Paul Michael Branch (born 18 October 1978) is an English former professional

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 as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

from 1995 to 2010. He played Premier League football for Everton after coming through the club's youth academy, also playing for the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

side where he earned one cap. He went on to play in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

with

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The tw ...

, Birmingham City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Reading, Hull City,

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

and Chester City before finishing his career in Non-league football with Halifax Town and Burscough. On 9 November 2012, he was jailed for seven years for serious drug offences.

Playing career

Born in Liverpool, Branch started his career with the

Everton academy Everton Under-23s compete in Premier League 2 and play their home matches at Haig Avenue in Southport. On occasion, they are permitted to play at Goodison Park. Both the Under-23 and Under-18 players have been based at their Finch Farm traini ...

, before making his senior debut on 22 February 1996 as a substitute at

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 ...

. He featured regularly in the first team during the 1996–97 season, scoring his only goals for the club. He was unable to live up to early promise and was loaned to

, where he reunited with his former Everton manager Joe Royle. He made his Manchester City debut on 31 October 1998 in a 2–1 win against Colchester United. He started a further three games, but returned to Everton having failed to score a single goal. After failing to break back into contention at Goodison Park, he was loaned to First Division Wolverhampton Wanderers in late 1999. He scored four times during his loan spell here, and the deal was made permanent for £500,000. He played regularly over the remainder of the 1999–2000 season and the following campaign, but added just six further goals. During the 1999/2000 season Branch scored a controversial goal during Wolves home fixture with Nottingham Forest, after he picked up what he thought was a loose ball played by the Forest keeper Dave Beasant who intended to put the ball out of play so Lee Naylor could receive treatment, in which he scored. But Beasant and other Forest players confronted him for what he had done and fellow players and officials had to split apart the two parties. He was then forced to be substituted shortly after for his own safety. Following the arrival of Dave Jones as Wolves manager, Branch fell out of favour and had loan spells while transfer-listed with Reading and then Hull City over the next two years. He finally left Molineux to join

in July 2003 after not being offered a new contract. His stay with Bradford City lasted just a solitary season before he joined newly promoted Chester City. He endured a turbulent spell with the

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club, where he was taken off the transfer list in July 2006 after appearing to patch up his differences with manager Mark Wright. After failing to regain his place in the team, he left the club in October 2006. In 2010, Branch was set to start playing for Burscough F.C. in the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Linnets sign ex-Everton striker
Burscough F.C. news

Personal life

On 10 July 2012, Branch was arrested by officers of the Serious Organised Crime Agency. At a later trial at Chester

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...

, Branch admitted charges of possession with intent to supply class A and class B drugs. One charge related to the handover of just under of

amphetamine Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used ...

to another man in a Liverpool car park in March 2012; a second charge related to the seizure of of cocaine from his home address in Otterspool, Liverpool in July 2012. On 8 November 2012, Branch was jailed for seven years. His appeal against sentence was dismissed, on 14 February 2013, by three judges at the Court of Appeal. He was eventually released after three years, and in September 2016 was training to become an accountant.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Branch, Michael 1978 births Living people English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Everton F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Reading F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Burscough F.C. players Footballers from Liverpool Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales English drug traffickers English prisoners and detainees English people convicted of drug offences