Philip Boersma (born 24 September 1949 in Kirkby) is an English former professional footballer, who played as a midfield/striker for Liverpool and Middlesbrough among others.

Life and playing career

He began his career with Liverpool, signing his first contract in September 1968, he made his debut in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

on 24 September, it was a League Cup 3rd round fixture against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

at Maine Road, Boersma came off the substitutes bench in the 67th minute but could not help turn things around, with the Reds eventually losing 3–2. He went on loan to Wrexham for 7 games in the March 1970 before returning to Liverpool to bag his first goal on 4 April against Dinamo Bucharest at the 23 August Stadium. Boersma came off the bench to replace Alun Evans after 15 minutes, scoring in the 47th, the goal helped the Reds draw the European Fairs Cup 2nd round, 2nd leg tie 1–1. The Reds had already won the 1st leg at Anfield 3–0 making the aggregate score 4–1. He was a prominent figure during Liverpool's run to the

1973 UEFA Cup Final The 1973 UEFA Cup Final was an association football match played over two-legs between Liverpool of England and Borussia Mönchengladbach of West Germany. The first leg was played at Anfield, Liverpool on 10 May 1973 and the second leg was played ...

against

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

, bagging 4 goals on the way, Boersma gained a medal although he was a non-playing sub during the first leg at Anfield; he did, however, see 13 minutes of action in the 2nd leg when he came on for Steve Heighway. The Reds also won the First Division title that season, with Boersma contributing 7 goals from 14 appearances, enough to earn him a medal. In 1973/74 he featured in 22 of Liverpool's games scoring 4 times, including 5 appearances and 1 goal during the FA Cup run which took the Merseysiders to Wembley. He expected to be the substitute but was overlooked for Chris Lawler, a full-back. Boersma did not take the news well and angrily left Anfield vowing he'd never wear the red of Liverpool again. Liverpool and Boersma managed to work things out. He started the following campaign in goalscoring form, scoring the Reds' goal in the Charity Shield win over Leeds United, a game that finished 1–1, with Liverpool winning 6–5 on penalties. He then scored a brace against Chelsea at

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

on the last day of August, this was followed a week later by a first half hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield, he scored in a League Cup win over

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

and 2 more in the record 11–0 win over Strømsgodset I.F in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, his 10th goal in this period came against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

. The goals then dried up and he didn't hit the target for the remainder of the season. Always on the fringes of the first team, mainly due to the Keegan/ Toshack partnership supported by Steve Heighway, and the emergence of youngster David Fairclough, Boersma failed to make an impact on the 1975/76 season for the Anfield club and

Bob Paisley Robert Paisley OBE (23 January 1919 – 14 February 1996) was an English professional football manager and player who played as a wing-half. He spent almost 50 years with Liverpool and is regarded, due to his achievements with the club, ...

allowed him to leave Liverpool in December 1975. He left for Teesside joining Middlesbrough for £72,000 where he played generally as a midfielder, he made his debut for Middlesbrough on 6 December '75 in a 0–0 draw at

Ayresome Park Ayresome Park was a football stadium in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It was demolished in 1997 and r ...

with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. During his short 2-year spell at Boro he played 47 league games scoring 3 times. It was at Middlesbrough where Boersma struck up a friendship with

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, and current TV pundit. A midfielder, Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s, player-manager of Ranger ...

, This friendship would pay dividends for Boersma later on in his career. Boersma left Middlesbrough in the August 1977 and head to Kenilworth Road and Luton Town where he scored 8 goals in 36 league games. He left Luton to join up with former club colleague John Toshack who was in charge of Welsh club

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

, it was during his time at Swansea that Boersma suffered a broken ankle in a game against Swindon Town.

Coaching career

Since retiring, Boersma moved into

physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

and coaching. He was appointed first team coach and then Assistant Manager at Swansea City, at a time when the Welsh side was rising up the Divisions from the old Division Three (League One) to what is now the Premiership. After leaving Swansea in 1983, he spent time at Lincoln City as Assistant Manager, and also spent most of the 1986–87 season as first-team coach at Doncaster Rovers, even turning out for the club's reserve team in the Central League He linked up with Souness again as physio at

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

before taking on coaching roles under Souness at their former club Liverpool. They then moved on to Southampton, Blackburn Rovers and

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. He parted from Newcastle by mutual consent in 2005. In January 2008 Boersma had a brief spell with

Welsh Premiership The Welsh Premier Division, () known for sponsorship reasons as the Indigo Group Premiership, (''Uwch Gynghrair grŵp indigo'') is a rugby union league in Wales first implemented by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) for the 1990–91 season. Compet ...

side Llangefni Town as assistant manager.

Honours

Liverpool *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

(Level 1): 1972–73 * Charity Shield:

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

* UEFA Cup: 1972–73

References

External links