Feature60 years on: Liverpool wear all-red strip for the first time

The Reds were in Belgium for the second leg of their European Cup first-round tie with Anderlecht.

Three weeks earlier, when Bill Shankly's side had hosted the opening match at Anfield, the legendary Scot had deployed a tweak to his team.

Not to the line-up, however, but to their kit.

When Liverpool were formed back in 1892, they initially used a strip that bore more of a likeness to that of modern-day Blackburn Rovers rather than the unmistakeable red we know now.

The blue and white top with navy shorts and socks remained the club's colours for four years, before being replaced by the red and white associated with the pre-Shankly era.

There were no further dramatic changes to the kit during the early part of our history, with black socks sporadically breaking the trend. However, the famous Liver bird took its perch on the left-hand side of the chest from 1955.

But with his squad embarking on a maiden campaign in European competition in 1964, Shankly figured that switching to all-red would make his team more intimidating out on the pitch.

And so on November 25 that year, Liverpool sported both red jerseys and shorts, while still with white socks, as they chalked up a 3-0 win over Anderlecht at Anfield.

"It was fantastic," the iconic manager later recalled. "The introduction of the all-red strip had a huge psychological effect. The players looked like giants. And we played like giants."

Having both been involved in Shankly's masterplan ahead of the game, Ian St John and Ron Yeats were each on the scoresheet that evening, alongside Roger Hunt.

Writing about the origins of the change in his autobiography, St John detailed: "Shankly thought the colour scheme would carry psychological impact - red for danger, red for power.

"He came into the dressing room one day and threw a pair of red shorts to Ronnie Yeats. 'Get into those shorts and let's see how you look,' he said. 'Ronnie, you look awesome, terrifying. You look seven feet tall.'"

Yeats himself remembered: "We'd just finished training and I was on the way home when Shanks called me back.

"My initial reaction was that I'd done something wrong. Either that or I was getting a pay rise! Anyway, it was neither. 'I want you to try on this all-red strip,' he asked. So I went into the dressing room and put it on.

"I came out and the boss was nowhere to be seen so I went down the steps towards the players' tunnel and I could see him out in the middle of the pitch with Bob Paisley.

"I made my way towards them and as I got closer, Shanks came out with that immortal line about me looking seven feet tall. 'We're going to play in all-red from now on.'

"We wore it the next night and beat Anderlecht 3-0. That was that and Liverpool have played in these colours ever since."

The evolution was completed when the clubs met again on December 16, 1964, with red socks now added to the uniform for the first time.

A last-minute goal from Hunt ensured the occasion was toasted with a victory, too, Shankly's men winning 1-0.

The new, all-red strip would be used in cup competitions during the remainder of that campaign, which culminated in another landmark for the club.

In May 1965, Liverpool stepped out at Wembley decked out entirely in red and won the FA Cup for the first time by beating Leeds United 2-1.

Who can say whether it had truly affected opponents, but Shankly's brainwave was now undoubtedly the future, and it remains one of the most powerful decisions in LFC history.