6th May

Champagne Charlie
1953 - Graeme Souness was born in Edinburgh. He won five League titles, three European Cups, four League Cups and three FA Charity Shields after signing from Middlesbrough for £352,000 in January 1978. He moved to Sampdoria for £650,000 in June 1984 after 55 goals in 359 games. He returned to Anfield as Manager in April 1991, although his time as reds boss was considerably less successful, with just one FA Cup triumph before his departure in January 1994.

1990 - Keeper Péter Gulácsi was born in Budapest. He joined on loan from MTK Hungária in August 2007, signing on permanently in September 2008. The young Hungarian made it into our bench 51 times but failed to feature for the first team before joining Red Bull Salzburg in June 2013.
1994 – Another young custodian, Tyrell Belford, was born in Nuneaton. He arrived from Coventry City in the summer of 2009, aged just fifteen. He signed on professionally in July 2011 but moved to Swindon Town on a free transfer two years later after falling behind Gulácsi and Danny Ward in the pecking order.
2004 – Forward Oakley Cannonier was born in Leeds. He joined the reds at Under-12’s level, signing pro terms in July 2021 and then a new deal in August 2022. His most significant impact to date remains as the ball-boy who quickly handed the ball to Trent Alexander-Arnold for his “corner taken quickly” against Barcelona in our UEFA Champions League Semi-final second leg in May 2019.

The first sighting of Saint Michael
1997 - Michael Owen netted on his reds debut, becoming our youngest ever scorer aged seventeen years and 144 days. He had come on as a substitute for Patrik Berger less than twenty minutes previously in our 2-1 defeat by Wimbledon at Selhurst Park, nabbing our consolation after a Jason Euell goal and one of Dean Holdsworth’s four strikes past the reds.
2006 - He became a father for the second time, to his first son, named James Michael.

Missing out on the League
1991 - Our 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest handed the League title to Arsenal, their second in three seasons. Nigel Clough scored the opener with Jan Mølby netting our equaliser from the spot, while David Burrows was playing his hundredth game for the reds. Ian Woan bagged the winner. This game was postponed from the previous December.
1998 - We hosted the Gunners at Anfield after they had already clinched the League title, their first since that 1991 triumph. We thumped them 4-0, with Paul Ince bagging a brace, and Michael Owen and Øyvind Leonhardsen also on the scoresheet. Owen also had a penalty saved by Arsenal keeper Alex Manninger after Matthew Upson had fouled Steve McManaman.

Tons up
2023 – Mohamed Salah reached a century of Anfield goals, the only strike of Brentford’s League visit, as he netted for a club record ninth consecutive home game. Meanwhile, Alisson Becker kept his hundredth clean sheet for the club.
1995 – Keeper David James reached a century of reds games in our 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa, with Dwight Yorke netting two of his eight strikes against us.

Red endings
1939 – We lost 2-0 at Manchester United in front of just 12,073 spectators. Johnny Hanlon bagged a brace as we ended the season in eleventh. This game saw the final official appearances of right-half Matt Busby, right-back Tommy Cooper, left-half Jimmy McInnes, keeper Arthur Riley, defender Fred Rogers and winger Harman van den Berg.
1996 - Phil Neal’s son Ashley played his final reserves game.

Reaching a super cup final
1986 - Kevin MacDonald netted his fifth and last reds goal with Craig Johnston also scoring as we came from behind to beat Norwich City 3-1 at Anfield in the Semi-final second leg of the Screen Sport Super Cup, with Gary Brooke on target for the visitors. Jan Mølby added a penalty as we went through 4-2 on aggregate, with Sammy Lee playing his 295th and last reds game. The reds were presented with the League title prior to this game. The Final against Everton was held over until the following season - which we won, of course.

Big wins
We have twice won top-flight fixtures 4-1 on this day in history.
1922 - We beat West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns, with a Harry Beadles brace, his final reds strikes, and goals from Dick Forshaw and Jock McNab. Stan Davies struck one of his four goals past us.
1933 - Sheffield Wednesday lost at Anfield, centre-half Tom ‘Tiny’ Bradshaw put through his own net with Gordon Hodgson and Dave Wright both striking twice, as we finished the season in thirteenth position.

Also recently
2018 – We lost at Chelsea as Olivier Giroud headed in the only goal, one of his seven past us to date, as we stuttered towards a top-four finish in the League.

Births and death
1971 - Former reserve keeper Jørgen Nielsen was born in Nykøbing Falster. The Dane never played a senior reds game, but he did sit on the bench 55 times following his £400,000 capture from Hvidovre in August 1997.
1969 - Another former reserve, midfielder Jim Magilton, was born in Belfast. He later had a successful career with Oxford United, Southampton and Ipswich Town before moving into management.

1915 - Tom Watson died. He had been appointed as reds boss in July 1896, doubling his salary to £300 a year from his time at Sunderland, whom he had led to three League titles and three FA Cup Semi-finals in four seasons. He went beyond the remit of Club Secretary at Anfield, involving himself in team selection, tactics and player recruitment, so becoming a Manager in all but name. He led the reds to two League titles and the Second Division championship and our first ever FA Cup Final, remaining in charge until his death.

Nando the champion
2001 – Fernando Torres converted a penalty to hand Spain Under-16’s the European Championships, as they beat France 1-0 in the Final in the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, with fellow future reds Anthony Le Tallec and Florent Sinama-Pongolle both on the losing side.

Firsts for Scotland
1959 - Motherwell’s Ian St. John won his first full international cap as Scotland beat West Germany 3-2 at Hampden Park. The Scots were managed by Andy Beattie, who had guested with the reds during the war, and later joined the backroom staff at Anfield after a successful management career.
1966 – Future red Kenny Dalglish made his first international appearance, bagging a brace as the Under-15’s won 4-3 in Northern Ireland.

New ground approved
2008 – The revised design for the club’s new stadium in Stanley Park was granted planning permission by Liverpool City Council. However, work never fully got underway and these plans have now been scrapped.

Management ins and outs
1999 - Jan Mølby was appointed Manager of Kidderminster Harriers. He led them to the Conference title in his first season, and then mid-table Third Division safety in the next two years.
2004 - Steve McMahon resigned as Blackpool boss, with fellow ex-red Mark Seagraves dismissed as Assistant Manager on the same day. McMahon had guided the Seasiders to 102 wins in his 350 games in charge, leading them back out of the basement in his first full season, and mid-table security in his following three seasons.

Reds on target
2003 – Future red Alberto Aquilani struck for Italy Under-19’s as they beat Northern Ireland 2-0 in a European Championships qualifier in Andria.
2009 – Christopher Buchtmann scored as Germany Under-17’s beat Turkey 3-1 in a European Championships Finals match in Erfurt, while future red Jonjo Shelvey featured as England drew 1-1 with the Netherlands in Gera.
2011 – Samed Yeşil netted as Germany Under-17’s drew 1-1 with the Czech Republic in a European Championships Finals game in Serbia, with future red Emre Can also playing. Adam Morgan, Brad Smith and Raheem Sterling all featured as England lost 2-0 to Denmark in the same competition that day.
2017 – Future red Ozan Kabak netted for Turkey Under-17’s as they beat Croatia 4-1 in a European Championships finals group game in Rijeka.

Signing on and off
2022 – Ex-reds reserves midfielder Conor Thomas was released by Cheltenham Town after twenty goals in 146 games since arriving in May 2018.
2017 – Scottish centre-back George Johnston signed professional terms with the reds. He moved on to Feyenoord in August 2019 after featuring in one pre-season friendly.
2011 – Midfielder Jay Spearing signed a new contract. He played 55 senior reds games without notching, moving on to Bolton Wanderers in August 2013 after a season-long loan there.

1992 - Future reds winger Mark Kennedy signed as a professional for Millwall. He went on to net twelve times in 54 games for the Lions, before moving to Anfield three years later.
1903 – Scottish inside-right George Livingstone was sold to Manchester City. He had signed from Celtic in May 1902 and bagged four goals in 32 games the following season. He went on to help City to claim the FA Cup in 1904.

For John
1975 - We played in a testimonial match for Plymouth Argyle legend John Hore, with Brian Hall, Emlyn Hughes and Terry McDermott netting as we won 4-3 at Home Park, and Ray Clemence converting a penalty!

Other games on this day
1985 – We won 2-0 at Coventry City, with Paul Walsh scoring twice past former reds reserve keeper Steve Ogrizovic.
1980 – Middlesbrough beat the reds 1-0 at Ayresome Park in our season closer. David Shearer struck the first of his four goals against us at the death.
1967 – We shared a goalless draw at Anfield with Tottenham Hotspur.

Also in international action
1944 – Ray Lambert and future red Cyril Sidlow played for Wales as they lost 2-0 to England in a Wartime International at Ninian Park.
1964 – Gordon Milne featured in England’s 2-1 friendly defeat of Uruguay at Wembley.
1976 – Joey Jones played for Wales as they lost 3-1 to Scotland in the British International Championships in Glasgow.

2001 – Future reds Salif Diao and El-Hadji Diouf both featured for Senegal as they lost a World Cup qualifier 1-0 in Egypt.
2016 - Ex-Academy Manager Steve Cooper managed England Under-17’s as they lost 2-1 to Sweden in a European Championships Finals group game in Azerbaijan. On the same day, ex-red Bernard Diomède took charge of France as they drew 0-0 with Denmark in the same competition.
2019 – Ki-Jana Hoever played for the Dutch Under-17’s as they beat England 5-2 in a European Championships Finals group game in Dublin, with Steve Cooper in charge of England.