Philip Boersma (born 24 September 1949 in

Kirkby Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 was 41,495 making it the largest ...

) is an English former professional footballer, who played as a midfield/striker for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

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 In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

3rd round fixture against Manchester City at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest a ...

, 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 Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

for 7 games in the March 1970 before returning to Liverpool to bag his first goal on 4 April against

Dinamo Bucharest A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

at the 23 August Stadium. Boersma came off the bench to replace

Alun Evans Alun William Evans (born 30 April 1949) is an English former footballer who made his name as a centre forward in the Liverpool side rebuilt by Bill Shankly at the start of the 1970s. He was born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire. Career 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 Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

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, 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 Stephen Derek Heighway (born 25 November 1947) is an Irish former footballer who was part of the hugely successful Liverpool team of the 1970s. Following his eleven-year spell at the club, he has been regarded by some as one of the greatest Li ...

. 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

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

rs to

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. 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 Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

, a game that finished 1–1, with Liverpool winning 6–5 on penalties. He then scored a brace against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

at Stamford Bridge on the last day of August, this was followed a week later by a first half

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

at Anfield, he scored in a

win over Brentford and 2 more in the record 11–0 win over Strømsgodset I.F in the European Cup, his 10th goal in this period came against Stoke City. 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

, and the emergence of youngster

David Fairclough David Fairclough (born Liverpool, 5 January 1957) is an English retired footballer, most famous for playing for Liverpool as a striker during the 1970s and 1980s. Life and playing career Known affectionately as ''Supersub'' (because he was a t ...

, Boersma failed to make an impact on the 1975/76 season for the Anfield club and Bob Paisley allowed him to leave Liverpool in December 1975. He left for

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

joining

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 with Manchester United. 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 Kenilworth Road is an association football stadium in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It has been the home ground of Luton Town Football Club since 1905. The stadium has also hosted women's and youth international matches, including the second ...

and

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

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

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

Coaching career

Since retiring, Boersma moved into physiotherapy 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 before taking on coaching roles under Souness at their former club Liverpool. They then moved on to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

and Newcastle United. He parted from Newcastle by mutual consent in 2005. In January 2008 Boersma had a brief spell with Welsh Premiership side Llangefni Town as assistant manager.

Honours

Liverpool * Football League First Division (Level 1): 1972–73 * Charity Shield: 1974 *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: 1972–73

References

External links