Born: Heswell, 19 July 1962
Position: Central midfielder
International caps: 3
International goals: 0
Signed: 10 October 1997 from Sunderland (£75,000)
Fulham debut: Fulham 1-0 Blackpool, 11 October 1997
Fulham appearances: 78
Fulham goals: 0
MANAGERIAL CAREER
Appointed: 14 May 1999
First game: Birmingham City 2-2 Fulham, 7 August 1999
Played: 50
Won: 22 (44%)
Drawn: 16
Lost: 12
Last game: Ipswich Town 1-0 Fulham, 25 March 2000
Sacked: 29 March 2000
Paul Bracewell followed his former Newcastle manager, Kevin Keegan, to Fulham and became a player-coach at Craven Cottage just three weeks after Micky Adams had been sacked by Mohamed Al-Fayed and the club’s new chief operating officer had installed Ray Wilkins as the new manager. Bracewell, who became a player-coach, soon succeeded Simon Morgan as skipper and slotted into a defensive midfield role but by the end of the campaign, Keegan was in the dug-out as Fulham were beaten in a bad-tempered play-off semi-final at Grimsby Town.
Bracewell played 65 games for the Whites before replacing Keegan as Al-Fayed promoted from within when his manager went back on his pledge to honour his contract with the Cottagers to take England to Euro 2000. Bracewell’s first managerial reign was full of safety first football and he was eventually sacked after Fulham had lost at Ipswich Town in March 2000 to leave them a long way short of the promotion push Al-Fayed demanded.
