Released as a 19-year old by Brian Clough’s Derby County, without ever playing a senior game, Phil Boyer moved to York, where he formed a partnership with Ted MacDougall that would be continued at three subsequent clubs: Bournemouth, Norwich, and Southampton. Arriving at First Division Norwich in time for a run-in that failed to save the Canaries from relegation – along with the Saints and Manchester United – in 1974, Boyer hardly missed a game in 1974-75, sharing more than half of Norwich’s goals with MacDougall as United and they went straight back up – and lost to Aston Villa in the League Cup Final.

The pairing’s share was almost identical in the 1975-76 season, although Phil was now more of a second fiddle to Ted. Which didn’t stop him

being capped, v Wales in March, thereby becoming the Canaries’ first-ever England international.

Enter Lawrie McMenemy, first to break up the partnership and then to restore it. In September 1976 he brought MacDougall to The Dell. Then, come August 1977, he returned to Carrow Road, seeking to replace the irreplaceable. He had sold Mick Channon to Manchester City and now ventured £130,000 of the fee to bring Boyer to Southampton.

He outscored MacDougall for a change as their goals propelled the team into second place and promotion. With the Saints back in Division I, MacDougall was soon gone and Boyer, playing with four different strike-partners thereafter, failed to reach double figures in a season that included another League Cup Final defeat – by Nottingham Forest.

But then Channon returned and the ever-present Boyer had an electric season, finishing as the First Division’s top scorer with 23 goals.

It included a scoring-run of 10 consecutive home games (11 if you count the League Cup); three hat-tricks; and a delightful double at home to Clough’s Forest that had reporters drooling with words like “gem” and “masterpiece”. The future looked bright, but McMenemy was on a crusade and, when European Footballer of the Year arrived, in the shape of Kevin Keegan, he now had four England forwards, including the seldom-fit Charlie George.

But when the 1980-81 season kicked off, Boyer was the missing man. He stayed around for a dozen games and a couple of goals but was then sold, at a £90,000 profit, to Manchester City. A bad injury soon ended his first-class career and, after a brief flirtation with non-league football, he started work as a bank courier. He has since lived in retirement in Nottingham but rarely mixes in footballing circles. When in 2015 Ted MacDougall was asked by the Scotsman about his whereabouts this was is reply “I haven’t heard from him for years – he’s a bit of a recluse. When we were a double-act I liked to carry on playing during the close season – Canada, South Africa, wherever – to stay sharp. ‘I’d love to go with you, Ted’, he said to me once. ‘Come, then’, I said. ‘I can’t – we’ve got a budgie and the wife won’t leave it’. A few weeks later he said: ‘You’ll never guess – the budgie died’. ‘Right’, I said, ‘let’s have an adventure’. “‘Sorry, but the wife went straight out and bought a replacement’.”