26th July

The start of a dynasty
1974 - Bob Paisley was appointed Manager, a fortnight after Bill Shankly’s resignation. He became Britain’s most successful boss, leading us to six League titles, three European Cups, UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup, three League Cups and five Charity Shields in just nine years in charge.

In comes Milan
2001 - Milan Baroš signed from Baník Ostrava for £3.2m, although he was not granted a work permit and allowed to come to Anfield for another five months. He bagged 27 goals in 108 reds games, before moving to Aston Villa for £6.5m in August 2005, having helped us to claim the UEFA Champions League and Worthington Cup.

To the World Cup Final
1966 - Roger Hunt played in England’s 2-1 World Cup Semi-final defeat of Portugal at Wembley. He would shortly become the first red to claim football’s top honour while with the club.

Double debutants
2005 - Peter Crouch and Momo Sissoko both made their reds debuts as we won 3-1 at FBK Kaunas in the first leg of our Champions League Second Round qualifier, with Jamie Carragher nabbing his first goal for more than six years! Djibril Cissé also scored with Steven Gerrard converting a penalty. Carra said, “If I'd have known I was going to score against Kaunas I would have worn a t-shirt under my Liverpool shirt with Michael’s name on it. I want to dedicate that goal to Michael Shields and all his family who are suffering so badly right now.”

Another win
2020 – We came from a goal down to win 3-1 behind closed doors at Newcastle United to finish the season on a club record 99 points, eighteen points ahead of runners up Manchester City. Dwight Gayle scored after just 25 seconds, the most recent of his five goals past us, but Virgil van Dijk headed us level, with Divock Origi and Sadio Mané both on target after the break.

Rafa’s first capture
2004 - Josemi signed from Málaga for £2m, becoming new boss Rafael Benítez’s first signing. He made just 35 reds appearances at right-back before joining Villarreal in exchange for Jan Kromkamp in January 2006.

Wingers on the move
2006 - Jermaine Pennant signed from Birmingham City for £6.7m. He made 81 appearances, bagging three goals before joining Real Zaragoza in July 2009 after a five-month loan spell with Portsmouth. On the same day, it was announced that Paul Anderson and Scott Carson had signed new four- and five-year contracts respectively.
2012 - Paul Anderson joined Bristol City from Nottingham Forest on a free transfer, scoring three times in 23 games for the Robins before moving to Ipswich Town in a swap deal for Jay Emmanuel-Thomas a year later.

Stéph on the move
2005 - Stéphane Henchoz signed for Wigan Athletic. He had made a total of 205 reds appearances, forming a rock-solid partnership with Sami Hyypiä, helping us to claim five trophies in 2001 and another League Cup two years later. He played 32 times for the Latics before rejoining Blackburn Rovers in September 2006.

Birth and death
1928 - Half-back and reds skipper Johnny Wheeler was born in Crosby. He joined his cousin Ronnie Moran at Anfield when he signed from Bolton Wanderers for £9,000 in September 1956 and made 177 appearances, bagging 23 goals. One of his greatest games came in November 1956, when he netted a four-minute hat-trick against Port Vale. He was appointed player-manager of New Brighton in May 1963, but did not take up the post, becoming Assistant Trainer at Bury instead, where he stayed until 1969.
1963 – Scottish outside-right Danny McRorie died. He had bagged six goals in 35 reds games after signing from Morton for £1,500 in November 1930, moving on to Rochdale in October 1933.

Justice denied
2000 - The judge in the trial of retired Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, the police officer in charge at Hillsborough, ruled that he should not have to face a retrial, after the jury could not agree on a verdict.

Off the mark
2009 - Krisztián Németh bagged a brace, his first reds goals, as we thumped a Singapore League Select XI 5-0 in their National Stadium. The other goals came from Andriy Voronin, Albert Riera and Fernando Torres.
2002 - The reds thumped a Swiss XI 5-1 at their pre-season training camp. El-Hadji Diouf and Grégory Vignal both scored their first reds goals, while Neil Mellor netted a brace in his first senior appearance. Milan Baroš added the other.

Starting the right way
1968 - Roger Hunt grabbed a brace as we kicked off our pre-season campaign with a 3-1 win over Linfield in Belfast. Tony Hateley bagged the other, while Ray Clemence made an early appearance as a substitute.
1995 - Stan Collymore made his reds bow as we beat Birmingham City in the pre-season T.N.T. Inter-City Challenge Cup 1-0 at St. Andrews, thanks to an Ian Rush strike.

Jari in Amsterdam
2001 - Ex-Ajax star Jari Litmanen struck the only goal of the game for us against Rafael Benítez’s Valencia to send the Amsterdam ArenA crowd wild. It was a brilliant volley after a fifty-yard run and superb cross from Bernard Diomède.

Leverkusen for the first time
1991 - We encountered Bayer 04 Leverkusen for the first time, holding them to a goalless draw in their Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion in a pre-season friendly. Spectators were allowed in for free to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Bayer company moving to Leverkusen.

Off to a bad start
1994 - We kicked off our pre-season campaign by going down 4-1 at First Division Bolton Wanderers, with Ian Rush grabbing our late consolation.

Defenders signing on
2021 – Right-back Conor Bradley signed a new contract. He has so far made five senior reds appearances. On the same day, left-back Yasser Larouci joined French side Troyes, after being released by the reds after just two senior outings.
2022 – Left-back Luke Chambers renewed his deal with the reds, making it onto the first-team bench twice in the following campaign.

Taking home the bacon
1987 - The reds beat Danish side Aalborg Chang 4-0 in a friendly to celebrate their 75th anniversary. John Aldridge grabbed a brace, including one from the spot, while John Barnes netted for the second consecutive game. The scoring was completed by Ronnie Whelan.

Other foreign friendlies
2018 – We beat Manchester City 2-1 in the International Champions Cup in New Jersey. Mohamed Salah equalised a minute after Leroy Sané had given City the lead, with Sadio Mané converting an injury time penalty to hand us victory.

We have twice faced Linfield at Windsor Park on this day in history.
1969 - Emlyn Hughes and Ron Yeats netted as we won 2-1.
1997 - We won by the same score, with Michael Owen grabbing a brace.

1992 - Dean Saunders was on target from the spot as we lost 2-1 to AS Monaco in the Tournoi de Paris at the Parc des Princes.

Keepers moving
2006 - Sander Westerveld returned to Spain to join UD Almería, after brief spells back in England with Portsmouth and Everton. He made 33 League appearances in his one season there, as they gained promotion to the top flight. On the same day, former reserves custodian Ian Dunbavin joined Accrington Stanley on a free transfer from Halifax Town.
2008 - Brad Friedel joined Aston Villa from Blackburn Rovers, after 356 games for the Ewood Park outfit. He played 131 times for the Villains before moving to Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer in June 2011.

Off on loan again
2004 - Alou Diarra joined Racing Club de Lens on loan, having spent the previous two seasons with Le Havre AC and Bastia. He joined Lens permanently in June 2005 after netting twice in 34 League games during his loan spell.
2017 - Young Spanish midfielder Pedro Chirivella joined Willem II on loan, failing to score in 35 outings for the Dutch side.

Alberto the champion
2003 – Alberto Aquilani won his sixteenth and last cap for Italy Under-19’s as they beat Portugal 2-0 to clinch the European Championships at this level in Liechtenstein.
2005 – Future red David Martin was in goal as England Under-19’s beat Serbia & Montenegro 3-1 in Northern Ireland to reach the Final of the same competition.
2006 - Reds right-back Antonio Barragán played as Spain Under-19’s thumped Austria 5-0 in Poland to reach the Final of the European Championships.

2018 – Adam Lewis played his sixth and last game for England Under-19’s in their 3-0 defeat by Norway in the European Championships Finals in Finland. On the same day, ex-red Bernard Diomède took charge of France as they lost 2-0 to Italy in the same tournament.
2017 – Diomède again managed France Under-19’s, this time to a 2-1 friendly defeat by DR Congo.
2002 - John Welsh, Jon Otsemobor and future reds Glen Johnson represented England Under-19’s as they lost 3-2 to Republic of Ireland in a European Championship Finals group game in Norway, who included Michael Foley-Sheridan, while future red Jermaine Pennant won his fifth and final cap at this level.

Also on the move
1997 – Robbie Keane signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers. He grabbed 29 goals in 88 outings before moving to Coventry City for £6m in August 1999.
1996 - Gary McAllister joined Coventry City from Leeds United in a £3m deal. He spent four years at Highfield Road before his shock move to the reds, netting 26 times in 150 appearances.
1963 - Tony Hateley moved to Aston Villa for £22,000 from Notts County, netting 86 times in 148 games before moving to Chelsea for £100,000 in October 1966, from where he joined the reds.

1982 - Paul Walsh joined Luton Town from Charlton Athletic for £400,000. He struck 28 times in 89 games in his two years with the Hatters as they struggled in the top flight, before moving to Anfield in May 1984 for £700,000.
2007 - Don Hutchison signed for Luton Town, having been released by Coventry City the month before. He bagged just one goal in 26 outings for the Hatters.

Olympian reds
2012 – Craig Bellamy netted for Great Britain as they drew 1-1 with Senegal in a group game at the Olympics at Old Trafford, with future reds Joe Allen, Steven Caulker, Sadio Mané and Daniel Sturridge also in action. Later that day in the same stadium, Luis Suárez skippered Uruguay to a 2-1 defeat of the United Arab Emirates, with Sebastián Coates also featuring. Future red Mohamed Salah also featured in the Olympics that day, scoring as Egypt lost 3-2 to Brazil in Cardiff.
2008 – Ryan Babel scored for a Netherlands Olympic XI as they beat Cameroon 2-0 in an ING Cup match in Hong Kong.

Also in international action
1997 – Future red Haukur Ingi Guðnason featured for Iceland Under-19’s as they lost 1-0 to Portugal in a European Championship Finals group game in his homeland.