25th June

Happy birthdays
1960 - Craig Johnston was born in Johannesburg in South Africa. The Aussie battler arrived from Middlesbrough for a club record £650,000 fee in April 1981 and grabbed forty goals, including one in the 1986 FA Cup Final, in 271 reds games. He won the European Cup, five League titles, the FA Cup and two League Cups in his time at Anfield.

1973 - Jamie Redknapp was born in Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire. He struck 41 times in his 308 first-team appearances after signing from Bournemouth in June 1990. Although he only won one winners’ medal in his time at Anfield, the Coca Cola Cup in 1995, he was a popular member of the squad, and was club captain during the historic treble season of 2000/01, going up to lift the FA Cup at the Millennium Stadium with Robbie Fowler. He retired from the game in June 2005 after brief spells with Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton and is now a regular on Sky Sports.

2001 – Forward Bobby Duncan was born in Whiston. He joined from Manchester City in August 2018, moving on to Fiorentina for €2m thirteen months later.
1979 – Richard Hughes was born in Glasgow. He was appointed Sporting Director in March 2024, starting work three months later.
1927 - Keeper Russell Crossley was born in Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire. He joined the reds from Army football twenty years later but made just 73 appearances in his seven seasons at Anfield.
1906 - Outside-right Danny McRorie was born in Glasgow. He bagged six goals in 35 reds games after signing from Morton in November 1930. He moved on to Rochdale in October 1933.

Number nineteen
2020 – We clinched the League title for the nineteenth time as Chelsea beat Manchester City 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, leaving us with an unassailable 23-point lead at the top of the table.

First red at the World Cup
1950 - Defender Laurie Hughes made his England debut against Chile in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first red to appear in the World Cup Finals. England won the game 2-0, with goals from Blackpool’s Stan Mortensen and Wilf Mannion of Middlesbrough.

To the World Cup Final
2002 - Dietmar Hamann won his 45th cap as Germany beat South Korea 1-0 to reach the World Cup Final. He therefore became the first red since ‘Sir’ Roger Hunt in 1966 to qualify for the biggest football game of them all.

He was our keeper...
2013 – Our Belgian keeper Simon Mignolet signed from Sunderland for £9m. He kept 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 and he moved on to Club Brugge for an initial reported £6.4m in August 2019.

Euro champion
2011 – Thiago Alcântara struck as Spain Under-21’s beat Switzerland 2-0 in the European Championships Final in Denmark, with fellow future red Xherdan Shaqiri on the losing side. On the same day, Jack Dunn and Brad Smith both played for England Under-17’s as they beat Uruguay 2-0 in a World Championship Finals group game in Mexico.

Also at the World Cup
2006 - Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and future reds Joe Cole and Stewart Downing all played in England’s 1-0 defeat of Ecuador in Stuttgart to reach the Quarter-finals of the World Cup. Meanwhile, future reds John Heitinga and Dirk Kuyt were on the losing side as Portugal beat the Netherlands 1-0 in Nuremberg.
2010 – Fernando Torres and ex-red Xabi Alonso faced ex-red Mark González as Spain beat Chile 2-1 in Pretoria to both qualify for the knock-out phase. Meanwhile, future red Raul Meireles played for Portugal as their goalless draw with Brazil in Durban ensured both sides progressed, with Xherdan Shaqiri in action as Switzerland’s goalless draw with Honduras ensured both teams went home early, while fellow future red Kolo Touré featured as Ivory Coast beat North Korea 3-0 in the same group .
2014 – Mamadou Sakho and ex-red Javier Mascherano both featured in group games in Brazil, with future red Xherdan Shaqiri bagging a treble as Switzerland beat Honduras 3-0 in Manaus.
2018 – Mohamed Salah scored as Egypt lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia in Volgograd as they finished bottom of their group. On the same day, ex-red Iago Aspas came off the bench to net in Spain’s 2-2 draw with Morocco in Kaliningrad to help them progress as group winners, with future red Thiago Alcântara also playing. Luis Suárez also struck as Uruguay beat the host nation Russia 3-0 in Samara, with fellow ex-red Sebastián Coates also in action as they finished on top of their group.

2005 - Future red Ryan Babel scored in the penalty shoot-out that the Netherlands Under-20’s won 10-9 in their World Championships Finals Quarter-final in Kerkrade, after their match against Nigeria finished 1-1. Meanwhile, future red Gabriel Paletta featured in Argentina’s 3-1 defeat of Spain at the same stage in Enschede.
1997 - Gérard Houllier took charge of France Under-20’s with Christian Damiano as they beat Mexico 1-0 in a World Championships Finals Round of sixteen game in Malaysia.

Departures
1934 - Legendary keeper Elisha Scott left Anfield to become Player/Manager for Belfast Celtic, after 22 years with the club. He had arrived at Liverpool after being rejected by Everton for being too small and went on to play 468 times for the reds, winning the League title in 1922 and 1923. During those two seasons he only conceded 61 goals in 81 games. He was one of the first players to inspire a Kop chant – the simple “Lisha, Lisha”.

1940 - England international right-back Tommy Cooper was killed in a road accident while with the military police. He had played 160 times for the reds after signing from Derby County for £7,500 in December 1934, as well as becoming club captain. An inquiry into his death led to the ruling that all Army despatch riders had to wear crash helmets.
1926 – Welsh full-back Ted Parry moved on to Walsall. He had signed from Colwyn Bay United in February 1921, playing thirteen games.

In comes Dioufy
2002 - El-Hadji Diouf officially signed from Racing Club de Lens for £10m. He scored just six times in eighty reds appearances before joining Bolton Wanderers in June 2005 for £4.5m, after a season-long loan spell.

Other World Cup successes
1990 - Ray Houghton, Steve Staunton and ex-reds John Aldridge and Kevin Sheedy all played as the Republic of Ireland’s Second Round game against Romania ended goalless in Genoa after extra time. Houghton and Sheedy both registered in the subsequent penalty shoot-out, as the Irish made it through to the Quarter-finals.
1982 - Both Phil Neal and Phil Thompson played as England beat Kuwait 1-0 in Bilbao, to progress to the second stage of the Finals in Spain.

1998 - Future reds Dietmar Hamann and Christian Ziege both featured in Germany’s 2-0 defeat of Iran in Montpellier as they topped their group. On the same day, Brad Friedel kept goal as the USA lost 1-0 to Yugoslavia in Nantes, to finish bottom of the same section.
1995 - Friedel also played for his country in a goalless US Cup draw with Colombia in Piscataway.

Sander for Holland
2000 - Sander Westerveld won his fifth full international cap as the Netherlands thrashed FR Yugoslavia 6-1 in Rotterdam to reach the Euro 2000 Semi-final with future red Bolo Zenden also in action. He came on for Edwin van der Sar with 25 minutes remaining, but was unable to preserve the Dutch clean sheet. On the same day, future red Nicolas Anelka came off the bench as France beat Spain 2-1 in Brugge to also reach the Semi-final.
2016 – Joe Allen played as Wales beat Northern Ireland 1-0 in Paris to reach the Quarter-finals. On the same day, Xherdan Shaqiri bagged his first goal as a Stoke City player, also scoring in the penalty shoot-out as Switzerland lost to Poland in St. Étienne.

International beginning and end
1966 – Future red Peter Cormack made his debut for Scotland in their 1-1 friendly draw with Brazil at Hampden Park.
2023 – Ex-red Yasser Larouci won his sixth and last cap for France Under-21’s as they beat Norway in a European Championships Finals group game in Romania. Harvey Elliott, Vítězslav Jaroš and Curtis Jones all featured in the same tournament in Georgia on the same day.

Managerial ins and outs
1984 - 1950’s centre-half Keith Burkinshaw resigned as Manager of Tottenham Hotspur after eight years in charge, during which time he had led them to two FA Cups and the UEFA Cup, as well as signing two World champions in Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa. He left in the aftermath of Spurs’ stock market flotation.
2007 - Paul Ince was named as MK Dons boss, having resigned from Macclesfield Town a day before. He led them to the Football League Trophy and League Two title before being poached by Blackburn Rovers after one year in Milton Keynes, later returning for another season in 2009/10.

1997 - John Toshack was appointed Manager of Turkish side Beşiktaş JK. He remained there for twenty months before returning to Real Madrid.
2006 – Academy Director Alex Inglethorpe resigned as Manager of Exeter City to join Tottenham Hotspur’s coaching staff, having been in charge since October 2004.

On the move
2001 - Craig Bellamy signed for Newcastle United from Coventry City for £6m, after eight goals in 39 games for the Sky Blues. He struck 43 times in 128 outings for the Geordies before joining Celtic on loan in January 2005.
1999 - Ex-reserves forward Mike Newell joined Conference side Doncaster Rovers from Crewe Alexandra on a free transfer. He bagged three goals in seventeen games for Rovers, before joining Blackpool in February 2000.

2002 - Yossi Benayoun signed for Real Racing Club de Santander from Maccabi Haifa. He struck 21 times in 101 League outings for the Spanish side before moving to West Ham United for £2.5m in July 2005.
2008 – Ex-reds reserves midfielder David Mannix signed for Chester City on free transfer from Accrington Stanley. He struck twice in fourteen games as the Blues were relegated out of the Football League.
2012 - Danny Murphy signed for Blackburn Rovers, having been released by Fulham at the end of the previous season. He notched twice in 35 appearances for the Ewood Park outfit, before retiring from playing after one campaign.

2015 – Ex-reds midfielder Momo Sissoko signed for Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua, netting once in fifteen outings before being released the following February. On the same day, future reds Assistant Coach John Heitinga re-joined Ajax on a free transfer from Hertha BSC Berlin, but he was only able to score once in three games before retiring the following February.
2018 – Ex-reds midfielder John Welsh joined Grimsby Town from Preston North End on a free transfer after three goals in 176 outings for the Lilywhites.
2020 – Right-back Connor Randall signed for Ross County on a free transfer from Arda 1924 Kardzhali after ten games in Bulgaria. Young scouse midfielder Liam Coyle signed a new contract with the reds on the same day.
2022 – Ex-reds reserves forward Taiwo Awoniyi joined Nottingham Forest for a club record reported £17m from Union Berlin after 25 goals in 65 games for Die Eisernen.

Youngster honoured
2001 - Reds starlet David Raven was one of four youngsters chosen to join the PFA/Adidas Platinum group, an initiative aimed at nurturing the best young talent in the country. Previous beneficiaries of this scheme had included future red Jermaine Pennant.

Also in international action
2017 – Emre Can played in a Confederations Cup group game in Russia as Germany beat Cameroon 3-1.
2019 – Ex-red Toni Silva played for Guinea-Bissau in their 2-0 Africa Cup of Nations Finals defeat to Cameroon in Egypt.
2022 - Luke Chambers and Jarell Quansah both played for England Under-19’s as they beat Israel 1-0 in a European Championships Finals group game in Slovakia.