5th August

Happy birthday Clem
1948 - Ray Clemence was born in Skegness. He arrived from Sc***horpe United for £18,000 in June 1967, usurping Tommy Lawrence as first choice number one after two years. He went on to make 665 reds appearances, winning five League titles, an FA Cup, three European Cups, two UEFA Cups, a League Cup, UEFA Super Cup and four FA Charity Shields, before moving on to Tottenham Hotspur in August 1981.

Adiós Xabi
2009 - Xabi Alonso moved to Real Madrid for a club record £30m, after helping us to claim the European Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FA Cup and FA Community Shield. He had arrived from Real Sociedad for £10.7m in August 2004, bagging nineteen goals in 210 reds games, including two strikes from inside his own half.

Striking out
1991 - Peter Beardsley was sold to Everton for £1m. He had arrived from Newcastle United for a British record £1.9m fee four years before. In his time at Anfield he had won two League titles, an FA Cup and two FA Charity Shields, scoring 59 times in 175 matches.
2011 - Milan Jovanović left Anfield to join Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht on a free transfer. He had struck just twice in eighteen appearances since signing for free from Standard de Liège in July 2010.

Bad boy Cally
1975 - Ian Callaghan was booked for the first time fifteen years into his reds career as we won 2-0 in a friendly at Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund, although it was not officially recorded as it was clearly an incorrect decision. In the same game, Joey Jones scored his first goal in only his second reds appearance. Peter Cormack grabbed the other goal.

Keep changing
2019 – Simon Mignolet was sold to Club Brugge for an initial reported £6.4m, with ex-Hammers stopper Adrián signing as his replacement, so far making eighteen senior appearances, making a crucial stop in the shoot-out as we claimed the UEFA Super Cup as well as helping us to claim the Premier League title. Mignolet had signed from Sunderland for £9m in June 2013, keeping 65 clean sheets in 204 senior outings, making a string of top-class saves as we finished second in the League in his first campaign. However, his subsequent five seasons were more mixed.

Beginning and end
2010 – Joe Cole made his senior reds debut as we beat Rabotnički Skopje 2-0 at Anfield in our UEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round second leg. Meanwhile, keeper Diego Cavalieri played his tenth and last reds game and Alberto Aquilani made his 28th and final reds appearance, with our goals coming in the first half from a David N’Gog header and a Steven Gerrard penalty.
2015 – Future reds keeper Kamil Grabara won his first cap for Poland Under-17’s in their 2-0 friendly defeat of Denmark in Sweden.

Out on loan
2016 – Right-back Jon Flanagan joined Burnley for the season, managing just ten senior appearances. On the same day, reserves midfielder Allan Rodrigues de Souza joined Hertha BSC Berlin on loan, playing sixteen times.
2008 – Winger Sebastián Leto joined Olympiacos on loan after his work permit application for the UK was turned down. He had a successful campaign in Greece, netting once in 24 League outings as they clinched a League and Cup double, and signed permanently for their major rivals Panathinaikos in July 2009.
2004 - Grégory Vignal joined Rangers on loan. He appeared 42 times for the Ibrox side, netting three times and helping them to claim the League Cup and the title at the last gasp.

Hurry up Harry
2003 - Harry Kewell scored his first reds goal as we beat Aberdeen 5-1 to claim the pre-season ESS Centenary Cup at Pittodrie. Florent Sinama-Pongolle missed a penalty, although Danny Murphy and Emile Heskey successfully got on the scoresheet, to add to a brace from Neil Mellor. The game was played to commemorate Aberdeen's centenary.

Keeping the beery trophy
2000 - We retained the Carlsberg Belfast Challenge on goal difference after Titi Camara and Michael Owen had netted in our 2-2 draw with SL Benfica at Windsor Park.

Red death
1933 – American-born outside-left Hugh Lester died. He joined the reds in December 1911, becoming the first player born outside the British Isles to play for the reds, just twice. He moved on to Oldham Athletic in May 1913, being converted into a full-back.

Shoot-out heartbreak
We have twice been beaten 4-3 in penalty shoot-outs after tied friendly encounters on this day over the years.
1979 - Alan Kennedy netted as we drew 1-1 with SL Benfica in Gelsenkirchen in the Final of a tournament held to celebrate the 75th anniversary of German side Schalke 04. Phil Neal, David Johnson and Graeme Souness all converted their spot-kicks, but Alan Hansen, Alan Kennedy and Ray Kennedy had their penalties saved, with Ray Clemence saving two of the six he faced.
1983 - We lost another shoot-out after being held to a goalless draw by Hamburger SV in the Rotterdam AD Toernooi.

2007 - Pepe Reina saved a penalty as we were held to a 1-1 draw by Feyenoord in their Port of Rotterdam Tournament, meaning that Porto won the trophy. Steven Gerrard struck in our final pre-season fixture, while future red Gini Wijnaldum who was on the bench managed to swap shirts with Fernando Torres at the end of the game!

More German opposition
We have twice been beaten by German sides in pre-season games on this day in history.
1980 - Kenny Dalglish and David Fairclough netted as we lost 3-2 at VfB Stuttgart.
1994 - Robbie Fowler bagged our consolation from the spot as we lost 3-1 in a Firestone International Challenge Cup game at Hamburger SV.

Aldo bags a treble
1988 - John Aldridge grabbed a hat-trick in our 4-1 friendly defeat of a Sunnmøre XI at the Aksla Stadion on our Norwegian tour. John Barnes struck the other.
2008 – We beat Vålerenga 4-1 at the Ullevål Stadion in Oslo, thanks to goals from Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun and David N’Gog.

2009 – We won 2-0 at Lyn, with Andriy Voronin and David N’Gog on target in Oslo.
1990 - We also won in Norway as Steve McMahon, David Burrows and John Barnes netted in our 3-0 win at Lillestrøm SK.
1989 - Peter Beardsley struck the only goal of the game at Swedish side Halmstads Bollklubb.

Reds in Holland
1972 - Steve Heighway bagged the only goal of our friendly at Utrecht.
1977 - We lost 2-1 to Ajax in the Amsterdam Tournament at the Olympisch Stadion, with our score coming from a René Notten own goal.

Other friendlies
1985 - Steve Nicol and Kenny Dalglish added to an Ian Rush brace as we won 4-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion.
2017 – Roberto Firmino converted a penalty with Ben Woodburn and Dominic Solanke also scoring as we beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 in Dublin.

Double Bolognese
2021 – We played two sixty-minute matches against Italian side Bologna in Evian, France, with Diogo Jota and Sadio Mané both scoring in a 2-0 victory. Takumi Minamino bagged the only goal of the second encounter, with Divock Origi missing a penalty.

Triple signing boost
2001 - It was announced that Jamie Carragher, Dietmar Hamann and Steven Gerrard had all signed new contracts to keep them at Anfield until 2005, with all of them subsequently further extending their reds careers.

Goalscoring milestones
2011 – Philippe Coutinho bagged a brace, his last goals for Brazil Under-20’s in their 4-0 World Championship Finals defeat of Panama in Colombia. Fellow future red Mohamed Salah also featured in the same competition that day, as Egypt thumped Austria 4-0.
2000 - Future reds striker Djibril Cissé scored his first goal for Auxerre in their 2-1 defeat of Metz at the Stade Saint-Symphorien.

Also on the move
2022 – Ex-reds centre-forward Christian Benteke left Crystal Palace to sign for D.C. United, so far netting nine times in 29 outings to date. On the same day, Gini Wijnaldum joined Roma on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, netting twice in 23 outings while in Italy.
2020 – Jay Spearing joined Tranmere Rovers, scoring once in 44 appearances in his first season and helping them to reach the EFL Trophy Final, being named their Player of the Year. On the same day, midfielder Tom Hill signed a new contract with the reds. He had made his senior debut in our Carabao Cup Quarter-final defeat at Aston Villa in December 2019.
2015 – Midfielder Danny Guthrie signed for Blackburn Rovers after a successful trial, playing seventeen times in his first campaign at Ewood Park. On the same day, left-back Aly Cissokho re-joined Porto on loan from Aston Villa, but was recalled after just two outings in four months back in Portugal.

2014 – Future reds coach Gary O'Neil signed for Norwich City, playing 59 times across two seasons between spells with Queens Park Rangers and Bristol City.
2011 – Ex-reds defender David Raven re-signed for Tranmere Rovers, having been released by Shrewsbury Town. He played twenty times in this second spell before moving north of the border to join Inverness Caledonian Thistle the following June.
2006 – Future reds right-back Glen Johnson joined Portsmouth on loan from Chelsea. He played 28 times for Pompey before signing on permanently for £4m a year later.

2005 - It was announced that physio Dave Galley had joined Derby County after six years at Melwood, although he returned in the summer of 2009 to head up the Academy’s medical department for a year, after a spell at Wigan Athletic. On the same day, ex-reds midfielder Don Hutchison joined Millwall on a free transfer from West Ham United. He struck twice in fourteen games for the Lions before joining Luton Town in July 2007.
2004 - Former Under-13’s Coach Mike Sheron joined Macclesfield Town from Blackpool on a free transfer, having struck eleven times in fifty games for the Tangerines.
1999 - Dean Saunders joined Bradford City from SL Benfica on a free transfer. He could only net six times in 53 games during his two seasons with the Bantams.

Papa Luis
2009 – Future reds forward Luis Suárez became a father to his first child, a daughter called Delfina, oddly enough an anagram of Anfield!