Gerard Daniel Brannan (born 15 January 1972) is an English football manager and former player. He is the assistant manager of

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

. As a player he was a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

who notably played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

, as well as in the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

for

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

. He also played professionally for

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. He also played non-league football for

Radcliffe Borough Radcliffe Football Club (formerly Radcliffe Borough) is an English football club based in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, where they play their home games at Stainton Park. The club was formed on 24 May 1949 and currently plays in the National L ...

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

Vauxhall Motors Vauxhall Motors Limited , ;Company No. 00135767. Incorporated 12 May 1914, name changed from Vauxhall Motors Limited to General Motors UK Limited on 16 April 2008, reverted to Vauxhall Motors Limited on 18 September 2017. is a British Automoti ...

and

Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of West Lancashire, Lancashire, England. The town is located approximately north-northeast of Liverpool and southwest of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. Its north ...

Club career

Brannan had a well-travelled career, beginning at

, before a £750,000 transfer to

in March 1997. Mostly used as a squad player at Manchester City, he was loaned to

between August and October 1998, scoring once against Sheffield United, and was then sold to

for £375,000 in October 1998, thus terminating his spell at Norwich. Brannan moved onto

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

in February 2001, where he remained until November 2003, scoring once against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in the League Cup. Whilst at Wigan he had short loan spells at

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries. The earliest ...

and

. A free transfer to

in November 2003 was next on the agenda, where he spent two seasons. After leaving Stanley, Ged spent a short period playing for

before signing for

in November 2005, making his debut against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

. Shortly before the match, Morecambe manager

Jim Harvey James Harvey (born 2 May 1958) is a Northern Irish football manager and former player. Playing career As a player, Harvey began his career at Glenavon in his hometown of Lurgan, before joining Arsenal in 1977. He made only three Football Leag ...

suffered a heart attack. Morecambe lost the first match 1–0. Signed by Harvey as a midfielder, Brannan was soon dropped by caretaker manager

Sammy McIlroy Samuel Baxter McIlroy (born 2 August 1954) is a Northern Irish retired footballer who played for Manchester United, Stoke City, Manchester City, Örgryte (Sweden), Bury, VfB Mödling (Austria), Preston North End and the Northern Ireland na ...

, but eventually made the right back position his own, after filling in for an injury and putting in several impressive performances. He scored his first and what turned out to be only goal for Morecambe in a 2–2 draw with

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. Brannan saw himself out of the team again at the start of the 2006–07 season, as

Adam Yates Adam Richard Yates (born 7 August 1992) is a British professional road and track racing cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Yates placed fourth overall at the 2016 Tour de France and became the first British rider to win the Young rider clas ...

was brought to Morecambe to play at right-back. Brannan filled in central defence during the absence of club captain

Jim Bentley James Graham Bentley (born 11 June 1976) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre back. He was most recently the first team manager at Southport F.C. Playing career Bentley debuted for Telford Unite ...

through injury and made several appearances in midfield. In December 2006, it was announced Brannan would be moving to

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

to take the assistant manager position, as club manager

Paul Cook Paul Thomas Cook (born 20 July 1956) is an English musician, best known as the drummer and a founding member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is nicknamed "Cookie" by friends in the punk music scene. Early life and career Cook was ...

was a personal friend. However, Cook was sacked from Southport before the move could take place in the January transfer window, and subsequently Brannan decided to stay with Morecambe. His Morecambe squad number for the 2006–07 season was 12. Morecambe's triumph presented Brannan with the accolade of becoming the first player to win promotion at both the old and new Wembley. On 2 November 2007 Brannan came out of retirement and signed for

and made his debut the next day at Rivacre Park in their home game against

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English Association football, football club based in Worcester, England, Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Southern Football League Premier Division Central, the seventh tier of English football. ...

. He finished his career with

International career

Brannan received a call up by the Cayman Islands national team due to a loophole in the regulations, on 29 February 2000 along with several other league players including

Barry Hayles Barrington Edward Hayles (born 17 May 1972) is a association football, footballer and coach who played as a striker (association football), striker. He began his career in non-League football with Willesden Hawkeye, before playing for Stevenage ...

and Wayne Collins, at the time both at

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. Brannan accepted the call up, however FIFA blocked the call-up.

Coaching career

Brannan was the under-23s manager at

. In September 2023, Brannan joined the coaching staff at Morecambe. After the departure of manager

Derek Adams Derek Watt Adams (born 25 June 1975) is a Scottish football manager and former player who is the manager of National League football club Morecambe. Adams became manager of Ross County in 2007, winning promotion from the Scottish Second Divisio ...

in November, Brannan was appointed caretaker manager, along with John McMahon. Brannan was subsequently appointed as first team manager on 27 November 2023, signing an 18-month contract. With financial issues at the club mounting, Brannan departed the club at the end of the 2023–24 season, returning to Accrington Stanley as assistant manager.

Managerial statistics

*Brannan was caretaker until 27 November 2023 when he was appointed permanently.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brannan, Ged Morecambe F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Radcliffe F.C. players Vauxhall Motors F.C. players Burscough F.C. players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Living people 1972 births Men's association football midfielders English men's footballers Accrington Stanley F.C. non-playing staff Morecambe F.C. non-playing staff English football managers Morecambe F.C. managers English Football League managers Footballers from Liverpool