It was the summer Gerard Houllier truly put his stamp on Liverpool Football Club.
The Frenchman had joined the Reds just over a year earlier, at first in a joint manager position alongside Roy Evans before taking the reigns entirely when the former boot room boy left the Reds in November 1998.
In the months that followed, Liverpool were a team in flux.
The Reds struggled for any sort of consistency as behind the scenes Houllier started to make the changes that would reverberate throughout the club for years to come.
A more disciplined approach was taken to life at Melwood, diets were overhauled and Liverpool legend Phil Thompson returned to the club as Houllier's assistant.
But in summer 1999, Houllier took a wrecking ball to his squad. The Reds would build from the ground up.
No fewer than seven signings arrived and 10 players departed before the summer was out.
Houllier cared little for reputations. Steve McManaman had already signed a pre-contract agreement with Real Madrid and left on July 1, but other big names such as David James and Paul Ince followed. Rob Jones, Bjorne Tore Kvarme and Oyvind Leonardsen were some of the other first team figures to be moved on.
In their place, Houllier went about recruiting a number of players who many supporters had simply never heard of.
Dietmar Hamann and Stephane Henchoz may have been two familiar names having spent a season with Newcastle and Blackburn respectively, while some Liverpool fans may have known the winger Vladimir Smicer, who arrived from Lens as a regular goalscorer for the Czech Republic.
But little was known of forward Eric Meijer or goalkeeper Sander Westerveld, Titi Camara was an enigma signed from Marseille and Sami Hyypia was practically unheard of him he joined from Willem II.
But all seven of the new arrivals would eventually leave Anfield having made their mark on the club one way or another.
And six of them would make their debuts in a 2-1 victory on this day in 1999, only Henchoz missing through injury for the Reds at Hillsborough.
Liverpool's performance that day was a pleasant surprise for anyone of a red persuasion and, in truth, for the wider football world.
Rarely have the Reds taken to the field with as many debutants and with the influx of players from all corners of the globe, Liverpool were expected to struggle with the pace of football as the Premier League got underway for another season.
But the Reds would beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1, with Smicer setting up Robbie Fowler for the opener and Camara netting the other.
The revolution was underway and Houllier's band of new brothers would improve throughout the season before a late wobble, with three defeats and two draws in the final five games, saw them drop to fourth and miss out on the Champions League.
Another 12 months brought a treble of trophies and a return to Europe's top competition.
Three of the new signings, Hyypia, Smicer and Hamann would write their name into Liverpool folklore by playing significant roles in helping the club to a fifth European Cup six years later
Meanwhile, Henchoz and Westerveld would play major parts in the treble season and Meijer and Camara would, in their own ways, leave lasting memories at Anfield.
They'd arrived as unknowns and left as household names.
In many ways, the summer of 1999 would define a decade at Anfield.
The Reds were truly reborn.
