21st May

Red arrivals
1914 - Inside-right Fred Pagnam joined from Blackpool for £75. He struck an astonishing thirty times in just 39 reds games, moving to Arsenal in October 1919. He later had a successful managerial career with Watford and the Turkish national side, amongst others.
1937 – Scottish left-winger George Paterson signed from the Hall Russell’s works team. He struck once in three outings, moving on to Swindon Town for their record fee in October 1946. He later returned to Anfield in a coaching role under Bill Shankly.

Ephraim the first
1921 - Full-back Ephraim Longworth became the first red to captain England, aged 33 years and 231 days, as he won his second cap in their 2-0 friendly defeat of Belgium in Brussels. Clubmate Harry ‘Smiler’ Chambers netted his first England goal in the same game.

Wembley disappointment
1977 - Our first treble dream died as we lost the FA Cup Final to Manchester United. Jimmy Case equalised just two minutes after Stuart Pearson had given United the lead. However, only three minutes later Jimmy Greenhoff scored the winning goal, one of his five past us, to take the cup to Old Trafford for the first time in fourteen years. This remains our only first-class game on this day in history.

Farewell Lucas
2017 – Lucas Leiva played his 346th and last reds game as we beat Middlesbrough 3-0 at Anfield to secure UEFA Champions League football for the next season and relegate the visitors. Gini Wijnaldum opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time, with Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana on target after the break.

Striking first caps
1980 - Ian Rush won his first full cap for Wales, as a substitute in their 1-0 defeat by Scotland in the British International Championships at Hampden Park. Kenny Dalglish and ex-red Joey Jones both also featured.
1975 – Ipswich Town’s David Johnson netted a brace on his England debut as they drew 2-2 with Wales in the same competition. John Toshack bagged his final goal as a reds player in this game, while Ray Clemence also played.

Bobby the boss
1982 - 1950’s wing-half Bobby Campbell was appointed Manager of Portsmouth. He stayed in charge for two years, with his signings including Neil Webb and Mark Hateley. He led them to the old Third Division title in his first season in charge, and kept them up the following season, but was then sacked and replaced by Alan Ball.

Births and death
1963 - Danish defender Torben Piechnik was born in Copenhagen. He only played 24 times after Graeme Souness signed him from F.C. København for £500,000 in September 1992, having helped his country to a shock win at Euro ’92, but Roy Evans released him after just two seasons at Anfield.
1896 – Inside-left Hector Lawson was born in Shettleston, Glasgow. He signed from Rangers in January 1924, failing to score in sixteen outings before joining Airdrieonians in August 1925.
1994 – Scottish centre-half Norman Low died. 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.

Award winners
2001 - Gérard Houllier was given a special Nationwide award, having bizarrely been pipped to the Manager Of The Year trophy by Ipswich Town boss George Burley despite leading the reds to a cup treble and third place in the League.
2018 - Mohamed Salah was named PFA Fans’ Player of the Year for the first time, after a stunning 44 goals in 52 games in his first campaign with the reds.

More reds on target
1998 - Vladimír Šmicer scored in his third consecutive Czech Republic game as they beat Paraguay 1-0 in a Kirin Cup game in Japan.
2002 - Michael Owen netted as skipper in England’s 1-1 draw with South Korea in a pre-World Cup friendly. Emile Heskey, Danny Murphy, ex-red David James and future red Joe Cole all also played. Milan Baroš featured as the Czech Republic Under-21’s drew 1-1 with Greece in the European Championships in Switzerland on the same day.

2008 – Reserves forward Krisztián Németh grabbed a brace, including a penalty, as Hungary Under-19’s beat Cyprus 2-1 in a European Championships qualifier in Székesfehérvár, with clubmate András Simon making an appearance from off the bench. On the same day, future reds loanee Nuri Şahin scored his last goal for Turkey Under-21’s as they beat USA Under-23’s 3-2 in the Toulon Tournament.
2010 – Future red Fabio Borini netted for Italy Under-19’s in their 2-0 friendly defeat of the Czech Republic in Udine, while Jari Litmanen won his 132nd cap for Finland as they lost 2-0 in Estonia. On the same day, Conor Coady skippered England Under-17’s as they beat Greece 1-0 in a European Championships Finals group game in Liechtenstein, with Andre Wisdom also featuring.

European champions
2014 – Future red Dominic Solanke netted his last goal at this level as England Under-17’s beat the Netherlands on penalties after their European Championships Final finished 1-1 in Malta, with fellow future red Joe Gomez also featuring.

Wrong and right for Wright
1991 - Future red Mark Wright skippered England for the only time, scoring an own goal as they beat the USSR 3-1 in a friendly at Wembley. John Barnes and Peter Beardsley both also played.
1988 - Barnes and Beardsley both also represented their country when England beat a Scotland side that included Steve Nicol 1-0 in the Rous Cup at Wembley.

Poland for Wales
1939 - Future reds keeper George Poland won his second and final official cap for Wales as they lost 2-1 to France in a friendly in Paris. He played a further four times in Wartime games while on our books.

Saint turned sinner
1961 – Ian St. John scored and was then sent off for kicking out as we drew a friendly 1-1 at Slovakian side Tatran Prešov.

For Stan and Tony
2000 - We took part in a testimonial match for Steve Staunton and Tony Cascarino, losing 4-2 to an Irish XI at Lansdowne Road. Our goals came from Emile Heskey and Michael Owen.

Derby joy
1944 - We beat Everton 5-2 in a friendly at Anfield in aid of the Lord Mayor’s War Fund. Don Welsh bagged a treble, with Billy Liddell and Jack Balmer also on target as all five goals came within an eight-minute spell.

Taylor for England
Phil Taylor twice represented his country on this day in history.
1947 - He featured in a goalless B international in Switzerland.
1950 - He played alongside clubmate Jimmy Payne as England B won an unofficial international 2-1 in Luxembourg, with Billy Liddell also in international action.

On the move
1999 - Former reserves forward Paul Dalglish, King Kenny’s son, was sold to Norwich City from Newcastle United for £300,000, after a successful loan spell. However, he only bagged two goals in a total of 48 games for the Canaries.
2001 - Robbie Keane was sold to Leeds United from Internazionale for £12m, after nine goals in twenty outings during a loan spell at Elland Road the previous season.

2007 - Ex-reds reserves forward John Miles signed for Accrington Stanley on a free transfer from Macclesfield Town. He netted just seven times in 111 games for them before joining Conference National side Fleetwood Town in June 2010.
2015 - Ex-reds midfielder Danny Guthrie was released by Reading after five goals in 69 games. On the same day, Jordon Ibe signed a new contract with the reds.
2016 – Reserves forward Jerome Sinclair agreed to sign for Watford on 1st July, having become our youngest ever player in September 2012 aged sixteen years and six days. He struck once in five senior reds games in total and netted once in fourteen outings for the Hornets before his contract expired in the summer of 2021, spending much of his time out on loan.

Robbo for the Irish
Future red Michael Robinson played for the Republic of Ireland in friendlies on this day in consecutive years.
1981 - They lost 3-0 to West Germany B in Bremen
1982 – He played in a 1-0 defeat in Chile, with future reds Assistant Manager Sean O’Driscoll making his debut.

Tony starts a run
1969 - Ex-red Tony Hateley scored in the first of all seven games on an FA Tour, grabbing a treble as an England side beat Tahiti 4-1 in Papeete. He netted a total of seventeen goals on the trip.
1961 – Alan A’Court also played in an FA Tour game as England won 4-2 in Hong Kong.

European disappointment
2008 – Ex-red Nicolas Anelka had a penalty saved in the UEFA Champions League Final for Chelsea as they lost 6-5 in the shoot-out to Manchester United in Moscow, after the game had ended 1-1 at both full time and after extra time. Future red Joe Cole also featured for the losing side.

Also in international action
1938 – Future reds boss Don Welsh played for England as they lost a friendly 2-1 in Switzerland.
1977 – Glenn Hysén played for Sweden Under-18’s in their 4-1 defeat by Bulgaria in a European Championships Finals group game in Belgium.
1978 – Steve Heighway and future red Mark Lawrenson both featured as the Republic of Ireland shared a goalless friendly with Norway in Oslo.
1985 – Future red Barry Venison appeared for England Under-21’s in their 3-1 defeat in a European Championships qualifier in Finland.

1997 – Mark Kennedy and ex-reds Ray Houghton and Steve Staunton all played for Ireland in their 5-0 World Cup qualifying thumping of Liechtenstein at Lansdowne Road, with future red Vegard Heggem featuring for Norway Under-21’s as they lost 3-1 to Denmark in Grimstad.
2003 – John Welsh played for England Under-19’s, with Jon Otsemobor turning out for the Under-20’s in the same day.
2006 – John Toshack took charge of a Wales side that beat the Basque Country 1-0 in Bilbao, with future reds Craig Bellamy and Paul Jones both in action.
2019 - Rhys Williams played for England Under-18’s as they drew 2-2 in Slovakia.