Search the Community

Birthdays galore 1954 - Midfielder Jimmy Case was born in Liverpool. He signed from South Liverpool for a bargain £500 in May 1973 and bagged 46 goals in 269 reds games, helping us to claim three European Cups, four League titles, UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup, League Cup and three FA Charity Shields, before joining Brighton & Hove Albion for £350,000 in August 1981. 1863 - Matt McQueen was born in Harthill, Lanarkshire. He arrived from Leith Athletic in October 1892 and bagged seven goals in 103 games for the reds, playing in every position on the park including 41 games in goal, helping us to claim the Second Division title twice, once while as a keeper. He moved on to Heart Of Midlothian in 1899 but later served the reds as a Director, and then as Manager for five years in the 1920’s, leading us to our fourth League title in 1923. 1958 - Howard Gayle was born in Toxteth. The first black player to represent Liverpool in modern times, he signed professional terms in November 1977 and notched once in five first-team appearances before moving on to Birmingham City in January 1983 for £75,000. Two keepers also share a birthday today. 1971 - Brad Friedel was born in Bay Village, Ohio. He made 31 first-team appearances for us after signing from US side Columbus Crew for £1m in December 1997, moving to Blackburn Rovers on a free transfer in November 2000. 1973 - Pegguy Arphexad was born in Guadeloupe. Our former reserve custodian signed on a free transfer in July 2000 but only played six senior reds games, although he claimed six winners’ medals from the bench in his time at Anfield, before moving on to Coventry City in August 2003 after his contract had expired. Euro disappointment 2016 – Daniel Sturridge gave us a half-time lead in the UEFA Europa League Final against Sevilla in Basel, but we collapsed after the break to lose 3-1 with Jorge Moreno bagging a brace to add to a Kévin Gameiro strike. Midfielder Joe Allen, centre-forward Christian Benteke and centre-half Kolo Touré all played their last reds games. We had been denied a clear-cut penalty in the first half as the Spanish side went on to claim the trophy for the third consecutive season. Off goes Emile 2004 - Emile Heskey was sold to Birmingham City for a fee rising to £6.25m after sixty goals in 223 reds games. He struck sixteen times in 78 games for the Blues before moving to Wigan Athletic for £5.5m in July 2006. Other reds signings 1927 - Forward Tom Devlin signed from Preston North End for £250. He was unable to make the first-team, unlike his brother, centre-forward Willie, who was at Anfield at the same time. He moved on to Swindon Town in July 1928. 1985 - Reserves defender Alex Watson signed for the reds as a professional. He only made nine first-team appearances, including our 1988 FA Charity Shield win, before joining Bournemouth in January 1991 for £150,000. The end of the road for A’Court 1963 - Alan A’Court played his 354th and final League game as we lost 2-0 at Aston Villa in a game postponed from Boxing Day to finish the season in eighth place with George Graham netting the first of his four goals past us and Bobby Thomson also on target. He had played 381 games for us in total, scoring 63 goals, helping us to win the Second Division title in 1962. 1982 - Our only other first-class game on this day produced a goalless draw at Middlesbrough, the final game of a season in which we won the League by four points from Ipswich Town. Led by skipper Graeme Souness, the reds had all snuck out of the hotel to go down the pub shortly before the game! On target 2014 – Future red Dominic Solanke netted as England Under-17’s beat Portugal 2-0 in their European Championships Semi-final in Malta, with fellow future red Joe Gomez also in action. First and last caps 1935 - Ex-reds defender Tom Gardner won his second and final cap as England beat the Netherlands 1-0 in a friendly in Amsterdam. 1938 – Ex-reds reserves centre-half Matt O’Mahoney won the first of his six caps for Ireland in their 2-2 friendly draw with Czechoslovakia in Prague. 1939 – O’Mahoney played again as Ireland again drew 2-2 in a friendly, this time with Hungary in Budapest. 1950 - Utility player Bill Jones made his second and final senior appearance for England as they beat Belgium 4-1 in a friendly in Brussels. His grandson Rob went on to win eight full caps for England. 1949 - Bill also played for his country in an unofficial international, when England B beat the Netherlands 4-0 in Amsterdam. 2002 - Future red Djibril Cissé made his senior international debut as a substitute in France’s 2-1 defeat by Belgium at the Stade de France. On the same day, Vladimír Šmicer scored the only goal of the game as the Czech Republic beat World Cup-bound Italy in Prague. Meanwhile, Dietmar Hamann starred in Germany’s 6-2 defeat of Austria, playing alongside ex-red Christian Ziege. 1996 - Reds centre-back Mark Wright won his 45th and final full England cap as they beat Hungary 3-0 in a friendly at Wembley. Future red Paul Ince also played. Into the book 2009 – The club launched its own official Facebook page, which now has over 31m followers. Ex-reds on the move 1999 - John Barnes was released by Charlton Athletic. He had made just two starts for the Addicks, plus a further ten appearances from the bench. His Charlton debut had been at home to the reds, as they won 1-0 following Jamie Carragher’s dubious dismissal. 2000 - Mike Marsh signed for Southport from Kidderminster Harriers on a free transfer. He netted seven times in 37 games as they just missed out on promotion from the Conference. Walters starts out 1982 - Mark Walters signed as a professional for Aston Villa. He struck 48 times in 224 games for the Villains before moving to Rangers for £550,000 in December 1987. Released 2006 - It was announced that Ramon Calliste, Robbie Foy, Paul Lancaster, Paul Willis and Calum Woods were not being retained for the next season once their contracts expired later in the summer. 2007 - Ex-reds midfielder David Thompson was released by Bolton Wanderers after eight games in five months with the Trotters. 1907 – Forward John Carlin was sold to Preston North End after eight goals in 35 outings since signing from Barnsley in December 1902, helping us to the League title in 1906. Young champion 2009 – Christopher Buchtmann helped Germany Under-17’s to claim the European Championship as they beat their Dutch counterparts 2-1 in the Final in Magdeburg after extra time. 2010 – Andre Wisdom featured in the same tournament as England beat the Czech Republic 3-1 in Liechtenstein. On the same day, future red Gini Wijnaldum played as the Dutch Under-21’s lost 3-1 in a European Championships qualifier in Portugal.

Completing another treble 2001 - We clinched the third leg of our cup treble, beating Deportivo Alavés 5-4 after a pulsating match in Dortmund. Markus Babbel and Steven Gerrard put us 2-0 up after a quarter of an hour, with the German grabbing his sixth and final reds goal. Ivan Alonso pulled one back before a Gary McAllister penalty restored our two-goal cushion before half-time. After the break, two goals from Javi Moreno levelled the match, before Robbie Fowler scored his fiftieth cup goal to regain the lead. Jordi Cruyff sent the Final into extra-time, before a golden own-goal from Delfi Geli, from a Gary Mac free-kick, finally won us the UEFA Cup for the third time. Other games on this day We have only played three other first-class games on this day, winning two of them. 1977 - We lost 2-1 at Bristol City, with David Johnson netting our consolation in our final League game of the season. Chris Garland struck twice for the home side. 1989 - John Aldridge and Ronnie Whelan scored as we beat Queens Park Rangers 2-0 at Anfield. 1999 - Karl-Heinz Riedle, Patrik Berger and Paul Ince were all on target as Wimbledon left L4 after our last game of the season on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline. Phil Babb made his 170th and final reds appearance in this game, with Ince playing for the 81st and last time. Anfield testimonials for reds legends 2000 – The reds beat Celtic 4-1 in a testimonial for Ronnie Moran. He had struck seventeen times in 379 games for us before joining the coaching staff. The game was also special in that Erik Meijer grabbed a rare brace, with the other goals coming from Titi Camara and David Thompson. 1988 - The reds beat an England XI 3-2 to win the Fosters Challenge Cup, in a testimonial match for Alan Hansen at Anfield. Mick Harford’s header put England in front, before Ronnie Whelan and Ian Rush put the reds ahead. Chris Waddle equalised and then Rush added his second. Long before the end the Kop were chanting “Ian Rush come back home”, a wish that was granted just three months later. Farewell to heroes 1959 - Elisha Scott died. He had played 468 games in goal across his 21 years with us, winning two League championship medals in his time at Anfield. 2012 – Kenny Dalglish was sacked as Manager, despite having won the League Cup and reached the FA Cup Final in his one full season back in charge. However, he paid the price for a disappointing League campaign. Most recently 2015 - Steven Gerrard bid an emotional farewell to Anfield as we tamely lost 3-1 to Crystal Palace. Glen Johnson played his 200th and last reds game, with Raheem Sterling also making his final appearance for the club. Adam Lallana opened the scoring against his former club, but Jason Puncheon equalised just before half time. Wilfred Zaha’s free-kick put the Eagles ahead before Glenn Murray converted the rebound after his penalty was initially saved by Simon Mignolet. On the same day, future red Sadio Mané broke the record for the fastest Premier League hat-trick when he netted three times in two minutes and 56 seconds for Southampton against Aston Villa. International arrivals 2009 - Pep Segura was appointed Academy Technical Manager having led Olympiacos to the League and Cup double. He had previously spent many years working with Barcelona’s youth players. 2002 - Bruno Cheyrou signed from Lille OSC Métropole for £3.7m, although he had to wait two months for his international clearance. He struck five times in 48 reds games before joining Stade Rennais in June 2006 after two previous loan spells back in his native land. International recognition 1931 - Left-half Jimmy McDougall made his Scotland debut at centre-half as they lost 5-0 to Austria in a friendly in Vienna. Meanwhile, future reds defender Ernie Blenkinsop featured in England’s 4-1 friendly win in Belgium. 1934 - Ex-reds defender Tom Gardner won the first of his two England caps as they lost 2-1 to Czechoslovakia in a friendly in Prague. Future reds right-back Tom Cooper captained the English. Unlucky break 1951 – Left-back Eddie Spicer broke his leg in our 4-1 friendly defeat of Malmö FF in Solna. Cyril Done nabbed a brace, with Billy Liddell and Kevin Baron also scoring. On the move 1992 - Ex-reds midfielder Jimmy Case joined Conference side Halifax Town from Bournemouth on a free transfer. He played 23 times for The Shaymen, netting twice. 1933 - Left-back Jack Tennant arrived at Anfield from Torquay United. He went on to appear 42 times for the reds before joining Bolton Wanderers in January 1936. 2010 - Markus Babbel was appointed Manager of Hertha BSC Berlin, leading them back into the top flight in his first campaign in charge, but was sacked last December. 2011 - Kevin Keen was re-appointed Caretaker Manager of West Ham United, following the sacking of Avram Grant. 2018 – Sammy Lee left as Assistant Manager of Everton, at the same time as his boss Sam Allardyce moved on. God signs on again 2006 - Robbie Fowler signed a new one-year contract, having impressed with five strikes in sixteen matches since his return. He went on to net seven times in 23 outings in his second season, moving on to Cardiff City in July 2007. 2008 – Second string keeper David Martin signed a new contract until June 2010, though he returned to MK Dons in May 2010, having spent much of his time away from Anfield on loan. 1902 – Defender Thomas Hunter was sold to Preston North End after appearing just four times since arriving from Scottish side Beith in September 1899. 2017 – Winger Paul Anderson signed for Mansfield Town from Northampton Town on a free transfer, having struck seven times in 39 outings for the Cobblers since signing from Bradford City in August 2016. Reds on target against Northern Ireland 1978 - Phil Neal netted his first England strike, the only goal of a British International Championships fixture at Wembley. Emlyn Hughes captained his country, with fellow clubmate Ray Clemence also playing. 1973 - Future red Kenny Dalglish was on target as Scotland lost 2-1 in the same tournament at Hampden. 1980 - He also turned out for his country, alongside clubmate Graeme Souness, as the Scots beat the same opposition 1-0 at Windsor Park. On the same day, Steve Heighway featured as the Republic of Ireland lost 1-0 to Argentina at Lansdowne Road. 1983 – Dalglish controversially played for the reds, scoring as we lost a friendly 4-3 to the Israeli national side in Tel-Aviv, despite having withdrawn from the Scottish squad for the upcoming British International Championships earlier that day. Beni Tabak scored all four for the home side, with centre-half John McGregor scoring our other two goals. Jan the Dane 1984 - Jan Mølby won his final cap as an Ajax player, and his eighth in total, as a substitute in Denmark’s 1-0 defeat by Czechoslovakia in a friendly in Prague. 1986 - He won his twentieth cap in a 1-0 friendly win over Poland in Copenhagen. More international marksmen 1991 - Future red Jari Litmanen scored as Finland beat Malta 2-0 in a European Championships qualifier in Helsinki. 1990 - He also played for his country as they drew 1-1 with the Republic of Ireland in a friendly in Dublin. The Irish goal was scored by ex-reds reserve Kevin Sheedy, while Ray Houghton, Steve Staunton and ex-red John Aldridge all also featured. On the same day, Gary Gillespie won his ninth cap in Scotland’s 3-1 friendly defeat by Egypt at Pittodrie. 2007 - Future red Krisztián Németh netted for Hungary Under-19’s as they drew 1-1 with Bulgaria in a European Championships Qualifier in Dublin. 2019 – Ki-Jana Hoever featured as the Dutch Under-17’s beat Spain 1-0 in their European Championships Semi-final in Dublin. For the university 1995 - We took part in a friendly in celebration of University College Dublin’s centenary season in 1994-95, winning 3-1 at Lansdowne Road. Robbie Fowler struck twice, with Jamie Redknapp also on target.