25th September

Happy birthdays
1961 - Ronnie Whelan was born in Dublin. He signed from Home Farm for £35,000 in September 1979 and played 493 times in his fifteen years with the reds, netting 73 times and winning six League titles, one European Cup, two FA Cups, three League Cups and three FA Charity Shields before joining Southend United for free in September 1994.

1920 - Right-back Bill Shepherd was born in Liverpool. He signed from Elm Park in December 1945 and made 58 reds appearances, with his brothers centre-forward Arthur and Joe Shepherd also appearing for the reds after the war. Bill left Anfield in 1952 to join Wigan Athletic.
1930 – Right-back Bert Childs was born in Liverpool. He only made two senior appearances in September 1953 after arriving from amateur side Northern Nomads earlier that year. He left the club in 1954 to return to amateur football with Bishop Auckland.

Clem’s debut
1968 - Ray Clemence made his reds bow as second-half goals from Chris Lawler and Roger Hunt handed us a 2-0 League Cup Third Round win over Swansea Town at Anfield. He did not make another first-team appearance for a year. On the same day, Kenny Dalglish made his senior debut for Celtic in a 4-2 League Cup win at Hamilton Academical.
1954 - Billy Liddell and Tony Rowley netted as we lost 3-2 at Vetch Field in a Second Division encounter. Len Allchurch struck the first of his five goals past the reds, with Harry Griffiths bagging a brace.

Tons up
2021 – Mohamed Salah reached a century of League goals for the reds in our 3-3 draw at Brentford, with Diogo Jota heading in and Curtis Jones also on target as Joël Matip played his hundredth League game for the club.

Nando’s first treble
2007 - Fernando Torres grabbed his first reds hat-trick in our 4-2 defeat of Reading in the Carling Cup Third Round at the Madejski Stadium, after Yossi Benayoun had opened the scoring with his first reds strike. Centre-back Jack Hobbs and keeper Charles Itandje both made their reds bows. Reading centre-back Michael Duberry laughably claimed, “At the end of the day, he scored three goals. Other than that, I kept him pretty quiet.”
2013 – We lost 1-0 at Manchester United as a record attendance of 65,701 saw the reds in a non-Final League Cup tie. Javier Hernández grabbed the only goal of the game.

Youngest ever
2019 – We won 2-0 at Milton Keynes Dons in the Carabao Cup Third Round, with Harvey Elliott hitting the bar twice as he became the youngest player to ever start a reds match, at just sixteen years and 174 days. James Milner opened the scoring in the first half, with defender Ki-Jana Hoever bagging his only reds goal after the break. Forward Rhian Brewster, midfielder Herbie Kane, keeper Caoimhín Kelleher and centre-half Sepp van den Berg all made their reds bows in front of a record attendance of 28,521 for a football match at Stadium MK.
2018 – Elliott made his debut for Fulham, becoming their youngest ever player, and youngest ever in the EFL Cup, at the age of fifteen years and 174 days, as they won 3-1 at Millwall.

Facing the Black Cats
2010 - We drew 2-2 with Sunderland at Anfield, with Dirk Kuyt opening the scoring after the referee ruled that the visitors had taken a free-kick when gifting the ball to the reds, despite vehement protests. Darren Bent’s brace, including one from the spot, put them ahead before Steven Gerrard headed in an equaliser. These are the most recent of his five strikes against the reds. Future reds Jordan Henderson and Simon Mignolet both featured for the visitors.
1909 – Tom Watson took charge of his 500th reds game as we were thumped 4-1 by Sunderland in a top-flight meeting at Anfield, with Joe Hewitt nabbing our consolation, his 74th and last reds goal. John Thompson struck twice, with George Holley also scoring and Jackie Mordue nabbing the first of his six goals past us.

Swiss don’t roll over
2002 - Swiss champions Basel held us to a 1-1 draw in our Champions League group encounter at Anfield, our hundredth European home game. Milan Baroš netted our goal before Julio Rossi equalised, with countless other chances going begging.

Dick’s treble
1920 - Centre-forward Dick Johnson scored a hat-trick in our 6-0 First Division trouncing of Preston North End. Harold Wadsworth scored his first reds goal, with Harry ‘Smiler’ Chambers and Dick Forshaw also on target.

Thumping the Blues
1965 - We thrashed Everton 5-0 at Anfield as Roger Hunt bagged a brace, with Tommy Smith, Willie Stevenson and Ian St. John, with his first of the season, also on the scoresheet. This was some revenge for our 4-0 defeat at Anfield a year earlier. Some kids ran onto the pitch before the game kicked off to hand St. John a plastic, life-sized image of a saint complete with halo!
1897 - We also beat them 3-1 at Anfield, when inside-forward Willie Walker bagged his third and final reds goal. Joe McQue and Frank Becton also struck. This was our first ever derby win, at the fifth attempt, with Jack Taylor netting the first of his five derby goals against us.
1926 - Unfortunately, we lost 1-0 at Goodison with full-back Tommy Lucas playing his 200th game for the club.

More big wins
1990 - Ian Rush grabbed a brace, with Steve McMahon, Gary Gillespie and Ray Houghton also scoring as we came from behind to beat Crewe Alexandra 5-1 at Anfield in the League Cup Second Round first leg. John Barnes had a penalty saved by keeper Dean Greygoose.
1982 - Terry McDermott made his 232nd and final League appearance, as a substitute in our 5-0 trouncing of Southampton. Birthday boy Ronnie Whelan and Mark Lawrenson both bagged braces, with Graeme Souness also scoring.
1915 - James Dawson struck twice with David Henderson, Fred Pagnam and Arthur Goddard also on the scoresheet as we thumped Burnley 5-2 at Anfield in a Wartime League match at Anfield.

Red half centuries
2004 – Dietmar Hamann played his 150th reds game with Djimi Traoré reaching half a century of League games as we beat Norwich City 3-0 at Anfield. Milan Baroš, Luis García and Djibril Cissé scored the goals.

Les’s last
1948 – We lost 1-0 at Blackpool as centre-forward Les Shannon appeared for the eleventh and final time.

Held by the Mancs
1971 – Bobby Graham and Brian Hall put us two goals ahead against Manchester United at Anfield before Denis Law and Bobby Charlton struck in the second half, the last of their six and four goals against us, respectively. Graham had a second goal ruled out late on for offside as the game ended 2-2.

International bows
1996 - Future red Milan Baroš won his first international cap for the Czech Republic, at Under-15’s level, as they drew 1-1 in a friendly in Austria.
2002 - Robbie Foy won his first cap at Under-19’s level in Scotland’s 2-1 friendly win over Switzerland in Dumbarton. On the same day, future red Alberto Aquilani played in Italy’s 2-1 defeat of Slovenia at the same level, while Roy Hodgson took charge of the senior United Arab Emirates side as they lost a friendly 2-1 in Oman.

Departing
2006 - Nigel Spackman was sacked as Manager of Millwall after just four months in charge. He had led them to eight defeats and just two victories in his twelve games in the hot seat.
2012 – The departures of Technical Director Pep Segura and Head of Fitness & Conditioning Darren Burgess were both announced.

Signing on
2023 – Greek left-back Kostas Tsimikas signed a new contract, having 86 times across his first four campaigns since signing from Olympiacos for an initial £11.75m in August 2020, with his decisive spot-kick securing the FA Cup at Wembley in May 2022, also helping us to claim the League Cup in February 2024.
2020 – Midfielder James Balagizi signed as a professional, having joined as an Under-11 from Manchester City. He has yet to play a senior reds game.

Other reds games
1993 – Neil Shipperley netted the only goal of our trip to Chelsea.
1991 – We drew 2-2 with Stoke City in a League Cup Second Round first leg at Anfield with Ian Rush nabbing a brace.
1979 – We beat Chesterfield 3-1 in a League Cup Third Round tie in L4 thanks to goals from David Fairclough, Kenny Dalglish and Terry McDermott.
1976 – We lost 1-0 at Newcastle United.
1937 – We lost 2-0 at Leeds United.

International goalscorers galore
2022 – Virgil van Dijk was on target while captaining the Netherlands to a 1-0 win over Belgium in the UEFA Nations League in Amsterdam as Ryan Gravenbech won his only cap while with Bayern München. Ozan Kabak appeared for the first time for Türkiye as a TSG 1899 Hoffenheim player in their 2-1 defeat in the Faroe Islands, whole ex-red Dejan Lovren netted for Croatia as they won a UEFA Nations League group game 3-1 in Austria. Also in international action were Ben Doak, Luis Díaz, future red Cody Gakpo and ex-red Neco Williams, with Bernard Diomède taking charge of France Under-18’s.
1957 – Future reds centre-forward Des Palmer bagged a hat-trick, the only goals in his three-game senior career for Wales as they thumped East Germany 4-1 in a World Cup qualifier at Ninian Park. On the same day, Alan A’Court scored his first Under-23’s goal as England beat Bulgaria 6-2 in a friendly at Stamford Bridge.
1943 - Future reds boss Don Welsh bagged a treble in a Wartime international, as England thrashed Wales 8-3 at Wembley. Ray Lambert and ex-red Cyril Sidlow both featured for the Welsh.

Also in international action
1985 – Glenn Hysén played for Sweden as they drew a World Cup qualifier 2-2 with West Germany in Solna. On the same day, Jan Mølby appeared as Denmark lost a qualifier 1-0 to the USSR in Moscow.
1988 – Future reds goalkeeping coach Cláudio Taffarel played as Brazil beat Argentina 1-0 in their Olympics Quarter-final in South Korea.
1991 – Øyvind Leonhardsen turned out for Norway as they lost a friendly 3-2 to Czechoslovakia in Oslo. Meanwhile, fellow future red István Kozma played as Hungary drew a European Championships qualifier 2-2 in the USSR.

2003 - Future red Daniel Agger played for Denmark Under-20’s in their goalless draw with Ukraine in Kyiv.
2006 - Michael Collins, Laurence Gaughan and Shane O'Connor all appeared for the Irish Under-17’s as they won a European Championships qualifier 2-0 in Azerbaijan.
2013 – Harry Wilson featured as Wales Under-17’s held Scotland to a goalless draw in a European Championships qualifier in Slovakia.
2016 – Future red Ozan Kabak played as Turkey Under-17’s beat Ukraine 1-0 in a European Championships qualifier in Lithuania.