It is easy to get lost in the modernity of the beautiful game. The English top flight alone has come a long way in the last three decades, largely thanks to the flow of money into the game since the formation of the EPL.
But the history of the game still has an important role today. When there is a big rivalry match coming up, like the Merseyside derby or when welcoming Manchester United to Anfield, the first thing that comes to mind to check is the head-to-head record.
Even more, the history demonstrates that the island nation has given birth to many great things over time: from the top online casinos UK has licensed to the legendary football clubs like Manchester United and Liverpool. Let’s take a moment to recall some of the unique facts of the latter, especially since they are quite extraordinary.
A Rush of New Year’s Day Goals
Legendary striker Ian Rush MBE enjoyed playing matches on January 1st. The Welshman, who won five league titles with Liverpool, three FA Cups and two European Cups among other things, scored a total of seven goals in seven New Year’s Day appearances.
The final such goal by Rush happened in 1994 against Ipswich Town.
200 Up and No Goals
There have been many players to make more than two hundred appearances for the Reds. That in and of itself is nothing out of the ordinary. But of all the outfield players that have done it, only three have reached at least their double century of appearances without scoring.
Stephane Henchoz made 205 appearances without scoring for the Reds. Rob Jones played 243 times without ever hitting the back of the net. But the all-time leader for appearances and no goals is Ephraim Longworth. He spent an incredible 14 years with Liverpool and was their first-ever England captain, but failed to score in 370 appearances for the Reds.
Return of the Macs
The first-ever league game that Liverpool played was in 1893. It was a match that they won 2-0 against the awesomely named Middlesbrough Ironopolis. The first-ever league goal for the Reds was scored by Malcolm McVean.
McVean was one of seven ‘Macs’ that were in Liverpool’s starting eleven for that fixture. There was a heavy presence of Scottish players for the Lancashire club at the time, which is the reason for that.
Liverpool’s First Ever League Starting Eleven
● Billy McOwen – (Goalkeeper)
● Andrew Hannah – (Right back)
● Duncan McLean – (Left back)
● James McBride – (Centre half)
● Joe McQue – (Centre half)
● Hugh McQueen – (Outside left)
● Matt McQueen – (Utility)
● Patrick Gordon – (Outside right)
● James Henderson – (Centre forward)
● James Stott – (Inside left)
● Malcolm McVean – (Outside/Inside right)
Of Liverpool’s 19-man squad for that season, thirteen were Scotsmen, the others being four English players and one Welshman. They’ve kept the trend going well since then with the likes of Gary McAllister, Steve McManaman and of course, Alexis Mac Allister.
Cleanest Player Ever?
If Ian Callaghan were playing in today’s forensic VAR world, his disciplinary record would probably be a lot worse than it was. The midfielder is Liverpool’s record appearance holder to this day, appearing in 857 matches across all competitions for the Anfield Club.
But through all of that, he was only ever booked once. That one yellow card that Callaghan reviewed was in the 1978 League Cup Final replay, a match the Reds lost 1-0 against Nottingham Forest.
Callaghan won five league titles with Liverpool, two European Cups and was part of England’s successful 1966 World Cup squad. But he only earned four caps in total for his country.
Stensgaard’s Strangest Injury
Liverpool have faced their fair share of injuries, but none of them rank as highly for bizarreness than Michael Stensgaard. Shortly after joining the Reds, the keeper managed to dislocate his shoulder.
How? By setting up his ironing board at home.
As funny as it sounds, it was a bad one in terms of his career. Stensgaard eventually had to go and have surgery on his shoulder and could never force his way into ever playing a game for the Reds.
Coming a close second is when, in 2016, Caoimhin Kelleher was kept out of action after a fly bit him and he got an infection.
In Conclusion
Given the rich history of the club, there are, of course, many other fantastic stats out there, just like the Reds being featured on the first-ever match highlights shown on the BBC’s Match of the Day.
Sadio Mané holds the record for Liverpool’s quickest Premier League hattrick and Jurgen Klopp’s thesis for his sports science diploma wasn’t as one may expect, written about football. Instead, it was on race walking – the list, as Liverpool’s fantastic history does, goes on.