Trevor Birch

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Trevor Birch
Personal information
Date of birth	1958
Place of birth	Liverpool, England
Playing position	Midfield
Youth clubs
1974-79	Liverpool
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1979-80 1980-81	Shrewsbury Town Chester City	25 (4) 31 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Trevor Birch (born 1958) is an English football executive and former football player. He has principally been involved with clubs undergoing financial difficulties.

Birch started out as a footballer and was on the books of Liverpool - he was the last player signed by Bill Shankly^[1] - but only played for the reserves and by 1979 had left the club altogether. He also had brief spells with Shrewsbury Town and Chester City, after which he retired and became a chartered accountant.

Specialising in insolvency, Birch became chief executive of Chelsea, a club with a debt burden of around £80m, in February 2002, and attempted to restructure their finances. He also helped put together the £140m Roman Abramovich takeover during June and July of 2003.^[2] The takeover wiped out most of the club's debts, making Birch's role no longer necessary, and he was replaced by Peter Kenyon. Birch was offered another role, but instead resigned.^[3]

In October 2003, Birch was appointed chief executive of Leeds United, another club with high debts, and was briefly chairman following Professor John McKenzie's resignation. He helped the club avoid administration, and oversaw the takeover of Leeds by Gerald Krasner's consortium, before moving on to Everton in June 2004 to become their chief executive. Birch was given the task of overhauling the Merseyside club's finances, but resigned just six weeks later.^[4]

[edit] Notes

Sporting positions
Preceded by John McKenzie	Leeds United chairman 2003-2004	Succeeded by Gerald Krasner