8th January

The return of the king
2011 – Roy Hodgson left as Manager “by mutual consent”, with Kenny Dalglish resuming the hot seat on a caretaker basis. Hodgson had led us to just thirteen wins in 31 games, with the King restoring the club’s pride and ethos, although he was sacked in May 2012.

Carra makes his debut
1997 - Jamie Carragher made his reds bow as a substitute for Rob Jones in our 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough in a Coca-Cola Cup Fifth Round tie. Steve McManaman grabbed our consolation, while Stig Inge Bjørnebye was making his hundredth reds appearance.

Departure of a striking sensation
1936 - South African striker Gordon Hodgson was sold to Aston Villa for £3,000. He had bagged a club record eighteen hat-tricks amongst his 241 goals in 377 games since signing from Transvaal in November 1925, although he was unable to claim a medal in his time at Anfield. He only stayed at Villa Park for a year before joining Leeds United.

Tchau Phil
2018 – Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho joined Barcelona for an initial, eye-watering £105m fee, comfortably a reds club record. He had signed from Internazionale in January 2013 for £8.5m, bagging 54 goals in 201 appearances.

Fielding the kids
2017 – Our youngest ever starting eleven, aged on average 21 years and 296 days, was held to a goalless draw by Plymouth Argyle in an FA Cup Third Round tie at Anfield. We won the replay but fell at the next hurdle to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Happy birthdays
1953 - Hughie McAuley was born in Bootle. He moved to Melwood to become Reserve Team Manager just before the start of the 2002/03 season, working as a Coach at that level with Gary Ablett, before taking charge of the Under-18’s back at the Academy. He had previously been a regular in our reserves in the early 1970’s, before working with the Academy on a full-time basis since June 1990. He played a major role in our FA Youth Cup triumph in 1996 and helped to develop players including Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen.. He left the club in the summer of 2009.

1947 - Former reserves forward Ted MacDougall was born in Inverness. He signed pro terms on his nineteenth birthday in 1966 but never made our first-team, moving on to York City for £5,000 in 1967. He enjoyed his greatest success with Norwich City, for whom he banged in 66 goals in 138 games.
1949 – Forward Steve Peplow was born in Liverpool. He signed on at Anfield as a professional on his seventeenth birthday and struck nineteen goals for the reserves in 1968/69, but only played three senior games, without finding the back of the net. He left for Swindon Town in June 1971 after a successful loan spell there.
1991 – Former Academy forward Marvin Pourié was born in Werne in Germany. He arrived from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2007 at the age of sixteen, scoring twelve times in his first year with the Under-18’s but returned to Germany in January 2009, joining Schalke 04.
1999 – Polish keeper Kamil Grabara was born in Ruda Śląska. He arrived in the summer of 2016 from Ruch Chorzów, making it to the first-team bench once before moving on to F.C. København in July 2021.

1884 - Robert Blanthorne was born in Birkenhead. He only played twice for the first team, at the end of the 1906/07 season after signing from Birkenhead in the second half of the campaign.
1932 - Left-back Tom Wilkie died. He struck once in 64 reds appearances after signing from Heart Of Midlothian in January 1895, moving on to Portsmouth in 1899.
1869 - James Kelso was born in Cardross. He only played one senior reds game, in a 4-0 Lancashire League defeat of Bury at Anfield in September 1892, and sadly committed suicide aged just 29, back in his native Scotland.

Stewart’s treble
1910 – Inside-right Jimmy Stewart scored a hat-trick as we thumped Chelsea 5-1 at Anfield. Jack Parkinson added a brace.

Debutants galore
2016 – Winger Ryan Kent and left-back Joe Maguire played their only senior reds games, with centre-half Tiago Ilori, winger Sheyi Ojo and midfielder Kevin Stewart also debuting as a very inexperienced side drew 2-2 at League Two side Exeter City in the FA Cup Third Round as Christian Benteke skippered the side for the only time. We twice fell behind, but the only reds goals from forward Jerome Sinclair and left-back Brad Smith drew us level each time.

Most recently
2021 – We won an FA Cup Third Round tie 4-1 behind closed doors at a COVID-struck Aston Villa. Sadio Mané bagged a brace with Gini Wijnaldum and Mohamed Salah both also on target. On the same day, ex-red Gary Mackay-Steven signed for Heart Of Midlothian, netting four times in eighteen appearances in his first campaign back in Scotland.

Red departures
1955 – Forward Fred Geary died. He signed from Everton for £60 in May 1895, having top scored as they won the League in 1891 and won three England caps. He bagged fourteen goals in 45 reds games, helping us to claim the Second Division title in his first season.
2010 - Andrea Dossena joined SSC Napoli for €4.25m. He had struck twice in 31 reds games after signing from Udinese for £7m in July 2008. On the same day, centre-half Zak Whitbread left Millwall for Norwich City after four goals in 119 games for the Lions.
2020 – Young midfielder Isaac Christie-Davies joined Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging on loan, having played just one senior reds game. He netted on his debut in a friendly, but failed to make a senior appearance, moving on permanently to Barnsley in September 2020.

Stumbling towards Cardiff
2003 - Two late Michael Tonge strikes gave Sheffield United the first leg advantage in our Worthington Cup Semi-final at Bramall Lane, after Neil Mellor’s first senior goal had opened the scoring. We, of course, turned things around in the second leg, to progress to our ninth League Cup Final.

More managerial ins and outs
1997 - Kevin Keegan resigned as Manager of Newcastle United for the first time. He had been in charge for nearly five years, guiding them to the First Division title in his first full season in charge, and then to within a whisker of the Premiership in 1996.
2001 - Nigel Spackman was appointed First Division Barnsley’s boss. He was in charge for nine months before being sacked.
2009 - Nigel Clough took over as Manager of Derby County, as a replacement for Paul Jewell. He remained in charge until being sacked in September 2013.

Bill’s century
1949 – Bill Jones played his hundredth reds game, putting through his own net as we drew an FA Cup third Round tie 2-2 at Nottingham Forest. We were two goals behind at half time, but Willie Fagan and Bob Paisley both struck late on, before the match headed into extra time.

The Shrimpers again
1958 - Right-back John Molyneux struck his first reds goal as we beat Southend United 3-2 in an FA Cup Third Round replay, as well as putting through his own net. Centre-half Dick White scored his only reds goal, with Tony Rowley netting his 38th and last goal for the club. Sammy McCrory bagged the other goal for the Shrimpers. We made it to the Sixth Round that season before falling to Blackburn Rovers.

The lights go out in Bristol
1994 - Our FA Cup Third Round match at Bristol City was called off during the second half, due to floodlight failure. We were eventually knocked out by the First Division side in an Anfield replay.

Mixed fortunes against Rovers
We have faced Blackburn Rovers three times on this day in history, winning twice in the FA Cup.
1898 - However, we lost the first meeting 2-1, when our strike came from a William Ball own goal in a First Division match at Ewood Park. Forward Bobby Colvin made the first of his three reds appearances in this game.

1983 - We won away from home by the same score in the Third Round, with David Hodgson and Ian Rush on target. Unfortunately, we only reached the Fifth Round, going out at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
1991 - Ray Houghton, Ian Rush and Steve Staunton were on the scoresheet as we won a Third Round replay 3-0 at Anfield. Steve McMahon was sent off in this game, as Glenn Hysén had been in the drawn first meeting. We went as far as the Fifth Round again that year before being knocked out by Everton.

Evans on target and off
1955 - We drew 1-1 at Lincoln City in an FA Cup Third Round tie, with goalscorer John Evans sent off. We won the replay four days later, after extra time, as we made it to the Fifth Round before being knocked out by Huddersfield Town at Anfield.

No goals against Palace
We have twice faced Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Third Round on this day in history, with both matches ending goalless.
1938 – We were held at Selhurst Park in our first ever meeting with the Eagles, making it as far as the Fifth Round when we were knocked out by Huddersfield Town.
1977 – We drew in L4 when Ray Clemence made his 400th appearance for the reds. We of course reached the Final that year.

On our way to Wembley
1974 - We won an FA Cup Third Round replay 2-0 at Doncaster Rovers in a game that kicked off at 1:30pm on a Tuesday, due to the three-day working week, having only just survived the first game at Anfield. Steve Heighway and Peter Cormack netted as we set off towards our second Cup triumph.

Mo the best
2019 - Mohamed Salah was named as CAF African Footballer of the Year for the second consecutive year after a calendar year in which he had netted in the UEFA Champions League Final, amongst his 24 goals in 51 reds games. Naby Keïta and Sadio Mané were also named in the Team of the Year.

Jermaine the record breaker
1999 - Jermaine Pennant signed for the Gunners from Notts County in a £2m deal, becoming the most expensive teenager in English football history, aged just sixteen. He only grabbed three goals for Arsenal, but they all came in his first League start as he made just 26 senior appearances, although he only played one other League game from the off.

Other reds games
1972 – We lost 1-0 at Leicester City with Ally Brown heading in very early.
1966 – Ron Yeats scored a diving header, the only goal of our trip to Highbury against Arsenal.
1921 – We were held to a 1-1 draw by Manchester United in an FA Cup First Round tie at Anfield. We won the replay, but were knocked out in the next round by Newcastle United. Ex-red Tom Miller opened the scoring, but Harry Chambers nabbed our equaliser.

Titi on target
1997 – Future red Titi Camara struck for Guinea as they lost a friendly 2-1 to Ivory Coast in Bouaké.

A new contract
2007 - Young midfielder Danny Guthrie signed a new contract until June 2009. He played just seven senior reds games before being sold to Newcastle United for £2.25m in July 2008.

A final cap
1995 - Rigobert Song won his eighth and final cap as a Tonnerre Yaoundé player as Cameroon were held to a goalless draw by Malawi in Douala.
2013 – Oussama Assaidi played for Morocco as they held Zambia to a goalless draw in a friendly in Johannesburg.
2017 – Future red Mohamed Salah featured in Egypt’s 1-0 friendly defeat of Tunisia in Cairo.