Brian Birch (18 November 1931–1989) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played for several English clubs in the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. Born in Salford, Birch joined

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

as a 14-year-old in May 1946, before turning professional two years later. He was 17 when he made his debut on 27 August 1949, playing at inside left in a 1–1 home draw with

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. Birch was always on the fringes of the United first team, but apart from a spell midway through the 1950–51 season in which he scored four goals in nine appearances, he never lived up to his potential and was sold to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

for £10,000 towards the end of the 1951–52 season. His tenure at Wolves was short, however, and he was transferred to Lincoln City after just nine months in the West Midlands. In three years with Lincoln, Birch played in more than fifty matches, scoring 15 goals. He then dropped out of league football for a season in 1955, joining

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

, before moving to

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

in 1956. He became a first team regular at Barrow, making 60 appearances and scoring 27 goals in just over two seasons there. Exeter City signed him in September 1958, but he was on the move again in January 1960, this time to Oldham Athletic. He moved to

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

in March 1961, before going into coaching at the end of the 1961–62 season. He dipped in and out of playing for the next few years, picking up appearances for Boston United,

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, southeast of Oldham and east of Manchester. The historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshire ...

and Ellesmere Port, but his coaching experience eventually led him to Blackburn Rovers in 1967, where he became the coach to one of the club's junior teams. Birch was trainer of Galatasaray from 1971 to 1973. He won two consecutive championships with Galatasaray in the Turkish First League and Helsingborgs IF. In the summer of 1980 he returned to Galatasaray, but was not able to be successful like he was in the 1970s with the club and his contract was terminated after one-and-a-half years. He managed the Turkish club Ankaragücü for three matches in 1987.

Honours

Galatasaray * Turkish Super League: 1971–72, 1972–73 *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

: 1972–73 *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup ( Turkish: ''TFF Süper Kupa''), as it is currently known, is the annual super cup football match contested between the previous season's Süper Lig champions and the Turkish Cup winners in Turkey. It was originally known a ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

* 50th Anniversary Cup: 1973

References

External links

* *
Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk

at MUFCInfo.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Birch, Brian 1931 births 1989 deaths Footballers from Salford English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Manchester United F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Ellesmere Port Town F.C. players Mossley A.F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Galatasaray S.K. (football) managers Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. managers Helsingborgs IF managers MKE Ankaragücü managers Süper Lig managers Super League Greece managers English expatriate football managers English expatriate sportspeople in Turkey English expatriate sportspeople in Norway English expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate football managers in Turkey Expatriate football managers in Norway Expatriate football managers in Greece