Paul Bracewell

[roydo]

Where have I said he was our stand-out player ? What I was intimating at , was the fact that he was one of those players who go unnoticed by other teams fans. For example, think of Barcelona....Who's name comes to your head ?

Spot on mate. Great example re Barca as well. Willing to bet a few bob that only footie anoraks of other clubs could even name Bracewell as a member of those teams, but those who know, know the truth. As I have said before, IMO, THE most under rated player in my lifetime. (Mrs R still refuses to let me name our imminent new dog Bracey/Bracewell though. Cow!)

 

[AndyGray]

Anyone who saw Brace gives him full credit - plus he had a boss 80's haircut !

 

[bcblue1878]

Where have I said he was our stand-out player ? What I was intimating at , was the fact that he was one of those players who go unnoticed by other teams fans. For example, think of Barcelona....Who's name comes to your head ?

Apologies must have misunderstood what you meant! Would agree that Bracewell was a stand out player for us who never really got the recognition his consistently good performances deserved, but did off Evertonians who watched him week in week out! Osman meanwhile often is un-noticed by other fans because most of the time he's very average at best!

 

[Blue 1]

He was a cracking player. One of the cornerstones of that team IMO.

 

[chicoazul]

Anyone who saw Brace gives him full credit - plus he had a boss 80's haircut !

I pictured his hair like this. Which was the same as loads of lads on the estate. Before gel was invented about two years later.

 

[chrissyjack]

Apologies must have misunderstood what you meant! Would agree that Bracewell was a stand out player for us who never really got the recognition his consistently good performances deserved, but did off Evertonians who watched him week in week out! Osman meanwhile often is un-noticed by other fans because most of the time he's very average at best!

No worries, mate. I can understand people mis-reading it due to way I worded it tbh

 

[thebluefox]

brace was more like a german footballer than an english footballer ,he dun everything right without any fuss

 

[CrustySack]

brace was more like a german footballer than an english footballer ,he dun everything right without any fuss

Very true. Another great attribute to his game was composure and positional intelligence. To explain this a bit better, he had this individual technique/move that he performed. Now Brace was always one of those players who always appeared to have time and space which was down to his positional play. When he received the ball on the deck, he would stop it dead with his instep, almost as if he had treacle on his boot, and just before the nearest opposition player was near enough, he would shift his entire body direction, with the ball stuck to his boot, and move into space, leaving the opposition player nowhere near him.

Those of you who seen him regular will know what I'm talking about.

 

[sussex blue]

I remember his getting his first England cap (he may well have ended up with only one). He came on as sub and Gary Stevens and Reidy, who were both already playing, ran over from wherever they had been standing to shake hiis hand. Nice touch.

He seemed to be a little in the shadow of the other three of that midfield quartet (Reid, Steven & Sheedy), all of whom were established internationals. A bit like Kendall I suppose - appreciated by Blues but not so much by others.

 

[Steam Engine]

New Years Day 86 wasn't it? The one where we had the home fans scaling the fence to get at us while the police just looked on.

 

[The Esk]

was looking for some footage of "Brace" came across this review of 84-85, sometimes difficult to remember just how good those times were!


[video=youtube;mDhPJ2aSC4Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDhPJ2aSC4Y[/video]