Michael Branch

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Personal information
Michael Branch
Full name	Paul Michael Branch
Date of birth	18 October 1978 (1978-10-18) (age 29)
Place of birth	Liverpool, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Striker
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995–2000 1998 1999 1999–2000 2000–2003 2002 2002–2003 2003–2004 2004–2006 2007	Everton → Manchester City (loan) → Birmingham City (loan) → Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan) Wolverhampton Wanderers → Reading (loan) → Hull City (loan) Bradford City Chester City Halifax Town	41 0(3) 04 0(0) 00 0(0) 09 0(4) 62 0(6) 02 0(0) 07 0(3) 33 0(6) 60 (16) 00 0(0)
National team
	England U21	01 0(?)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1/12/2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Paul Michael Branch (born 18 October 1978 in Liverpool) is an unattached English professional footballer. His position is striker and his most recent club was Halifax Town.

[edit] Playing career

Branch started his career with the Everton academy, before making his senior debut on 22 February 1996 as a substitute at Manchester United. 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 Manchester City, 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.^[1]

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. 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 Bradford City 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 club, where he was taken off the transfer list in July 2006 after appearing to patch up his differences with manager Mark Wright. But after failing to regain his place in the team, he left the club in October 2006.

Over the next 12 months it was rumoured that Branch had given up football and worked in property development, although he spent time on trial with Milton Keynes Dons ahead of the 2007–08 season. He finally returned to football in 26 October 2007, joining Halifax Town on a month-to-month contract, but his spell was to be short-lived.^[2]