Paul Bracewell
Personal information
Full name Paul William Bracewell[1]
Date of birth (1962-07-19) 19 July 1962[1]
Place of birth Heswall, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1978–1979 Stoke City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1979–1983 Stoke City 129 (5)
1983–1984 Sunderland 38 (4)
1984–1989 Everton 95 (7)
1989–1992 Sunderland 113 (2)
1992–1995 Newcastle United 73 (3)
1995–1997 Sunderland 77 (0)
1997–1999 Fulham 62 (1)
Total 587 (22)
International career
1982–1984 England U21 13 (0)
1985 England 3 (0)
Managerial career
1999–2000 Fulham
2000–2001 Halifax Town
2013–2015 Sunderland (development coach)
2015–2017 Sunderland (assistant manager)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Paul William Bracewell (born 19 July 1962) is an English former professional football player and manager.

Bracewell played as a midfielder. He was a member of the Everton side that won the League title in 1985 and 1987 as well as the European Cup Winner's Cup in 1985. He also played in the Premier League for Newcastle United and Sunderland and in the Football League with Stoke City and Fulham. He was capped three times by England and earned thirteen England U21 caps.

Following his retirement, he managed Fulham, before being replaced by Jean Tigana. He later had a spell in charge of Halifax Town but following his departure in 2001 he has not returned to management. He has since had several coaching roles at former side, Sunderland.

Club career

Bracewell was born in Heswall[1] and started his football career with Stoke City progressing through the youth ranks at the Victoria Ground and made his professional debut away at Wolverhampton Wanderers just before his 18th birthday.[3] He soon became a regular in the first team and went on to complete three full seasons before in June 1983 he moved to Sunderland for a fee of £250,000 linking up with Alan Durban.[3] He made 141 appearances for Stoke scoring six goals.[3]

Sunderland had an unsuccessful 1983–84 season and Durban was sacked by the Roker Park club and new manager Len Ashurst did not believe Bracewell could play for him and so sold him to Everton for £425,000. It was at Goodison Park where Bracewell enjoyed the most successful spell of his career. As part of a midfield that included Peter Reid, Kevin Sheedy and Trevor Steven, they won the 1984–85 Football League and also enjoyed success in Europe when they lifted the 1984–85 European Cup Winners' Cup. Such form prompted a call-up to the full England squad where he went on to win three caps but missed out on a place in Bobby Robson's 1986 World Cup squad with a broken leg. Bracewell also played in four losing FA Cup Finals, the last of which came following his return to Sunderland in 1992.[3] This is a record for the most FA Cup Final appearances by a player without winning.[4]

He left Sunderland for the second time to join archrivals Newcastle United but returned to Wearside in 1995 and helped Sunderland gain promotion to the Premier League. Unable to keep down a place in the years that followed, Bracewell reunited with his former Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan at Fulham in 1997. He retired from playing football in 1999 to take up a Managerial role at Fulham.

International career

In 1985, he earned three England caps.[5]

Managerial career

In September 1997, Bracewell took a similar role with ambitious Division Two club Fulham, working under head coach Ray Wilkins and director of football Kevin Keegan. When Wilkins was dismissed at the end of the season, Keegan took sole charge of the first team and kept Bracewell as his assistant. Keegan accepted the offer to become England national football team manager in March 1999, but remained in charge of the Fulham team until the end of that season, guiding them to the Division Two title with 101 points, before quitting as Fulham manager. Bracewell was promoted to the position of manager, and despite them competing in the top half of Division One throughout the campaign, he was dismissed on 30 March 2000 in favour of the more experienced Jean Tigana, who achieved promotion to the Premier League a year later. He scored once during his spell with Fulham in a 2–0 win against Wycombe Wanderers in September 1998.[6]

In October 2000 he became manager of Halifax Town although his stint there lasted less than a year. He resigned from the club 4 games into the 2001/02 season. During his brief spell in charge he steered to the team to just 11 wins in 41 games, which included a 2–0 home FA cup exit at the hands of non league Gateshead.

Coaching career

In 2013, he was appointed as Development Coach for the Sunderland Under 21s and 18s and helped with the transition between the two. In June 2015, after assisting Dick Advocaat with first team duties at the end of the 2014–15 season, he was appointed First Team Coach at Sunderland,[7] and shortly afterwards was promoted to the role of Assistant Manager.[8] He left his role with Sunderland on 17 June 2017.[9]

Bracewell is currently an elite development coach at Tottenham Hotspur's academy and a consultant for the Grow Football app.[10]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[11]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[lower-alpha 1] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Stoke City 1979–80 First Division 6000000060
1980–81 First Division 402212000443
1981–82 First Division 421102000451
1982–83 First Division 412302000462
Total 12956160001416
Sunderland 1983–84 First Division 384204000444
Everton 1984–85 First Division 372704191574
1985–86 First Division 383604150534
1986–87 First Division 0000000000
1987–88 First Division 0020101040
1988–89 First Division 202601040312
Total 95721010219114510
Sunderland 1989–90 Second Division 372104040462
1990–91 First Division 370103020430
1991–92 Second Division 390802000490
Total 113210090601382
Newcastle United 1992–93 First Division 252400020312
1993–94 Premier League 321103100371
1994–95 Premier League 160301000200
Total 733804120883
Sunderland 1995–96 First Division 380204000440
1996–97 Premier League 380102000410
1997–98 First Division 1000200030
Total 770308000880
Fulham 1997–98 Second Division 360300020410
1998–99 Second Division 261504000351
Total 621804020761
Career total 5872258145329171927

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[12]
National teamYearAppsGoals
England 198530
Total30

Honours

Individual

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Paul Bracewell". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  2. ↑ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
  4. ↑ "MOTD Live: FA Cup Final". The FA Cup. 15 May 2021. 4 minutes in. BBC. BBC One HD.
  5. ↑ "Paul Bracewell". The FA. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  6. ↑ "FULHAM v WYCOMBE Tuesday 29th September 1998". Chairboysonthenet. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  7. ↑ "404". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  8. ↑ "404". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  9. ↑ "Paul Bracewell: Sunderland assistant Bracewell leaves". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  10. ↑ "EVERTON LEGEND BRACEWELL'S FOOTBALL APP VENTURE". Everton FC. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  11. ↑ Paul Bracewell at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  12. ↑ Bracewell, Paul at National-Football-Teams.com
  13. ↑ Hugman, Barry J., ed. (1998). The 1998–99 Official PFA Footballers Factfile. Harpenden: Queen Anne Press. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-85291-588-9.
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