5'10" 11st.5lb.

b. Barton 3 July 1955

Debut 27 October 1979 (24y 116d) Final Game 11 April 1987 (31y 282d)

First Goal 5 February 1980 Final Goal 7 February 1987

CAREER: De La Salle School;Cadishead FC;Oldham Athletic Jul'73 (ass sch Nov'71)[24+3];Cape Town City (South Africa) May'77;Huddersfield Town Nov'77[37+1];Blackburn Rovers Oct'79 (£20,000);Preston North End Jul'87 (free)[3];York City Sep'87-Dec'88[40+2-1];Chorley -May'89.

HONOURS FMC win (Blackburn Rovers) ’87.

FL       290 + 4 apps   5 gls      - 4 wdn                                                 5 ns

FAC     20 apps                        - 1 wdn

FLC      18 apps                                                                                        2 ns

FMC     5 apps                         - 1 wdn                                                  1 ns

Total 333  + 4 apps  5 gls     - 6 wdn   + 145m -173m et 60m        8 ns

ASC      1 app

LC        15 apps                   - 1 wdn   - 1m                                              3 ns

The son of the Manchester City full back Ken Branagan, he struggled during the early part of his career and even took the route of playing in South Africa to try and make a career. Signed by Howard Kendall to play left back he proved emphatically that he could not play on his wrong side but when switched with Mike Rathbone he was a revelation. A true hard man who never took a backward step, rock solid in the tackle and a born competitor he allied great intelligence to his conviction. Occasionally opponents ghosted past him but they seldom did it twice in the same game and if they did the fear factor multiplied because Branagan was never a man to surrender. An on-field leader it was no surprise that he was appointed club captain. When he finished playing professionally he worked in insurance and financial services in Salford and was still playing parks football when he had turned forty. After 23 years in the insurance industry he was made redundant and started working part-time at the Tesco store in Pendleton.