with Ejaria netting once in sixteen outings in this first spell.
2020 – Forward Rhian Brewster joined Swansea City on loan, netting eleven times in 22 outings as the Swans narrowly failed to secure promotion to the Premier League.
2022 – Keeper Liam Hughes joined Northern Premier League side Stalybridge Celtic on loan, playing ten times. He had signed from Celtic in Scotland in February 2021, so far making it to the first-team bench twice.

Called off
2005 - Our FA Cup Third Round meeting with Burnley at Turf Moor was called off at the last minute due to a heavily waterlogged pitch. The game was staged eleven days later instead, when we lost 1-0 thanks to a comical Djimi Traoré own goal.

Cameron’s farewell
1893 – Forward Jonathan Cameron played his eleventh and final reds game as we came from behind to win 2-1 at Heywood Central in the Lancashire League, thanks to goals from James McBride and Tom Wyllie. The game was played in six inches of snow as no-one had cleared the pitch.

International reds
1945 – Willie Fagan and Billy Liddell played for a Scottish Services XI as they lost 6-4 to Flanders in Brugge.
1992 - Stig Inge Bjørnebye won his first cap as a Rosenborg BK player, and fourteenth in total, as Norway played out a goalless friendly draw with Egypt in Cairo.
2002 – Ex-red Rigobert Song played for Cameroon as they won a friendly 3-1 in Burkina Faso.
2004 – Roy Hodgson managed the United Arab Emirates as they lost 3-1 to Bahrain in a Gulf Cup of Nations game in Kuwait.
2007 - Future red Lucas Leiva appeared for Brazil Under-20’s in the Sudamericano Sub-20 “Juventudjde América” as they beat Chile 4-2 in a group game in Paraguay.
2010 – Future red Kolo Touré played as the Ivory Coast beat Rwanda 2-0 in a friendly in Tanzania.

Other reds games
1995 – We shared a goalless draw in an FA Cup Third Round tie at Birmingham City, progressing after a replay and reaching the Sixth Round that season.
1989 – Kenny Dalglish took charge of his 200th game as we won 3-0 at Carlisle United in another Third Round fixture with John Barnes opening the scoring before Steve McMahon netted a brace as we started our journey to Wembley.
1956 – We beat Accrington Stanley 2-0 at Anfield in the FA Cup Third Round, with Billy Liddell nabbing both goals. We went out to Manchester City in the Fifth Round later that campaign.
1928 – We won 4-3 at Aston Villa in a top-flight encounter. Reg Chester struck two of his four goals past us, with Dick Edmed netting a reds brace. Len Capewell scored one of his six goals against the reds, with Tommy Reid and Fred Hopkin also on the scoresheet.

Missing out
2013 – Ex-red Xabi Alonso was voted into eleventh place in the FIFA Ballon d’Or award for 2012, with future red Mario Balotelli coming 23rd as Barcelona’s Lionel Messi won for the fourth consecutive year.

Mark’s day
2011 – Ex-reds winger Mark González married Maura Rivera in Ñuñoa in Chile.