11th August

Triple debutants
2007 - Ryan Babel, Fernando Torres and Andriy Voronin all made their first-class reds bows as a late Steven Gerrard free-kick secured a 2-1 win at Aston Villa in our opening League fixture. This ensured that we became the fourth team to pass a thousand points in the Premier League, reaching 1,002, and was the first ever live Premiership match shown on Setanta Sports. We had taken the lead through a Martin Laursen own goal before Jamie Carragher gave away a penalty that Gareth Barry converted, one of his four goals past us.

Keepers on the move
1994 - Bruce Grobbelaar left Anfield for Southampton on a free transfer. He had played 628 reds games and won six League titles, one European Cup, three FA Cups, three League Cups and three FA Charity Shields in his thirteen years at Anfield. He turned out forty times in his two seasons at The Dell, before moving on to Plymouth Argyle.
2005 - Former reds reserves keeper Tony Warner joined Fulham on loan from Cardiff City, before signing permanently the following January. He made a total of 26 senior appearances for the Cottagers, before moving on to Hull City in July 2008.
2006 - David James joined Portsmouth from Manchester City for a £1.2m fee, after exactly a century of appearances for the Blues. He turned out 158 times for Pompey before moving to Bristol City in July 2010, helping them to claim the FA Cup in 2008. On the same day, Paul Harrison signed for Southport. He made nineteen outings in the Conference as they were relegated.

Charity and Community with the Gunners
We have twice met Arsenal in the traditional curtain-raiser to the season.
1979 - We put on a sparkling show to beat the Gunners 3-1 at Wembley to claim the FA Charity Shield outright for the fourth time. Our goals came from Kenny Dalglish and a Terry McDermott brace as Alan Sunderland bagged the first of his six goals past us.
2002 - Arsenal’s new Brazilian signing Gilberto Silva scored the only goal of the game to hand them the newly-rechristened FA Community Shield at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Bruno Cheyrou and El-Hadji Diouf both made their first-class reds bows in this game, while future red Kolo Touré made his debut for the winning side.

Beglin’s bonus
1992 - A testimonial match for former reds left-back Jim Beglin took place as we beat Leeds United 4-1 at Elland Road. Ian Rush bagged a brace, with our other goals being scored by Jamie Redknapp and Dean Saunders.

Spanish moves
2009 – Forward Dani Pacheco signed a new contract to keep him at Anfield until 2012, later extended by a further two years. He broke through to the first team during 2009/10, making seventeen senior appearances before being sold to AD Alcorcón in September 2013. On the same day, Luis García joined Real Racing Club de Santander from Club Atlético de Madrid, after just three strikes in 55 games, including playing in both Champions League group games against the reds.
2008 – Reserves centre-half Miki Roqué joined Cartagena on loan. He bagged three goals in thirty League appearances as they won the Segunda División B and was released by the reds in June 2009.

Happy birthdays
1995 – Centre-half Ben Davies was born in Barrow-in-Furness. He signed from Preston North End for £500,000 in February 2021 but did not manage a senior appearance before being sold to Rangers for a reported initial £3m in July 2022.
1913 - Andy Beattie was born in Kintore, Aberdeenshire. He guested for the reds at full-back during the Second World War, and later spent some time on our backroom staff. He managed a host of clubs as well as the Scotland national side, working with Bill Shankly at Huddersfield Town, having played alongside him at Preston North End.

1899 - Bert Shelley was born in Romsey. He played 448 times for Southampton, a club record until the 1960’s. After retiring from playing, he joined George Kay’s coaching staff, following him to Anfield in August 1936. He stayed on as Trainer after Kay’s departure, working under Don Welsh and Phil Taylor until 1959 when he joined the general staff, with his duties including looking after the treatment room. He was still working for the club when he died in December 1971.
1886 – Inside-left Bert Goode was born in Chester. He struck once in seven reds outings after signing from his hometown club in May 1908, moving on to Wrexham in June 1910.

Reds in Europe
1960 - We beat French side Nantes Atlantique 2-0 in the first leg of the Friendship Cup, with Roger Hunt and Kevin Lewis on the scoresheet.
1978 - Our first win in Austria came when Steve Heighway netted the only goal of our friendly encounter with Austria Wien.
1981 - Terry McDermott struck as we lost 2-1 at Servette FC Genève in Switzerland, with Jimmy Case playing his final game for the club before joining Brighton & Hove Albion.

Sami signs on
2005 - Sami Hyypiä signed a new contract that tied him to the club until 2008, although he subsequently extended this for a further year. He played 464 reds games following his £2.5m capture from Willem II in May 1999, netting 35 times and helping us to claim the European Cup, UEFA Cup, two FA Cups, two League Cups, two UEFA Super Cups and an FA Charity Shield, before joining Bayer 04 Leverkusen on a free transfer in June 2009.
2022 - Harvey Elliott signed a new contract. He has so far netted six times in 66 senior games across his first four seasons, already helping us to claim the League Cup and FA Community Shield.

On the world stage
2004 - Momo Sissoko played for Mali as they were held to a goalless draw in their Olympics Finals group game by Mexico in Greece. On the same day, fellow future red Javier Mascherano featured for Argentina as they thumped Serbia & Montenegro 6-0.
2011 – Future red Philippe Coutinho played for Brazil Under-20’s in their 3-0 World Championship Finals Round of 16 defeat of Ecuador in Colombia.

Harper heads south
1994 - Former reserves defender Alan Harper joined Burnley on a free transfer from Luton Town. He played 42 times in his two seasons at Turf Moor, as they were relegated into the Second Division.

Also moving on
1970 – Geoff Strong was sold to Coventry City for £29,500. He made 201 reds appearances after moving from Arsenal in November 1964 for a club record £40,000, netting 33 times and winning a League title medal and the FA Charity Shield the year after helping us to our first ever FA Cup triumph. Sadly, he died in June 2013 after suffering with Alzheimer’s disease.

2006 - Jon Newby signed for Wrexham. He failed to net in thirteen outings and moved on to Southport in January 2007.
2009 – Reserves forward Craig Lindfield was released. He struck in a pre-season friendly at Crewe Alexandra in July 2006 on his first appearance for the senior side but failed to make a first-class appearance for the reds.
2015 – Future red Xherdan Shaqiri joined Stoke City for a then club record £12m from Internazionale, grabbing fifteen goals in 92 games for the Potters. He moved on to Anfield for £13m in July 2018.

International goalscorers
2010 - Steven Gerrard bagged a brace to reach nineteen goals for his country, a joint record for a reds player, as he eventually struck 21 times. He skippered a side that also included Glen Johnson as they beat Hungary 2-1 in a friendly at Wembley, with James Milner winning his last cap as an Aston Villa player. Meanwhile, Manchester City’s Craig Bellamy netted as John Toshack’s Wales thumped Luxembourg 5-1 in a friendly in Llanelli. Future red Dejan Lovren scored his first two goals for Croatia Under-21’s as they beat Norway 4-1 in a European Championships qualifier, while Krisztián Nemeth netted while playing for Hungary Under-21’s for the last time as a red as they beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-0 in a qualifier in Zenica. On the same day, ex-red Robbie Keane reached a century of caps for the Republic of Ireland as Argentina won 1-0 in the first international to be staged at the new Aviva Stadium in Dublin, with Emiliano Insúa winning his second senior cap for the victors and Javier Mascherano winning his last cap as a red. Also in international action that day were Daniel Agger, Nabil El Zhar, Martin Škrtel, future reds Charlie Adam, Christian Benteke, Fabio Borini, Ragnar Klavan, Joël Matip, Nuri Şahin and Xherdan Shaqiri, and ex-reds Xabi Alonso, Álvaro Arbeloa, Jari Litmanen, Nikolay Mihaylov, John Arne Riise, Mikel San José and Daniel Sjölund.

International firsts
2010 – Danny Wilson made his debut for Scotland Under-21’s as they were held to a 1-1 friendly draw by Sweden at St. Mirren Park. David N’Gog captained France for the first time at the same level as they lost 1-0 to Belgium in a friendly in Vannes. Ex-red Carl Medjani made his senior bow for Algeria as they lost 2-1 to Gabon in a friendly in Algiers. Milan Jovanović won his first cap as a reds player as Serbia lost 1-0 to Greece in Belgrade, with Sotirios Kyrgiakos on the winning side as he made his sixtieth and final appearance for his country before retiring from international football. Andriy Voronin made his first appearance while with Dinamo Moskva as Ukraine were held to a 1-1 draw by the Netherlands in another friendly in Donetsk. Meanwhile, future red Aly Cissokho won his only senior cap to date as France lost a friendly 2-1 in Norway.

2009 – Martin Kelly won his first cap for England Under-20’s in their 5-0 thrashing of Montenegro at The Hawthorns, with future red Jordan Henderson playing his only game at this level. On the same day, future reds Andy Carroll and Daniel Sturridge both made their first appearances for the Under-21’s in their goalless friendly with the Netherlands in Groningen, with Alexander Kačaniklić in action for Sweden Under-19’s.

Also in international action
1998 – Future red John Arne Riise played as Norway Under-18’s beat Sweden 2-1 in a friendly in Kapp.
1993 - Øyvind Leonhardsen won his 24th full cap for Norway as they ran out 7-0 winners in a friendly in the Faroe Islands. He was then still a Rosenborg BK player. Future reds boss Roy Hodgson took charge of Switzerland’s 2-1 friendly win in Sweden on the same day.
1982 – Future red Glenn Hysén featured for Sweden as they lost 1-0 to host nation Norway in the Nordic Championships.