| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paul William Bracewell[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1962-07-19)19 July 1962 (age 62)[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 professionalfootball player and manager.
Bracewell played as amidfielder. He was a member of theEverton side that won the League title in1985 and1987 as well as theEuropean Cup Winner's Cup in 1985. He also played in thePremier League forNewcastle United andSunderland and in theFootball League withStoke City andFulham. He was capped three times byEngland and earned thirteenEngland U21 caps.
Following his retirement, he managedFulham, before being replaced byJean Tigana. He later had a spell in charge ofHalifax Town but following his departure in 2001 he has not returned to management. He has since had several coaching roles at former side, Sunderland.
Bracewell was born inHeswall[1] and started his football career withStoke City progressing through the youth ranks at theVictoria Ground and made his professional debut away atWolverhampton 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 toSunderland for a fee of £250,000 linking up withAlan Durban.[3] He made 141 appearances for Stoke scoring six goals.[3]
Sunderland had an unsuccessful1983–84 season and Durban was sacked by theRoker Park club and new managerLen Ashurst did not believe Bracewell could play for him and so sold him toEverton for £425,000. It was atGoodison Park where Bracewell enjoyed the most successful spell of his career. As part of a midfield that includedPeter Reid,Kevin Sheedy andTrevor Steven, they won the1984–85 Football League and also enjoyed success in Europe when they lifted the1984–85 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 inBobby 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 archrivalsNewcastle United but returned toWearside in 1995 and helped Sunderland gain promotion to thePremier League. Unable to keep down a place in the years that followed, Bracewell reunited with his former Newcastle managerKevin Keegan atFulham in 1997. He retired from playing football in 1999 to take up a Managerial role at Fulham.
In 1985, he earned threeEngland caps.[5]
In September 1997, Bracewell took a similar role with ambitious Division Two club Fulham, working under head coachRay Wilkins and director of footballKevin 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 becomeEngland 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 experiencedJean 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 ofHalifax 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.
In 2013, he was appointed as Development Coach for theSunderland Under 21s and 18s and helped with the transition between the two. In June 2015, after assistingDick Advocaat with first team duties at the end of the 2014–15 season, he was appointed First Team Coach at Sunderland,[citation needed] and shortly afterwards was promoted to the role of Assistant Manager.[citation needed] He left his role with Sunderland on 17 June 2017.[7]
Bracewell is currently an elite development coach atTottenham Hotspur's academy and a consultant for the Grow Football app.[8]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other[a] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Stoke City | 1979–80 | First Division | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 1980–81 | First Division | 40 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 3 | |
| 1981–82 | First Division | 42 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 1 | |
| 1982–83 | First Division | 41 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 2 | |
| Total | 129 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 141 | 6 | ||
| Sunderland | 1983–84 | First Division | 38 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 4 |
| Everton | 1984–85 | First Division | 37 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 57 | 4 |
| 1985–86 | First Division | 38 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 53 | 4 | |
| 1986–87 | First Division | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1987–88 | First Division | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1988–89 | First Division | 20 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 31 | 2 | |
| Total | 95 | 7 | 21 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 145 | 10 | ||
| Sunderland | 1989–90 | Second Division | 37 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 46 | 2 |
| 1990–91 | First Division | 37 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 43 | 0 | |
| 1991–92 | Second Division | 39 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 49 | 0 | |
| Total | 113 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 138 | 2 | ||
| Newcastle United | 1992–93 | First Division | 25 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 31 | 2 |
| 1993–94 | Premier League | 32 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 1 | |
| 1994–95 | Premier League | 16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | |
| Total | 73 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 88 | 3 | ||
| Sunderland | 1995–96 | First Division | 38 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 0 |
| 1996–97 | Premier League | 38 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 0 | |
| 1997–98 | First Division | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 77 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 88 | 0 | ||
| Fulham | 1997–98 | Second Division | 36 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 0 |
| 1998–99 | Second Division | 26 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 1 | |
| Total | 62 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 76 | 1 | ||
| Career total | 587 | 22 | 58 | 1 | 45 | 3 | 29 | 1 | 719 | 27 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1985 | 3 | 0 |
| Total | 3 | 0 | |
Individual
