1975 - On this day our record signing makes his Boro debut

[erimus74]

Big Jack had pushed the boat to try & solve our goalscoring problems when signing Phil Boersma from Liverpool for a then club record fee of £72k in a 1st divison match at home to Man United

Since we broke the transfer record signing Alf Common, Boersma became our 15th record signing & was registered No506 when big Jack gave him the No4 shirt, a shirt that had recently been worn by the best players to wear the No4 shirt in my time, before, or since, Graeme Souness

With nothing to choose between both teams a massive attendance of 32,454 had to settle for a goalless draw

The majority of Boersmas time at the mighty Boro was not up to expectations from a former Liverpool player & a record signing but 3 days after his debut he did win his 1st silverware with the Boro when we won the ASC

Boersma went on to make 52 appearances for the Boro between 1975-77, scoring 3 goals

One massive stand out game he played for me was the 4-1 FAC win over Arsenal, but then again, the whole team was excellent

Big Jacks team

Jim Platt - Irelands No1 & my favourite keeper
John Craggs - Best uncapped player in the country
Terry Cooper - Still good enough to play for England when we signed him
Phil Boersma - Record signing
Stuart Boam - My favourite Boro captain
Willie Maddren - Best ever Boro defender, should have been an England regular for years
Bobby Murdoch - What a passer of the ball, certainly the final piece of the jigsaw
David Mills - Another player who should have played for England
Alan Willey - A legend in the USA league
John Hickton - Mr Middlesbrough for me
David Armstrong - Another player who should have been regular England player & unbelievable consecutive Boro record, that will never be broken

[Johnny Thunder]

A great memory Erimus. And a great era for Boro fans.

[tunstall]

Some barnet on him

[TerryCochranesSocks]

Top stuff again Erimus.

Is that Billy Woof behind Boersma in the last pic?

[erimus74]

Top stuff again Erimus.

Is that Billy Woof behind Boersma in the last pic?

Yes met him a few times, lovely bloke, he use to work with both of my brothers at Armstrongs floorings

[Nosmo-King]

I really thought he would take us to greater heights- never happened unfortunately. Underwhelmed by him - such a shame

[erimus74]

I really thought he would take us to greater heights- never happened unfortunately. Underwhelmed by him - such a shame

Yea agree, remeber when he was at Liverpool & just broke in to the 1st team & they were comparing him to Keegan, looking back Liverpool wouldn't have sold him if he was that good

[Nosmo-King]

Erimus , yes Liverpool would not have sold him - to a rival if he was decent! And for those not around - we very much were a rival to Liverpool in those days!!

[erimus74]

Erimus , yes Liverpool would not have sold him - to a rival if he was decent! And for those not around - we very much were a rival to Liverpool in those days!!

Totally agree Nosmo-king

[AtomicDog]

I really thought he would take us to greater heights- never happened unfortunately. Underwhelmed by him - such a shame

See also Peter Davenport year's later

[erimus74]

I really thought he would take us to greater heights- never happened unfortunately. Underwhelmed by him - such a shame

See also Peter Davenport year's later

Totally agree, when you think of the of the players we lost out to when in a transfer player tug of war, yet Davenport chose us over Villa, if hed have chosen them im convinced we'd have stayed up

Dont get me wrong when he opted to come to the Boro I was bouncing thinking we've arrived

[erimus74]

From my scrapbook


outside photos

[erimus74]

[AtomicDog]

I really thought he would take us to greater heights- never happened unfortunately. Underwhelmed by him - such a shame

See also Peter Davenport year's later

Totally agree, when you think of the of the players we lost out to when in a transfer player tug of war, yet Davenport chose us over Villa, if hed have chosen them im convinced we'd have stayed up

Dont get me wrong when he opted to come to the Boro I was bouncing thinking we've arrived

I think Robbie Keane would have been good when we were after him, wasn't he at Coventry and chose wolves Erimus?


Mind you, Best, Kempes, Romario, Nadal, Carlos.
 

[erimus74]

I really thought he would take us to greater heights- never happened unfortunately. Underwhelmed by him - such a shame

See also Peter Davenport year's later

Totally agree, when you think of the of the players we lost out to when in a transfer player tug of war, yet Davenport chose us over Villa, if hed have chosen them im convinced we'd have stayed up

Dont get me wrong when he opted to come to the Boro I was bouncing thinking we've arrived

I think Robbie Keane would have been good when we were after him, wasn't he at Coventry and chose wolves Erimus?


Mind you, Best, Kempes, Romario, Nadal, Carlos.
 

Yes big talk of him coming here, when he did eventually turn up as Woodgates right hand man he was utter garbage, all this talk of a top coach in the making because of him been a top PL striker, another duff, file under Alan Shearer, Frank Lampard, Stephen Gerraed etc