28th December

Death of a legend
2002 - Legendary reds centre-forward Albert Stubbins died. He struck 83 times in 178 reds matches after signing from Newcastle United for a British record £12,500 fee in September 1946, helping to power us to the first League championship played after the Second World War. He was also the only footballer to appear on the cover of The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album, and became a scout for the club in 1954, a post he held for the rest of the decade.
2010 – Israeli defender Avi Cohen died in Tel-Aviv, following a motorcycle crash. He was actually born in Egypt, and only made 24 appearances during his Anfield career after signing for £200,000 from Maccabi Tel-Aviv in July 1979, with his most memorable game coming in May 1980 as we clinched our twelfth League title. He put through his own net before scoring his only reds goal at the same end in the second half, as we beat Aston Villa 4-1.

Two off at Goodison
2005 - Our away derby ended in a 3-1 win with Phil Neville and Mikel Arteta both sent off for the Blues. Peter Crouch, Steven Gerrard and Djibril Cissé struck our goals, with James Beattie netting for the home side.

Sami’s last strike
2008 – We trounced Newcastle United 5-1 at St. James’ Park, with Sami Hyypiä heading his 35th and last reds goal to add to a Steven Gerrard strike as Shay Given pulled off a series of stunning saves. David Edgar unjustly headed the home side back into contention before the break, with Ryan Babel and Gerrard netting in the second half before Xabi Alonso completed the rout from the spot.

A heavenly milestone
1999 - Robbie Fowler scored his 150th reds goal, in just 260 games, as we won 3-1 at home to Wimbledon. Michael Owen and Patrick Berger were also on target.

Second time lucky
1977 – Phil Neal converted a penalty at the second attempt, after keeper Paul Bradshaw was adjudged to have moved before the kick was taken. We beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 at Anfield.

Solitary goals
1991 - Nicky Tanner bagged his only reds goal as we held Everton to a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park, with Mo Johnston netting for the Blues.

1909 – Inside-left Bert Goode netted his only reds strike as we lost 4-2 at Sheffield United. John McDonald grabbed our other goal. This was Goode’s seventh and last game for us, while forward Joe Hewitt was making his 164th and final appearance for the club. Joe Kitchen netted the first two of his eight goals against us, with Wally Hardinge also bagging a brace, the first of his four against the reds.
We have also twice entertained the Blades on this day in history.
1907 - Robbie Robinson, Percy Saul and Joe Hewitt were all on target as we won 3-0.
1946 - Albert Stubbins struck as we lost 2-1.

Beginnings and ends
1935 - Legendary striker Gordon Hodgson played his 377th and final reds game as we lost 3-2 at home to Chelsea with Fred Howe and Berry Nieuwenhuys on the scoresheet. Eric Oakton nabbed a brace for the home side, with Harry Burgess bagging one of his nine strikes against the reds.
1959 - Left-half Tommy Leishman made his reds bow in a 2-0 Second Division home defeat of Charlton Athletic. Alan A’Court and Roger Hunt were on target.
1903 – Keeper Charles Cotton made the first of his thirteen reds appearances as we lost 4-2 at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Jack Parkinson and Alex Raisbeck struck our goals, while Billy Wooldridge bagged a treble, the last of his five goals past us, with Adam Haywood also scoring for the home side.

Most recently
2003 - We played our first game at Manchester City’s new City Of Manchester Stadium. Vladimír Šmicer scored our 250th League goal against City, a header that was missed by the TV cameras. Nicolas Anelka had put the home side in front with one of his five goals past us, but Didi Hamann also struck to give us the lead before another ex-red, Robbie Fowler, nabbed a very late goal as the game ended 2-2. Jon Otsemobor played his sixth and final reds game.

We have also twice recently hosted City at Anfield
1992 – We were held to a 1-1 draw when Ian Rush struck our goal and Niall Quinn struck for the visitors.
1994 - Robbie Fowler netted as we won 2-0, with our first strike being a Terry Phelan own goal.

Fined
2011 – The club was fined £20,000 by the FA and warned as to their future conduct for “failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion” during the League game at Fulham earlier in the month, following Jay Spearing’s sending off. On the same day, Luis Suárez was banned for one match and fined £20,000 after he admitted an FA charge of improper conduct relating to the same match.

Stevie on and off again
1998 - Steven Gerrard came on as a substitute for Steve McManaman who had been hurt by future red Dietmar Hamann, and was later himself replaced by David Thompson after being injured in a challenge with Stuart Pearce, as we staged a comeback to beat Newcastle United 4-2 at Anfield. Michael Owen and Karlheinz Riedle both netted braces, while Hamann was sent off for two bookable offences. Nobby Solano struck the first of his four goals against us, with Andreas Andersson then putting the visitors two goals ahead.

We have beaten the Geordie outfit twice more on this day in history.
1987 - John Aldridge struck a brace, including a penalty, as we won 4-0 at Anfield, with Steve McMahon and Ray Houghton also on the scoresheet. This was our 23rd consecutive unbeaten League game, and the seventh time we had racked up four goals that season.
1997 - We won 2-1 on Tyneside, with Steve McManaman nabbing both our goals and future Blue Steve Watson on target for the home side.

Scales for the wrong side
1993 - Future red John Scales scored an own goal as Wimbledon held us to a 1-1 draw, with John Fashanu netting at Anfield for the third consecutive season in the League, the last of his six strikes against the reds. We had already benefited from an own goal against the Dons in a League Cup tie exactly two weeks earlier.

Thumping wins
1893 - We beat Crewe Alexandra 5-0 at Nantwich Road in a Second Division match with Harry Bradshaw, Patrick Gordon, David Henderson, Hugh McQueen and Malcolm McVean all scoring.
1918 - We trounced Burnley 7-0 at Anfield in a Wartime League game. John Miller bagged a treble, with Harry Lewis netting a brace, and Reginald Phillips and Walter Wadsworth also on target.

Didi signs on
2004 - Dietmar Hamann signed a new two-year contract. He nabbed eleven goals in 283 appearances for the reds in total, helping us to claim the Champions League, UEFA Cup, two FA Cups, two UEFA Super Cups, two League Cups and the FA Charity Shield after signing from Newcastle United for £8m in July 1999, but moved on to Manchester City in July 2006 after a bizarre detour to Bolton Wanderers.

Flo on the move
2009 - Florent Sinama-Pongolle joined Sporting Clube de Portugal from Club Atlético de Madrid for €6.5m. He had bagged five goals in forty outings for the Madrid side.

International bow
1995 – Forward Haukur Ingi Guðnason made his debut for Iceland Under-19’s as they lost 1-0 to Cyprus in the Israel Tournament.

Management appointments
2007 - Roy Hodgson was appointed Manager of Fulham, taking over two days later with the side in the relegation zone. He led them to just nine points from his first thirteen games in charge. However, twelve points from the last five games kept them in the Premiership. They finished seventh in his first full campaign, their best ever League finish. He took them to the UEFA Europa League Final in the following campaign, where they lost out to Club Atlético de Madrid, also finishing twelfth in the League. He was subsequently named LMA Manager of the Year by a record margin.

1970 - Ex-red Sir Matt Busby was re-appointed as Manager of Manchester United following the sacking of Wilf McGuinness, remaining in the role for the rest of the season.
1921 - Alex Raisbeck was named as Secretary/Manager of Second Division Bristol City. He stayed in charge for nearly eight years.