Phil Boersma

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

He began his career with Liverpool, signing his first contract in September 1968, he made his debut in 1969 on 24 September, it was a League Cup 3rd round fixture against Manchester City at Maine Road, Boersma came off the substitutes bench in the 67th minute but couldn't 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, Phil 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.

Boersma didn't make one of the striking positions his own but he could always be relied on when he was required. He was a prominent figure during Liverpool's run to the 1973 UEFA Cup final, bagging 4 goals on the way, Phil gained a medal although he was a non-playing sub during the first leg at Anfield, he did, however, see 13 minutes of the 2nd leg when he came on for Steve Heighway. The Reds also won the First Division title with Boersma contributing 7 goals from just 14 appearances, enough to earn him a medal.

1974 turned out to be a season of mixed emotions for Boersma, it started out like any other he featured in 22 of Liverpool's games, but scored just 4 times, this included 5 appearances and 1 goal during the F.A Cup run which took the Merseysiders to Wembley. The final proved to be the lowest point of Phil's season, and probably career, expecting to get the nod for the substitute role he was overlooked for Chris Lawler, a full-back.

Boersma didn't take the news to well and angrily left Anfield vowing he'd never wear the red of Liverpool again. Liverpool and Boersma managed to work things out and it proved to be a turning point for the player, he started the following campaign in goalscoring form starting with the Reds goal in the Charity Shield win over Leeds United, although game finished 1–1, Liverpool won 6–5 on penalties.

He then scored a brace against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on the last day of August, this was followed a week later by a first half hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield, he got a single in a League Cup 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 free-scoring period came against Stoke City, unfortunately, 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 and a youngster called David Fairclough, Boersma failed to make an impact on the 1975/76 season for the Anfield club and Bob Paisley allowed him to leave Liverpool in the December of '75.

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 with Manchester United. During his short 2-year spell at Boro he played 47 league games scoring 3 times. It was at Middlesbrough where Phil struck up a friendship with a certain Graeme Souness, 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, it was during his time at Swansea that Phil suffered a broken ankle in a game against Swindon Town Luton.

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, before linking 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, Blackburn Rovers 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

• Division 1 (Level 1): 1973.
• UEFA Cup: 1973
• Charity Shield: 1974

• Park, Michael Walker at St James' (2005-05-02). "Dowie fills in the blanks before showdown". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-04-21. 
• http://www.dailypost.co.uk/sport-news/welsh-football-league/2008/01/31/cefni-boss-sacked-as-too-many-locals-left-55578-20416226/