23rd March

Happy birthday Jerzy
1973 - Jerzy Dudek was born in Rybnik. The big Pole in our goal made 186 reds appearances after signing from Feyenoord for £4.85m in August 2001, helping us to glory in Istanbul, as well as the Worthington Cup in 2003. He left to join Real Madrid in July 2007, although he barely featured for their first team.

A new boss
1951 – Don Welsh took charge of his first reds game as Jack Haigh nabbed the only goal of our top-flight meeting with Charlton Athletic at Anfield. Left-back Eddie Spicer reached a century of League appearances in this game.

Away goals galore
1985 - John Wark netted an eighteen-minute hat-trick in our 5-0 win at West Bromwich Albion, with Steve Nicol and Kenny Dalglish also on target, while Bruce Grobbelaar saved a Derek Statham penalty. Wark therefore became the only red to score trebles in three different competitions in the same season, after Anfield hat-tricks against Lech Poznan in the European Cup and York City in the FA Cup.
1993 – Ian Rush put us in front at Crystal Palace after the break, but Chris Armstrong scored the 4,000th goal we had conceded in the top flight as the match ended 1-1 at Selhurst Park, with Steve Nicol playing his 300th League game for the club.

1991 - We routed Derby County 7-1 at the Baseball Ground under Ronnie Moran’s temporary control, thanks to a Jan Mølby penalty, braces from John Barnes and Steve Nicol, and goals from Ian Rush and Ray Houghton. Future red Dean Saunders scored the first of his four goals past us, although the only one before he moved to Anfield.
1903 - We also beat Derby in the First Division, winning 3-1 at Anfield, with left-half Bill Goldie netting his sixth and final reds goal and Sam Raybould and Jack Cox also on target.

Masch off
2008 - We were beaten 3-0 at Manchester United, with Javier Mascherano sent off under a short-lived clampdown on players questioning officials. Wes Brown, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani netted for the home side.
1912 - We held the Red Devils to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford when Jack Parkinson netted our goal in this top-flight encounter.

Jay off
2010 – Reserves midfielder Jay Spearing joined Leicester City on loan. He struck once in eleven outings as they reached the Championship Play-off Semi-finals.

Bradley off the mark
1907 - Left-half Jim Bradley scored his first reds goal of eight as we thumped Newcastle United 4-1 at Anfield. Arthur Goddard, Jack Cox and Joe Hewitt were also on the scoresheet.

A half century over Leeds
2003 - We earned our fiftieth League win over Leeds United in the 98th meeting. Michael Owen, Danny Murphy and Steven Gerrard all netted in a 3-1 win, with Mark Viduka bagging one of his six goals past us.

Other births and deaths
1983 - Former reserves right-back Jon Otsemobor was born in Speke, Liverpool. He signed pro terms on his seventeenth birthday but played just six first-team games for us, before joining Rotherham United in July 2005.
1914 - Centre-half Norman Low was born in Aberdeen. He joined the reds in October 1933 but only played thirteen times while at Anfield, deputising for Tom Bradshaw, before moving on to Newport County in November 1936.
1908 – John Charlton was born in Leadgate, County Durham. He signed from Bradford City in October 1929, but only played three senior games before moving on to Derry City in 1932.

1947 – David Ashworth died. He was appointed as reds boss in December 1919. He had previously guided Oldham Athletic from non-League into the top flight, to whom he returned in December 1922 with the reds en route to retaining the League title he had led them to the previous season.
2011 – Ex-reds midfielder Trevor Storton died. He struck eight times in 118 League games for Tranmere Rovers before switching to Anfield for £25,000 in July 1972. He only played twelve times in two years before joining Chester, for whom he turned out more than 400 times.

Double departure
1897 – Forward Malcolm McVean and inside-right Jimmy Ross were both sold to Burnley, although the Clarets got relegated at the end of that campaign. McVean had signed from Third Lanark in 1892, scoring our first ever League goal, bagging 43 in total in 126 reds games. He helped us to the Lancashire League title and two Second Division championships. Ross was known as the ‘little demon’, signing from the ‘invincible’ Preston North End for a club record £75 in August 1894, helping us to the Second Division title, scoring 39 times in 85 reds games and captaining the side.

International doubles
1994 - Future reds Phil Babb and Jason McAteer both won their first full international caps for the Republic of Ireland in their goalless friendly meeting with Russia at Lansdowne Road. Ronnie Whelan skippered the Irish that day, while future red Gary McAllister captained Scotland on the same day, as they lost a friendly 1-0 to the Netherlands at Hampden Park. Meanwhile, former reds reserves midfielder Jim Magilton won his first Northern Ireland cap as a Southampton player as they beat Romania 2-0 in a friendly at Windsor Park.
2017 – Rhian Brewster bagged a brace as England Under-17’s beat the Czech Republic 5-3 in a European Championships qualifier in Bosnia & Herzegovina, with ex-Academy Manager Steve Cooper in charge. Meanwhile, Bernard Diomède was managing France Under-18’s to a 2-1 friendly defeat of Germany in Chauny.

Stig on the way out
2000 - Stig Inge Bjørnebye was loaned out to Brøndby IF. He netted twice in thirteen League games for the Danish side and was sold to Blackburn Rovers within a month of his return to Anfield.
1999 - Reserves midfielder Danny Williams joined Wrexham on a free, bagging four goals in 48 games. He was then signed by Jan Mølby for Kidderminster Harriers.

Alf’s last strike
1968 - Centre-forward Alf Arrowsmith struck his final reds goal as we won 2-1 at Sheffield Wednesday. His 24 goals came in 56 games.
1901 - We also faced The Wednesday, being held to a 1-1 draw at Anfield in another top-flight encounter, with Sam Raybould grabbing our goal and Fred Spiksley scoring one of his four against the reds.

Anfield first
1893 – The first testimonial to be played by the reds at Anfield saw Bootle Boys Brigade beaten 1-0 in a match staged in aid of Liverpool Caledonians’ David Kirkwood. John Miller scored the goal.

A semi-final thriller
1899 - We drew an FA Cup Semi-final replay 4-4 with Sheffield United at Burnden Park. Our goals came from Johnny Walker, George Allan, Jack Cox and a Peter Boyle own goal. Walter Bennett struck one of his five goals past us, with Fred Priest bagging a brace and Billy Beer also on target. Unfortunately, we lost a second replay 1-0 at Baseball Ground a week later.
1929 – The fifth and most recent FA Cup Semi-final to be staged at Anfield took place, with eventual winners Bolton Wanderers beating Huddersfield Town 3-1.

Harkness starts out
1989 - Steve Harkness signed as a professional for Carlisle United. He played thirteen times before being signed by Kenny Dalglish four months later.

Underneath the floodlights
1960 - We lost a match played to commemorate new floodlights at Dens Park. Dundee won 1-0, with brothers Bill and Bob Shankly in opposing dug-outs.

Other international firsts and lasts
2013 – Ex-reds keeper Charles Itandje made his debut for Cameroon in their 2-1 World Cup qualifying defeat of Togo in Yaoundé, with Kolo Touré winning his last cap as a Manchester City player as the Ivory Coast beat Gambia 3-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Abidjan. Future reds Joe Gomez, Sadio Mané, Joël Matip, Victor Moses and Xherdan Shaqiri were also in international action that day.
1991 - Sami Hyypiä won his first cap at any level, playing for Finland Under-18’s as they were held to a goalless draw by Yugoslavia in a friendly in Italy.
2019 – Ex-red Toni Silva won his first cap as an Al Ittihad Alexandria Club player as Guinea-Bissau drew 2-2 with Mozambique in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Bissau, as Abel Xavier took charge of the visitors for the final time. Rafael Camacho, Roberto Firmino, Ki-Jana Hoever, Sadio Mané, ex-red Philippe Coutinho and future reds Arthur Melo and Sepp van den Berg also played for their countries that day.

2016 – Trent Alexander-Arnold made his debut for England Under-18’s in their 3-2 friendly win in Austria, with Herbie Kane also featuring and Dejan Lovren also playing for his country.
2017 – Future red Federico Chiesa debuted for Italy Under-21’s in their 2-1 friendly win in Poland. Ex-red Sebastián Coates won his first cap as a Sporting Clube de Portugal player while facing Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and future red Alisson Becker as Brazil thumped Uruguay 4-1 in a World Cup qualifier in Montevideo. Sadio Mané featured for Senegal in a 1-1 friendly draw with Nigeria in Barnet on the same day, while future red Dominic Solanke converted a spot-kick as England Under-20’s drew 2-2 with Portugal in a tournament in France, the fourth consecutive game at his level he had scored in. Galatasaray’s Ozan Kabak scored while captaining Turkey Under-17’s to a 4-1 defeat of Finland in a European Championships qualifier in Antalya. Caoimhín Kelleher, future red Cody Gakpo and ex-reds Javier Mascherano and Brad Smith also played for their countries that day.

2015 – Future red Kelleher played for the Irish Under-17’s as they beat Belarus 3-1 in a European Championships qualifier in Poland.
2018 – Coutinho won his first cap as a Barcelona player, scoring from the spot in Brazil’s 3-0 friendly defeat of Russia in Moscow, with Roberto Firmino and future red Alisson Becker also in action, while future red Federico Chiesa made his senior bow as Italy lost 2-0 to Argentina in Manchester. On the same day, Virgil van Dijk played for the Netherlands for the first time as a red, with Joe Gomez, Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gini Wijnaldum and ex-reds Ryan Babel and Raheem Sterling all also featuring as England won 1-0 in Amsterdam. Ex-reds Luis Suárez and Victor Moses both scored from the spot, with Mohamed Salah and ex-red Krisztián Németh also on target as Marko Grujić, Andy Robertson, ex-red Péter Gulácsi and future red Thiago also played for their countries.
2022 - Jarell Quansah debuted for England Under-19’s in their 3-1 defeat of the Republic of Ireland in a European Championships qualifier in Walsall. Future red Ben Doak played for Scotland Under-17’s on the same day as they drew a qualifier 2-2 with the Czech Republic in Falkirk.
2023 – Lewis Koumas won his first cap for Wales Under-19’s as they beat a Scotland Under-18’s side 2-1 in Wrexham.

Tosh the boss again
1995 - John Toshack was appointed Manager of Deportivo La Coruña, although he did not take over for another three months. He lasted a year and a half before he resigned, during which time they beat Real Madrid to win the Supercopa, the Spanish equivalent of the Charity Shield.

Kenny and Jimmy for their countries
1982 - Kenny Dalglish netted in Scotland’s 2-1 friendly defeat of the Netherlands at Hampden Park. Future red John Wark also played.
1976 - Jimmy Case struck on his Under-23’s debut as England played their last ever fixture at this level, beating Hungary 3-1 in a European Championships qualifier at Old Trafford, although they went out on aggregate. Future red Alan Kennedy also played.

Future reds on target
2017 - Dominik Szoboszlai nagged a brace while skippering Hungary Under-17’s in their 2-1 defeat of Russia in a European Championships qualifier in Budapest.
2001 - Milan Baroš scored for the Czech Republic Under-21’s as they won 2-0 in a European Championships qualifier in Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, future red Christian Poulsen won his first cap for Denmark at the same level in their goalless European Championships qualifying draw with Malta in Corradino.

1988 - Dean Saunders won his first cap as an Oxford United player, scoring as Wales lost 2-1 to Yugoslavia in a friendly in Swansea. Juve’s Ian Rush also played. On the same day, John Barnes, Peter Beardsley and future red Mark Wright all played as the Netherlands held England 2-2 in a friendly at Wembley. Also that day, future red Ronnie Rosenthal netted in Israel’s 9-0 trouncing of Taiwan in an Olympics qualifier in New Zealand. Ex-red Avi Cohen also played, while Everton’s Kevin Sheedy appeared in the Republic of Ireland’s 2-0 friendly defeat of Romania at Lansdowne Road.

Other reds games
1996 – We lost 1-0 at Nottingham Forest with Steve Stone on target as the returning Stan Collymore ran the gauntlet of angry home fans.
1974 – Brian Hall headed in the only goal of our trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
1963 – We won 3-1 at Burnley with Ian St. John, Roger Hunt and Kevin Lewis all on the scoresheet as Andy Lochhead bagged one of his four goals against the reds.

1957 – We thumped Rotherham United 4-1 in a Second Division encounter at Anfield despite falling behind to one of Royston Stephenson’s four strikes past us. Billy Liddell, Brian Jackson and Alan A’Court all netted as we also benefited from a Norman Noble own goal.
1953 – We lost 3-0 at Chelsea.
1935 – We beat Huddersfield Town 3-2 in L4. Tommy Johnson struck twice with Gordon Hodgson converting a spot-kick.

Ex-reds on the move
1994 - Jimmy Carter joined Oxford United on loan from Arsenal. He made five appearances, returning for a second spell later that year.
1995 - Ray Houghton signed for Crystal Palace from Aston Villa for £300,000, bagging eight goals in 87 games for the Eagles.
2006 - Jon Newby joined Kidderminster Harriers on loan from Bury, failing to score in seven outings.
2012 – Former reserves forward Nikola Sarić signed for HB Køge in his native Denmark.

Also in international action
1901 – Maurice Parry played for Wales as they beat Ireland 1-0 in the British International Championships in Belfast.
2005 – Future reds Michael Nardiello and Daniel Sturridge both played for England Under-16’s as they lost 2-0 to Japan in the Montaigu Tournament.
2011 – Chris Mavinga featured for France Under-20’s as they lost a friendly 3-0 in Peru.
2021 – Morgan Boyes skippered Wales Under-21’s as they were held to a goalless friendly draw in Newport by the Republic of Ireland.
2023 – Conor Bradley and Diogo Jota were both on the winning side in European Championships qualifiers. Dominik Szoboszlai captained Hungary as they beat Estonia 1-0 in a friendly in Budapest, with fellow future red Alexis Mac Allister playing as Argentina beat Panama 2-0 in Buenos Aires.