23rd July

Happy birthday Danny
1992 – Forward Danny Ings was born in Winchester. He arrived from Burnley in June 2015, with the fee eventually set by a tribunal at an initial £6.5m. He only struck four times in 25 games as he suffered two serious injuries, spending a season on loan at Southampton whom he joined permanently in July 2019 for an initial £18m.
2001 – Czech keeper Vítězslav Jaroš was born in Příbram. He signed from SK Slavia Praha in August 2017, making his first appearance for the club in our 6-0 friendly win at Tranmere Rovers in July 2019, so far making it onto the first-team bench on seven occasions.

1999 – Left-back Tony Gallacher was born in Glasgow. He signed from Falkirk in January 2018 for £200,000, making his senior debut in our 5-0 Carabao Cup defeat at Aston Villa in December 2019.
1966 - Dr. Andreas Schlumberger was born in Ulm. The German took over as the club’s Head of Recovery & Performance at the end of 2020, having previously worked with Jürgen Klopp at Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund.

Welcome Soto
1979 – Greek centre-half Sotirios Kyrgiakos was born in Trikala. He signed from A.E.K Athens for £2m in August 2009. He netted three times in 49 outings, becoming something of a cult favourite with fans before joining VfL Wolfsburg on a free transfer two years later.

Recent debutants
2005 - Peter Crouch played his first reds game as we beat Olympiacos 4-3 in a friendly in Vaduz in Liechtenstein. Luis García and Fernando Morientes struck before Milan Baroš nabbed a brace.
2011 – Keeper Alexander Doni, winger Stewart Downing and midfielder Jordan Henderson all made their reds bows as we lost 3-0 at Hull City, with ex-red Nick Barmby featuring for the home side.
2014 – We lost 1-0 to Roma at Fenway Park in Boston, as the Italian side claimed the Buick Trophy.

Reds debuting on tour
The reds have twice more played overseas on this day in history.
1987 - We fell 3-0 behind before finally losing 3-2 at Bayern München in a testimonial match for Dieter Hoeneß, with John Barnes scoring in his first appearance in a red shirt late on. Peter Beardsley also made his reds bow, while John Aldridge netted our other goal.
1991 - We were held to a goalless draw at Dundalk, with Dean Saunders and Mark Wright both running out for the reds for the first time.

Recently in and out
2008 – Right-back Emmanuel Mendy signed from Real Murcia on a three-year deal. The Senegal-born youngster can also play at left-back, but was released in the summer of 2012 having failed to break through to the first team.
2010 – Left-winger Albert Riera was sold to Olympiacos for an initial £3.3m after five strikes in 56 reds outings. He bagged six goals in 28 games for the Greek side, before moving on to Galatasaray in September 2011.
2012 – Reserves right-winger Toni Silva joined Barnsley on a free transfer, although he only made one senior appearance before being released in June 2013.
2018 – Young forward Taiwo Awoniyi joined KAA Gent on loan, scoring three times in 21 appearances.

Sir Roger at the World Cup
1966 - Roger Hunt appeared for England as they beat Argentina 1-0 in a bad-tempered World Cup Quarter-final at Wembley. Visiting skipper Antonio Rattin was dismissed after persistent Argentine fouling shortly before half-time, allegedly for “the look on his face”, but initially refused to leave the pitch. Afterwards, Sir Alf Ramsey infamously described the South American side as “animals”.

In memoriam
1993 - We kicked off our pre-season programme with a benefit match at the Don Valley Stadium against a Kevin Keegan All Star XI, in memory of a Liverpool fan killed in a road accident. We won the match 5-0, with Nigel Clough netting in his first reds match. Ian Rush bagged a brace, with Mark Walters and Steve McManaman also on target, as Neil Ruddock also made his club debut.

Celebrating the Robins
1997 - We played at Ashton Gate to help commemorate Bristol City’s centenary year. The game ended 1-1, with Michael Owen netting for the reds. Danny Murphy made his inaugural reds appearance in this game.

Another friendly win
2021 – Luca Kilian put through his own net for the only goal of our meeting with 1. FSV Mainz 05 in Austria, our opening full-length pre-season friendly.

Happy birthday Paul
1988 – Winger Paul Anderson was born in Leicester. He signed from Hull City in a swap deal for John Welsh in January 2006, making it onto the first-team bench just twice, both in UEFA Champions League matches. He was sold to League One Nottingham Forest for £250,000 in June 2009, having spent the previous season on loan at the City Ground.

Avi the Olympian
1976 - Future red Avi Cohen played in the Olympics for Israel as they drew 1-1 with France in a group game in Montreal.

Free at last
2005 - Emlyn Hughes was posthumously awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Barrow. An office block on the site of a former cinema was also named in his honour, as Emlyn Hughes House!

Keepers on the move
1991 - Future reds loanee Paul Jones joined Wolverhampton Wanderers from Kidderminster Harriers for £40,000. He played 44 times for them in this first spell at Molineux, before moving to Stockport County in July 1996 for £60,000.
2012 – Ex-loanee Carl Muggleton joined Gillingham as Goalkeeping Coach.
2022 – Shamal George joined Livingston on a free transfer from Colchester United after fifty senior outings for the League Two side. On the same day, ex-reds loanee centre-half Ozan Kabak moved to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim from Schalke 04, having scored three times in 42 games for Die Königsblauen.

Youngsters on target
2002 - Future red Fernando Torres struck as Spain Under-19’s beat host nation Norway 3-0 in a European Championship Finals group game.
2001 - Young reds striker Daniel Sjølund opened the scoring for the Finnish Under-18’s but it was not enough to prevent them crashing to a 4-1 defeat at home to the Czech Republic. The result left them likely to bow out of the European Championships at the group stage.

2000 - Future red Milan Baroš was on the scoresheet as the Czech Republic Under-18’s lost 3-1 to Germany in the European Championship Finals in Aichach, to finish fourth in the tournament.
1996 - Michael Owen appeared for England in the same tournament, as England were held to a goalless draw by Spain in France. Meanwhile, Gérard Houllier took charge of the French side, with Christian Damiano, as they beat Hungary 2-1 in the same competition.

Other young international reds
2003 – Future red Alberto Aquilani’s Italy Under-19’s beat the Czech Republic 1-0 in Vaduz to reach the European Championship Final. Meanwhile, future red Daniel Agger played for Denmark Under-20’s as they beat Northern Ireland 1-0 in the NI Milk Cup in Limavady.
2006 - Antonio Barragán appeared for Spain in the Under-19’s Finals as they drew 1-1 with Portugal in Poland to reach the Semi-finals.
2018 – Adam Lewis featured for England Under-19’s as they were thumped 5-0 by France in a European Championships Finals group game in Finland, with ex-red Bernard Diomède in charge of the winning side.

2008 – Péter Gulácsi and Krisztián Németh both featured for Hungary Under-19’s as they lost 1-0 to Italy in the Semi-final in the Czech Republic. On the same day, Ryan Babel played for the Netherlands Olympic XI as they beat a Belgium Olympic XI 1-0 in Genk.
2005 - Future red David Martin was in goal as England Under-19’s beat Norway 3-2 in a European Championship Finals group game in Northern Ireland.
1989 – Future reds goalkeeping coach Cláudio Taffarel played as Brazil beat Japan 1-0 in Vasco da Gama.
1995 – Taffarel also played as Brazil lost a penalty shoot-out to Uruguay after their Copa América Final ended 1-1 in Montevideo.

Ex-reds in charge
2015 – Harry Kewell was appointed Under-21’s Manager for Watford following the senior side’s promotion to the Premiership. He moved on to Crawley Town in May 2017 to take over as head coach.
2017 – Abel Xavier was in charge of Mozambique as they lost an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier 2-0 to Madagascar in Maputo.