John Toshack made his Liverpool debut on this day in 1970, three days after Bill Shankly brought him from Cardiff City, in a goalless draw with Coventry City at Anfield.
Shankly’s side came unstuck in Munich in 1967 but still went through with something to spare, Kenny Dalglish scored his 30th and last goal for Scotland in 1984, Steven Gerrard won his 100th England cap on the night Raheem Sterling won his first in 2012, and in 2024 Curtis Jones scored on his England debut.
1970: Tosh arrives
It was 1970, and Shankly was rebuilding. Liverpool had tried to sign Frank Worthington from Huddersfield Town, but when he failed a medical the manager turned instead to a 21-year-old Welshman who had been scoring freely for his hometown club.
Toshack signed on 11 November for a club-record fee of more than £100,000, and three days later he led the line against Noel Cantwell’s Coventry. The visitors included a familiar face in Geoff Strong, who had left Anfield for Highfield Road that year.
The debut ended 0-0, but Toshack did not have to wait long. A week later, in the derby at Anfield, Everton were two goals up early in the second half. Steve Heighway pulled one back, Toshack thumped in a headed equaliser, and Chris Lawler won it 3-2.
The arrival of Kevin Keegan the following year gave Liverpool one of the great partnerships of the decade: Tosh winning it in the air, Keegan doing the damage at his feet. Together they helped bring the UEFA Cup in 1973 and 1976 and the FA Cup in 1974.
By the time he went home to South Wales in 1978 as Swansea City’s player-manager, Toshack had scored 96 goals in 247 games. He then took Swansea from the Fourth Division to the First.
1967: Beaten, but never in danger
In 1967, Liverpool’s first season in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup brought their first defeat in the competition. They lost 2-1 to TSV 1860 München in the second leg of their second-round tie, but it hardly mattered after an 8-0 win at Anfield a week earlier.
Ian Callaghan scored Liverpool’s goal in Munich, and Willie Stevenson came off the bench for Tony Hateley as Shankly’s side went through 9-2 on aggregate.
1984: King Kenny draws level
Forty-two years ago today, in 1984, Dalglish scored his 30th and final goal for Scotland in a 3-1 World Cup qualifying win over Spain at Hampden Park. It drew him level with Denis Law as his country’s record goalscorer.
Mo Johnston scored the other two. Graeme Souness, by then at Sampdoria, was captain, and Dalglish’s Liverpool teammate Steve Nicol was also in the side. The same night, in Istanbul, a 21-year-old John Barnes scored twice as England thrashed Turkey 8-0, with another future Red, Mark Wright, at centre-back.
2012: A century and a first cap
In 2012, Gerrard captained England in Stockholm on his 100th international appearance, and Sterling, still only 17, was handed his first cap from the start.
Neither got the night they deserved. Zlatan Ibrahimović scored all four as Sweden opened the Friends Arena with a 4-2 win, the last of them a remarkable overhead kick.
2024: Jones makes his mark
On this day in 2024, Jones won his first senior England cap in a Nations League game against Greece in Athens and marked it with a goal.
England were already 2-0 up when the Liverpool-born midfielder flicked Morgan Gibbs-White’s cross past Odysseas Vlachodimos with his heel, sealing a 3-0 win.
Born on this day
Born on this day in 1956, in Cairo, Avi Cohen joined Liverpool from Maccabi Tel Aviv for £200,000 in 1979. He made 24 appearances and is best remembered for the title-clinching 4-1 win over Aston Villa in May 1980, when he scored an own goal and then put Liverpool ahead at the right end. He died in 2010.
Phil Ferns, born in Liverpool in 1937, made 28 appearances for his hometown club. He played 18 league games in 1963-64, enough for a title medal, before joining Bournemouth in 1965.
Also on this day
- 1896: Willie Michael scored in a 1-1 draw at Preston North End.
- 1903: Arthur Goddard scored a penalty, but Sheffield United won 2-1.
- 1908: Joe Hewitt and Bobby Robinson scored in a 2-1 win over Preston North End at Anfield.
- 1914: Fred Pagnam scored in a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough at Anfield.
- 1925: Cyril Oxley scored both goals in a 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion at Anfield.
- 1931: Dave Wright scored twice and Gordon Hodgson once in a 3-1 win at Sunderland.
- 1936: Fred Howe scored twice in a 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday at Anfield.
- 1953: Sammy Smyth scored twice, but Sunderland won 3-2 at Roker Park.
- 1959: Dave Hickson and Roger Hunt scored, but Lincoln City won a Second Division game 4-2.
- 1962: Ronnie Moran and Roger Hunt scored in a 2-1 win over Arsenal at Anfield, with Geoff Strong on target for the visitors.
- 1964: Peter Thompson and Roger Hunt scored in a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest at Anfield.
- 1998: Gérard Houllier’s first game in sole charge ended in a 3-1 home defeat by Leeds United. Robbie Fowler’s penalty was cancelled out by three late goals, two of them from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
- 2008: Rafael Benítez was named Premier League Manager of the Month for October.
