Although a midfielder/forward with plenty of skill, Liverpool-born Phil Boersma never quite made it at Anfield. For seven seasons between 1969 and 1975 he was a perpetual fringe player who was never able to convince Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley that he was worthy of an automatic first team place. It was slow progress following his debut aged 20 in September 1969, making only six appearances that season. This was followed in 1970/71 by a total of 18 full appearances in which he scored 3 goals. Phil only made 3 appearances the following season, mainly due to the strong competition for places and a drop in form. However, his breakthrough seemed to have occurred in the 1972/73 season when he played a total of 31 matches, scoring 13 goals in helping Liverpool win the League Championship and UEFA Cup, in which he came on as substitute for Steve Heighway in the second leg of the final against Borussia Moenchengladbach. The inconsistencies of his career returned the following year when he only managed 22 appearances. Ironically his best period at Anfield came early in the 1974/75 season only a few months after storming out on Bill Shankly, vowing never to play for Liverpool again due to not being selected as substitute in the 1974 FA Cup Final against Newcastle, a game the Reds won 3-0. In the first eighteen games of 1974/75 Phil had his longest continuous run in the first team, scoring six goals in the first eight games. Despite this he gradually lost his place again; each time Phil seemed to have convinced people of his worth the down side returned. Finally after being pushed further into the shadows by the emergence of a certain young David Fairclough, Phil left Liverpool in December 1975 for Middlesbrough for a fee of £72000, having made only 73 full appearances in seven seasons. (Paul McCombs)