8th May

Clinching the title
1979 - A 3-0 defeat of Aston Villa at Anfield handed us our eleventh League title, thanks to goals from Alan Kennedy, Kenny Dalglish and Terry McDermott. We ended the season with a record 68 points and record goal difference of +69, having only conceded sixteen League goals during the entire campaign. This game was originally postponed from New Year’s Day.

The arrival of an Anfield legend
1939 - Left-half Bob Paisley signed from Bishop Auckland for a £10 signing-on fee, and £5 per week. He served the club well in his 277 games, notching twelve times, before joining the training staff. He eventually succeeded Bill Shankly in 1974, becoming the most successful manager in English football history.

1894 - A rather less notable Anfield servant arrived in L4. Defender James Cameron signed from Rangers, going on to make only four first-team appearances.
1909 – Outside-left John McDonald also arrived from Rangers, netting four goals in 81 reds games before joining Newcastle United in May 1912.
1933 - Left-back Jack Tennant arrived at Anfield from Torquay United. He went on to appear 42 times for the reds without notching before joining Bolton Wanderers in January 1936, later guesting with the reds during the war.

Cup final disappointment
1971 - Arsenal completed the double, beating us 2-1 at Wembley in the FA Cup Final. Steve Heighway opened the scoring in extra time before Eddie Kelly equalised for the Gunners. Charlie George grabbed the winner with the first of his five goals past us - cue one very famous flat-out celebration. Future red Ray Kennedy appeared for the Gunners.
1972 - We also faced Arsenal, holding them to a goalless draw at Highbury.

2005 - Our third meeting with the North London outfit on this day in history ended in a 3-1 defeat at Highbury that ensured we would finish behind Everton in fifth place, although the glory of Istanbul was just around the corner. Steven Gerrard bagged our goal while playing his 200th League game, while Robert Pires netted the last of his four goals past us, with José Antonio Reyes and Cesc Fábregas also scoring.

2012 - Three days after losing out to the Blues in the FA Cup Final at Wembley, we saw off Chelsea 4-1 at Anfield with the reds wearing special ‘Seeing Is Believing’ sponsored kits. Michael Essien’s own goal following fine work from Luis Suárez opened the scoring, with Jordan Henderson doubling our lead after one of many errors forced on John Terry. Daniel Agger headed in from a corner before Fernando Torres and Stewart Downing each hit the woodwork, with Downing then placing a spot-kick onto the post, a club record seventh penalty miss of the season, excluding shoot-outs. Ramires pulled a goal back for the visitors before Jonjo Shelvey completed the scoring.
2001 – We were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Chelsea. Michael Owen bagged a brace, with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink twice drawing the visitors level, two of his seven goals against the reds.

Heading towards second
2002 - We beat Blackburn Rovers 4-3 at home, having lost the lead three times before Emile Heskey finally won the game late on, to keep us on course to finish second in the League. Danny Murphy, Nicolas Anelka and Sami Hyypiä were the other scorers, with Andrew Cole netting one of his eleven goals past us, and Damien Duff and Matt Jansen also on the scoresheet. Meanwhile, it was confirmed that we were holding talks with French club Sedan over the possible transfer of Salif Diao.

Final acts
2016 – Joe Allen struck his seventh and last goal for the club as we beat Watford 2-0 at Anfield, with Roberto Firmino also on target.
2004 - Emile Heskey bagged his sixtieth and final reds goal as we won 3-0 at his next club Birmingham City. Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard also struck, while the Blues had Kenny Cunningham sent off.
1982 - We also won at St. Andrews, with Ian Rush netting the only goal of the game.

The Anfield Iron is forged
1963 - Tommy Smith made his reds bow in our 5-1 League defeat of Birmingham City at Anfield. This was the first official game we ever played on this day in history. Roger Hunt bagged a brace, with Gordon Wallace scoring his first reds goal and Ian St. John and Ian Callaghan also netting.

Shanks for the last time
1974 - Bill Shankly took charge of his last official reds game as we drew 1-1 at Tottenham Hotspur in a game postponed from two months earlier, to end the season in second place, five points behind champions Leeds United. Centre-back Max Thompson made his reds bow, becoming our youngest League debutant to date, aged seventeen years and 129 days, just fifteen days younger than Michael Owen was on his debut 23 years later. Steve Heighway was on the scoresheet, while Ian Callaghan was making his 500th League appearance and left-back Alec Lindsay played his 200th game for the club.

1993 - We also faced Spurs, winning 6-2 at Anfield in our final game of the season as we finished sixth, with many fans expecting this to be Graeme Souness’s last game in charge, although he was actually watching Coventry City entertain Leeds United at the time. Ian Rush and John Barnes grabbed a brace each, with Rushie’s first being his 300th reds goal. Mark Walters netted his nineteenth and last goal for the club, with the reds also benefitting from a Stuart Nethercott own goal that was initially credited as Steve Harkness’s first reds strike. Bruce Grobbelaar saved a Teddy Sheringham penalty, our first spot-kick save at Anfield in the Premier League. Sheringham got on the scoresheet anyway with one of his seven goals against the reds, as did Steve Sedgley for the visitors.

First strikes
1964 - Forward Bobby Graham scored his first reds goal as we trounced Boston Metros 8-1 in the first friendly on our US tour. Alf Arrowsmith and Ian St. John both bagged braces, with Phil Chisnall, Chris Lawler and Tommy Smith also on target.
2021 - Thiago Alcântara bagged his first reds goal late on in our 2-0 defeat of Southampton behind closed doors at Anfield, after Sadio Mané had headed in the opener as Jürgen Klopp secured his hundredth Anfield win in all competitions.

Heading off
1999 – Midfielder Jean-Michel Ferri made his second and final reds appearance as we lost 1-0 at Sheffield Wednesday thanks to a late Richard Cresswell header. Ferri came on as a late substitute for Jamie Redknapp.
1970 – Left-back Peter Wall was sold to Crystal Palace for £30,000. He had arrived at Anfield from Wrexham in a deal that cost us £35,000 for him and full-back Stuart Mason in October 1966. He failed to score in 42 first-team appearances in three and a half years at Anfield but had greater success with the Eagles. He spent eight seasons at Selhurst Park, playing over 200 times for them with one of his rare goals coming at Anfield in January 1972, although we still won 4-1.

Managerial comings and goings
2012 - Nick Barmby was sacked as Manager of Hull City, after making disparaging comments about the owners and transfer funds. He had led them to thirteen victories in 33 games in charge.
2001 - Mark Wright was appointed Manager of basement side Oxford United. He only won four of the 22 games in which he was in charge, resigning after just six months at the Kassam Stadium, following accusations of racism.
1992 - Phil Neal was sacked as Bolton Wanderers boss, after nearly seven seasons in charge. He led them to the Freight Rover Trophy Final in his first campaign, before the Trotters were relegated to the basement division the next year, but immediately bounced back into the Third Division. He could not lead them any higher, despite twice making the play-offs. He also helped them to claim the Sherpa Van Trophy in 1989.

Future reds starting out
1980 - Nigel Spackman signed for Bournemouth from Andover on a free transfer. He played 131 times for his first professional club, bagging ten goals as they were promoted to the Third Division in his second season.
1994 - Sami Hyypiä scored his first goal in the Finnish Premier League as Myllykosken Pallo-47 drew 1-1 with HJK Helsinki.
1863 - One-time reds trainer William Connell was born in Stockport.

International debutants
1963 - Midfielder Gordon Milne made his full international debut as England drew 1-1 with Brazil in a friendly at Wembley.
1932 – Ex-red reserves outside-left Jimmy Kelly played for the Irish Free State for the first of four times in their 2-0 friendly defeat of the Netherlands in Amsterdam.
2018 – Future red Ryan Gravenberch debuted for the Dutch Under-17’s as they beat Spain 2-0 in a European Championships Finals group game in England.

Kenny on target
1976 - Future red Kenny Dalglish netted in Scotland’s 3-0 British International Championships defeat of Northern Ireland at Hampden Park. Meanwhile, Ray Clemence, Kevin Keegan, Ray Kennedy and Phil Thompson faced John Toshack as England won 1-0 in Cardiff.

European joy and despair
1968 - Roger Hunt appeared for England as they beat Spain 2-1 in Madrid to reach the Semi-final of the European Championships 3-1 on aggregate.
2006 - Future red Krisztián Németh appeared for Hungary Under-17’s as they lost 2-0 to Spain in a European Championships Finals group game in Luxembourg.
2007 – Future red Damien Plessis played for France Under-19’s in their 3-1 European Championships qualifying victory over Poland in Israel.

Beating the Blues
1962 – Ronnie Moran scored the only goal of our Liverpool Senior Cup Semi-final encounter with Everton at Goodison Park.

Alex off
2008 – Former First Team Coach Alex Miller quit the club to take over as Manager of JEF United Ichihara Chiba in Japan. However, his contract was terminated in July 2009.

Other reds milestones
Two ex-reds defenders have been released by other clubs on this day in history.
2003 - David Burrows left Sheffield Wednesday after 23 games in his one year at Hillsborough as they struggled in the First Division.
2008 – Stephen Wright was on his way from Sunderland, having made 105 appearances and netted twice. He is now on the coaching staff at Wrexham.

Births and death
2009 – Danish centre-half Daniel Agger became a father to a son, Jamie.
1966 – Future reds goalkeeping coach Cláudio Taffarel was born in Santa Rosa, Brazil. He joined the club in 2021.
1991 - First-Team Assistant Fitness Coach Jordan Fairclough was born. He joined the Academy as an intern in 2017, moving up to the senior set-up in April 2018, going full time in the summer of 2019.

1955 - George Patterson died in Liverpool. He joined the reds as Assistant Secretary in 1908, taking charge of the team as Tom Watson’s successor as Secretary in 1918. He returned to a purely backroom role during 1919/20. He took charge again in 1928 when Matt McQueen retired, remaining in charge until 1936 at which point he once again reverted to a less front-line position, staying at Anfield until 1938.

Also in international action
1943 – Ray Lambert featured as Wales drew 1-1 with England in a Wartime International at Ninian Park.
1957 – Tommy Younger played for Scotland as they beat Spain 4-2 in a World Cup qualifier at Hampden Park.
2005 – Future reds loanee Nuri Şahin appeared for Turkey Under-17’s as they thrashed Belarus 5-1 in a European Championships Finals group game in Italy.