Brian Birch Football player
Brian Birch, (born 9 April 1938 in Manchester), is a retired English footballer who played for the majority of his career at Bolton Wanderers. He played mostly as a winger. Birch made his debut for Bolton at the age of 16 in the autumn of 1954 but did not make the regular first team until the 1957-58 season. He was an ever present in Bolton's victorious FA Cup run. He remained a regular up to the 1961-62 season but was pushed out of the team by the arrival of Brian Pilkington. Staying on the fringes for three more years he finally made the short journey across Lancashire to Rochdale, where he remained for three more years before moving into non-league football. Birch's grandson, Will Johnson, is currently a player for Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer.