16th August

New double act
1998 - The first official reds game under the joint command of Roy Evans and Gérard Houllier took place. We won 2-1 at Southampton, thanks to goals from Karlheinz Riedle and Michael Owen. Their first signing as joint bosses, Norwegian right-back Vegard Heggem, made his debut in this game. Egil Ostenstad had opened the scoring for the home side.

Losing League starts
1975 - Joey Jones made his reds debut as we went down 2-0 in our season opener at Queens Park Rangers, who ended the season in second place, just one point behind the mighty reds. Gerry Francis scored a goal at the end of a slick passing move that was later named as the BBC’s Goal of the Season, with substitute Mick Leach adding the second.
1992 - David James made his debut in our 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest, our first game in the newly-formed Premiership. This was also the first Premiership game to be screened live on Sky with Teddy Sheringham netting one of his seven goals against us.

Birth and death
1964 - Barry Venison was born in Consett. He signed from Sunderland for £200,000 in July 1986 and made 158 appearances for the reds, scoring three times and helping us to claim two League titles, the FA Cup and two FA Charity Shields in his time at Anfield. He moved on to Newcastle United for £250,000 in July 1992.
1999 – Scottish left-winger Tommy McLeod died. He joined the reds from the Army in October 1945, but only made seven senior appearances before joining Chesterfield in June 1951.

Mersey Charity
1986 - Three months after beating the Toffees at Wembley to complete our first ever League and Cup double, the two sides met again there for the FA Charity Shield. Ian Rush equalised in our 1-1 draw after Adrian Heath had scored with just ten minutes remaining, with the trophy being shared by the two clubs. Bruce Grobbelaar was replaced by substitute Mike Hooper just before the hour mark, who was making his debut, so ending Bruce’s run of 310 consecutive reds games. New signing Barry Venison also made his first-class reds bow in this match, on his 22nd birthday, while Craig Johnston played his 200th game for the club.

Ins and out
2014 – Left-back Alberto Moreno signed from his hometown club Sevilla for £12m. He struck three times in 141 outings before being released in June 2019.
1961 – Centre-half John Nicholson was sold to Port Vale, having only made one senior reds appearance since turning pro in January 1957. He played over 200 games for the Valiants.
1893 – Forward Albert Worgan signed for the reds. He struck twice in two senior outings before moving on in 1895.

Most recently
2009 – Centre-half Daniel Ayala and right-back Glen Johnson both debuted as we lost 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur in our season opener. Ayala came off the bench when Martin Škrtel had to go off following a clash of heads with Jamie Carragher. Steven Gerrard bagged our goal from the spot.
2008 – Fernando Torres struck the only goal of the game late on as we won at Sunderland in our opening League game of the season.

Back up north
1939 – Left-half John Browning moved on to Southern League side Gillingham. He had signed from Dunoon Athletic in March 1934, making just nineteen appearances.
1962 – Right-back John Molyneux was sold back to Chester, having signed from there for £5,500 in June 1955. He bagged three goals in 249 games, but did not survive Bill Shankly’s early clear-out.

Ephraim on the mark
1924 - Legendary full-back Ephraim Longworth scored one of his four only recorded goals in a public practice game for Stripes vs. Reds. He signed in June 1910 from Leyton Orient, playing 370 times between then and 1928, and becoming the first red to captain England. He then served as Reserve team trainer, before joining the ground staff.

Kennedy double
1980 - Both Alan and Ray Kennedy scored in our 3-0 defeat of Crystal Palace at Anfield after Kenny Dalglish had opened the scoring.
1969 - We also won in the top-flight, with Emlyn Hughes and Chris Lawler on target in our 2-0 victory at Tottenham Hotspur.

Beating the Imps
2006 - A Liverpool XI won 2-1 at Lincoln City, a game arranged as part of the Jack Hobbs transfer a year earlier. Mark González and Besian Idrizaj scored for the reds.

Personal honours
2001 - Reds trio Sami Hyypiä, Gary McAllister and Michael Owen were all honoured by legendary French sports paper L’Équipe for the role they played in the club’s unprecedented treble success, being named in their star-studded team of the season.

World star Rigo
2000 - Rigobert Song was in action for a FIFA World Stars XI as they were handed a 5-1 beating by France in Marseille. Future red Nicolas Anelka scored while winning his first cap as a Paris Saint-Germain player, with David Trezeguet bagging a hat-trick.

Final caps
2000 - Finland beat Norway 3-1 with future red Jari Litmanen bagging a brace. Stig Inge Bjørnebye was sent off as he won his 74th cap, his first as a Blackburn Rovers player following his departure from Anfield two months earlier, while John Arne Riise was winning his final cap as an AS Monaco player. The game was staged to officially open the new FinnAir Stadium in Helsinki, with Sami Hyypiä also in action. On the same day, Brad Friedel won his final cap as a reds player, his 66th in all, as the USA thumped Barbados 7-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Boston. Meanwhile, Dietmar Hamann, ex-red Jim Magilton and future reds Yossi Benayoun, Igor Bišcan, Jerzy Dudek and Alex Manninger were also in friendly action.

1995 - Friedel won his last cap whilst with Danish side Brøndby IF, his 35th to that point, as they lost 1-0 to Sweden in a friendly in Norrköping.
2005 – Future red Stewart Downing won his eighth and last England Under-21’s cap as they won 1-0 in Denmark, with Scott Carson and future red James Milner also featuring.
2006 - Dirk Kuyt won his final cap while with Feyenoord as the Netherlands beat Steve Staunton’s Republic of Ireland 4-0 at Lansdowne Road, with Steve Finnan and future reds coach John Heitinga also featuring.

Olympian reds
2008 – Ryan Babel captained the Netherlands as they lost 2-1 to Javier Mascherano’s Argentina after extra time in the Quarter-final of the Olympics Finals in Shanghai. Meanwhile, Lucas Leiva featured in Brazil’s 2-0 defeat of Cameroon at the same stage in Shenyang.

First caps
1995 - Stéphane Henchoz won his first cap as a Hamburger SV player, and eleventh in all, as Roy Hodgson’s Switzerland won 2-0 in a Euro ’96 qualifier in Iceland. István Kozma played for Hungary for the first time while with APOEL in their 2-0 home friendly defeat by Israel. Meanwhile, future reds Patrik Berger, Øyvind Leonhardsen and Gary McAllister all also featured in qualifiers.
1992 – Hodgson also took charge of the Swiss as they thumped Estonia 6-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Tallinn. On the same day, future red Titi Camara struck for Guinea as they beat Chad 3-0 in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, although the result was later annulled after Chad withdrew from the tournament after just two fixtures.
2000 - Henchoz also represented his country, making his 43rd appearance in a 2-2 friendly draw with Greece in Saint-Gallen.

Crouchie on target again
2006 - Peter Crouch bagged a brace as England beat Greece 4-0 in a friendly at Old Trafford, with Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and future red Stewart Downing also featuring, and Chris Kirkland making a belated first senior international appearance, while Sotirios Kyrgiakos won his first cap as an Eintracht Frankfurt player, and twentieth to date. On the same day, Sami Hyypiä won his fiftieth cap as a reds player, and 76th in all, captaining Roy Hodgson’s Finland to a 2-1 home defeat to Northern Ireland. Also in international action that day were Daniel Agger, Jerzy Dudek, John Arne Riise, ex-red Rigobert Song and future reds Charlie Adam, Philipp Degen, Ragnar Klavan, Nikolay Mihaylov and Kolo Touré.

Ayre apparent
2007 - Commercial Director Ian Ayre started work in his new job for the club. He had previously been Chief Executive of Total Sports Asia, a brand solutions company advising international companies on rolling out Asian sports and entertainment campaigns, having once been Chief Executive and Chairman of Huddersfield Town. He said on being appointed that, “being Liverpool born and bred, this is a dream job for me”. He was promoted to Managing Director in May 2014, leaving the club in February 2017 to take charge of TSV 1860 München.

Youngsters on target
2005 - Anthony Le Tallec struck as France Under-21’s drew 2-2 with Italy in a friendly in Libourne, with fellow red Carl Medjani also featuring. On the same day, Besian Idrizaj won his last Under-19’s cap for Austria as a Linzer ASK player, scoring in their friendly defeat of Northern Ireland in Gussing.

On the move
1995 - Paul Jewell joined First Division Grimsby Town on loan from Bradford City. He netted once in six appearances for the Mariners.
2002 - John Miles signed for Crewe Alexandra on a free transfer from Stoke City. He netted just once in eight games in his one season at Gresty Road.
2011 – Centre-half Daniel Ayala was sold to Norwich City for £850,000 after five senior reds games. He only played ten times for the Canaries before joining Middlesbrough in January 2014 after a successful loan spell.

2014 – Former loanee winger Victor Moses joined Stoke City for the season from Chelsea, going on to bag four goals in 23 games for the Potters.
2017 – Young winger Sheyi Ojo joined Fulham on loan, netting four times in 24 games for the Cottagers.
2021 – Centre-half Ben Davies joined Sheffield United on loan, netting once in 23 outings for the Blades. On the same day, midfielder Leighton Clarkson moved to Blackburn Rovers for the season, with whom he only played twice before returning to Anfield in January 2022.

Also in international action
2009 – Future red Emre Can played for Germany Under-16’s in their 6-2 defeat of Austria in Liechtenstein.
1989 – Glenn Hysén played for Sweden as they lost 4-2 to France in a friendly in Malmö.