14 October | Liverpool FC history
Some dates in Liverpool’s history are remembered for great victories, others for the players who made the club what it is.
October 14 has a bit of both, including a five-goal demolition under Bob Paisley, a Roger Hunt hat-trick and, exactly 60 years later, a final farewell to one of Anfield’s greatest legends.
1978: Liverpool put five past Derby County
Liverpool were already setting a frightening pace in the First Division when Derby County arrived at Anfield on 14 October 1978.
Bob Paisley’s side were unbeaten, scoring freely and looking every inch a team destined for another championship. Derby, managed by Tommy Docherty and featuring Charlie George, were about to discover just how good Liverpool were.
David Johnson opened the scoring after 29 minutes, but Derby managed to reach half-time only one goal behind.
Their resistance didn’t last much longer.
Ray Kennedy doubled Liverpool’s lead ten minutes after the restart, before Kenny Dalglish made it 3-0 shortly after the hour. Kennedy struck again in the 78th minute and Dalglish followed two minutes later to complete a convincing 5-0 victory in front of 47,475 supporters.
Liverpool had now won nine of their opening ten league matches, drawing the other. They had scored 33 goals and conceded just four.
Those numbers were impressive enough, but what followed was extraordinary.
Liverpool finished the 1978-79 campaign as First Division champions with a record 68 points under the old two-points-for-a-win system. Across 42 league matches, they conceded just 16 goals, while goalkeeper Ray Clemence recorded 28 clean sheets.
It remains one of the most remarkable defensive records in English football history.
1961: Roger Hunt helps himself to a hat-trick
Seventeen years earlier, Bill Shankly’s Liverpool were fighting to escape the Second Division, and Roger Hunt was proving almost impossible to stop.
Walsall visited Anfield on 14 October 1961, with 42,229 supporters watching a Liverpool side that had established itself at the top of the table.
The visitors held Liverpool to 1-1 at half-time, Kevin Lewis having scored the equaliser shortly before the interval.
But the second half belonged to Liverpool, and particularly Hunt.
Jimmy Melia put the Reds ahead two minutes after the restart. Hunt then scored twice in seven minutes, finding the net in the 50th and 57th minutes.
Ian St John added another before Hunt completed his hat-trick in the 80th minute, sealing a 6-1 victory.
It was already his second hat-trick of the season, following three goals against Leeds United in August.
Hunt eventually finished the campaign with an incredible 41 league goals as Liverpool won the Second Division championship and returned to the top flight after eight seasons away.
Shankly was building something special, and Hunt was central to it.
2021: Liverpool says goodbye to Sir Roger
There is a poignant coincidence linking that afternoon against Walsall with events six decades later.
On 14 October 2021, exactly 60 years after Hunt’s hat-trick, Liverpool supporters gathered outside Anfield to pay their final respects to the man affectionately known as Sir Roger.
Hunt had died the previous month, aged 83.
His funeral cortege paused outside the stadium, where hundreds of supporters applauded as it passed. A service followed at Liverpool Cathedral, with family, former team-mates and figures from the club’s history in attendance. Kevin Keegan was among those paying tribute.
Hunt had been part of England’s World Cup-winning side in 1966, but his place in Liverpool folklore was secured long before that.
His 244 league goals remain a club record, and his contribution to Shankly’s transformation of Liverpool helped lay the foundations for everything that followed.
Sixty years separated his hat-trick against Walsall and that final journey past Anfield.
For generations of Liverpool supporters, he will always be Sir Roger.
1922: Two derby wins in seven days
Liverpool supporters had plenty to celebrate on 14 October 1922, when the reigning First Division champions completed a remarkable week against Everton.
Seven days earlier, Liverpool had thrashed their neighbours 5-1 at Anfield.
The return fixture at Goodison Park attracted around 52,000 spectators, but Everton couldn’t find a way to respond.
Dick Johnson scored the only goal as Liverpool secured a 1-0 victory, completing a league double over their neighbours in the space of a week.
Under manager David Ashworth, Liverpool went on to retain the First Division championship that season.
1893: Seven goals and another Liverpool victory
Liverpool were still newcomers to the Football League when they travelled to Small Heath, the club that would eventually become Birmingham City, on 14 October 1893.
It was only their seventh league fixture, but they were already showing the attacking qualities that would carry them to the Second Division title.
Patrick Gordon and Jimmy Stott scored inside the opening two minutes, with David Henderson and Hugh McQueen also finding the net in a dramatic 4-3 victory.
Small Heath’s Caesar Jenkyns was sent off during the encounter.
Liverpool went on to complete all 28 league fixtures without defeat, before overcoming Newton Heath, the future Manchester United, in a Test Match to secure promotion.
An unbeaten league campaign in the club’s very first Football League season was quite an achievement.
1987: Barnes and Beardsley shine at Wembley
Two of Liverpool’s most exciting summer signings were making headlines for England on 14 October 1987.
John Barnes and Peter Beardsley both scored as England demolished Turkey 8-0 at Wembley in a European Championship qualifier.
Barnes struck after barely a minute and added another before half-time, while Beardsley headed England’s sixth goal. Gary Lineker completed a hat-trick.
The performances offered another glimpse of the attacking talent Kenny Dalglish had assembled at Liverpool.
Barnes and Beardsley would go on to play starring roles in one of the most entertaining Liverpool teams ever seen, helping the Reds win the 1987-88 First Division title.
2020: Diogo Jota delivers for Portugal
Diogo Jota had only been a Liverpool player for a few weeks when he produced an outstanding performance for Portugal against Sweden on 14 October 2020.
The forward, who had joined the Reds from Wolverhampton Wanderers the previous month, scored twice and created the other goal as Portugal recorded a 3-0 Nations League victory in Lisbon.
Jota set up Bernardo Silva for the opener before scoring Portugal’s second and third goals himself.
It was another indication of why Liverpool had moved to bring him to Anfield, and the goals came during the early stages of what would become a memorable career in a red shirt.
Jota went on to make 182 appearances for Liverpool, scoring 65 goals, 47 of them in the Premier League, and helped the club win major honours, including the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.
His life was tragically cut short in July 2025, when he and his brother André Silva died in a road accident in Spain.
Looking back at his performances now is inevitably different. What once seemed like another exciting glimpse of a player’s potential has become part of the record of a career, and a life, that ended far too soon.
Jota gave Liverpool supporters some wonderful memories. His contribution to the club, and the affection in which he is held, will not be forgotten.
Other Liverpool results on 14 October
- 1899: Bury 2-1 Liverpool. Johnny Walker scored as Liverpool suffered their eighth consecutive league defeat at the start of the season.
- 1905: The Wednesday 3-2 Liverpool. Bobby Robinson and Joe Hewitt scored.
- 1911: The Wednesday 2-2 Liverpool. Sam Gilligan and Jack Parkinson were on target.
- 1912: Sheffield United 4-1 Liverpool. Arthur Metcalf scored Liverpool’s goal.
- 1933: Sunderland 4-1 Liverpool. Sam English scored.
- 1950: West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Liverpool. Phil Taylor found the net.
- 1967: Liverpool 3-1 West Ham United. Ian St John scored twice and Tommy Smith added another against a West Ham side featuring Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.
- 1972: Southampton 1-1 Liverpool. Chris Lawler scored before Mick Channon equalised.
- 1975: Burnley 1-0 Liverpool. Liverpool were eliminated from the League Cup in a third-round replay.
- 1989: Wimbledon 1-2 Liverpool. Peter Beardsley and Ronnie Whelan scored at Plough Lane.
- 1995: Liverpool 0-0 Coventry City. The points were shared at Anfield.
- 2006: Liverpool 1-1 Blackburn Rovers. Craig Bellamy scored against his former club after Benni McCarthy had given Blackburn the lead.
- 2017: Liverpool 0-0 Manchester United. David de Gea produced a superb save to deny Joel Matip.
From the brilliance of Paisley’s champions to the goals of Roger Hunt and the memories left by Diogo Jota, 14 October provides another reminder of the players and performances that have shaped Liverpool Football Club.
