Paul Birch (footballer, born 1962)
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Paul Birch (6 November 1962 – 2 February 2009) 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 as a midfielder, making nearly 400 appearances 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 ...
more than 300 of which were for
Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
and Wolverhampton Wanderersduring the 1980s and 1990s.


Career

Birch began his career in the
Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
youth system, becoming a regular first-team player in 1983/84 season after making his league debut on 29 August 1983 in a 1–0 win at home to
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
. His first-team debut had come earlier that year when he replaced Gary Shaw for the final twelve minutes of the
European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
victory at home to Barcelona. He had not featured in Villa's title-winning team of 1981 nor the
European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
winning side of 1982. During Villa's decline he was the mainstay of their midfield – able to play on the right or in the centre – and through his tenacious performances became a
Holte End Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...
favourite. He was part of the Villa side that were relegated under Billy McNeill in 1987, but helped them win promotion under new manager Graham Taylor a year later. He came close to winning a league title medal in 1990, but Villa were beaten into second place by Liverpool. However, when
Jozef Vengloš Jozef Vengloš (18 February 1936 – 26 January 2021) was a Slovak professional football player and manager. He held a doctorate in Physical Education and also specialised in Psychology. He was selected by FIFA on various occasions to lecture ...
became Villa manager at the start of the 1990–91, Birch found himself out of the team and was sold to second flight team Wolverhampton Wanderers in January 1991 for £400,000 where he joined up with former manager Graham Turner (who had been at Villa Park from 1984 to 1986). He had served
Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
for over 10 years and was awarded a testimonial by the club (against his new side) in August 1991. Birch stayed at Wolves for five years as the club (unsuccessfully) tried to break into the Premier League. He was almost an ever-present under Turner, but found regular appearances harder to come by after Wolves appointed another former manager of his, Graham Taylor. He was finally released by Wolves in May 1996, whereupon he finished his career with a season at both Doncaster Rovers and Exeter City before retiring from professional football and joining Halesowen Town in the
Southern Premier League Southern Premier League may refer to: Association football * Southern Football League, premier division, in England * Southern Championship, formerly known as the Southern Premier League, in Tasmania, Australia * FootballSouth Premier League, also k ...
. He had a spell as a postman before joining the coaching staff at Forest Green Rovers in 2001, working under his former Villa teammate Nigel Spink and remained with the club after Spink was sacked. He left Rovers in August 2003 to take up a role coaching the youth teams at Birmingham City, where Spink by now was goalkeeper coach.


Illness and death

In May 2008, it was revealed he was suffering from bone cancer. He died on 2 February 2009 at the Good Hope Hospital in
Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south ...
. Birch, who was 46 when he died, was married and had a daughter named Olivia who was born on 18 October 1997. His older brother
Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *A ...
was also a professional footballer.


Honours

*
FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...
: 1980 *
European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
: 1982


References


External links

*
Obituary in ''The Independent''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birch, Paul 1962 births 2009 deaths Aston Villa F.C. players Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from bone cancer Doncaster Rovers F.C. players English men's footballers Exeter City F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Halesowen Town F.C. players Footballers from West Bromwich Preston North End F.C. players English Football League players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players