Trevor Birch is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 executive and former football player, currently serving as Chief Executive at Sheffield United.

Birch started out as a footballer and was on the books of Liverpool

Liverpool F.C.

Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...

 - he was the last player signed by Bill Shankly

Bill Shankly

William "Bill" Shankly, OBE was a Scottish football player and manager, most noted for managing Liverpool between 1959 and 1974. One of Britain's most successful and respected football managers, Shankly was also a fine player whose career was interrupted by the Second World War...

 - but only played for the reserves and by 1979 had left the club altogether. He also had brief spells with Shrewsbury Town

Shrewsbury Town F.C.

Shrewsbury Town Football Club is an English Association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1886 and has played in all the bottom three divisions in various guises since being elected into the Football...

 and Chester City

Chester City F.C.

Chester City Football Club was an English football team from Chester. The club was founded as Chester F.C., and joined the Football League in 1931, spending most of their time in the lower divisions. They changed their name to Chester City in 1983. Chester won their first league title in 2004, the...

, after which he retired from playing professionally and became a chartered accountant

Chartered Accountant

Chartered Accountants were the first accountants to form a professional body, initially established in Britain in 1854. The Edinburgh Society of Accountants , the Glasgow Institute of Accountants and Actuaries and the Aberdeen Society of Accountants were each granted a royal charter almost from...

, playing non-league football with clubs including Marine

Marine F.C.

Marine Football Club is an English football club in Crosby, Merseyside. The club, which was founded in 1894, is a member of both the Liverpool County and Lancashire County Football Associations, and currently plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.Marine is notable for having the...

, Runcorn, Northwich Victoria

Northwich Victoria F.C.

Northwich Victoria Football Club are an English football club who play at the Victoria Stadium in Wincham, Northwich, Cheshire in the Northern Premier League Premier Division, the seventh tier of the English football league system.Northwich are an old club, founded in 1874 and named in honour of...

  and Skelmersdale United

Skelmersdale United F.C.

Skelmersdale United F.C. are a football club from Skelmersdale, West Lancashire competing in the Northern Premier League Division One North. The club is a member of both the Liverpool F.A. and the Lancashire County Football Association.-The first 75 years:...

. Birch failed to score a league goal in his season with Chester but did find the net in the FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 against Barnsley

Barnsley F.C.

Barnsley Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Nicknamed the Tykes, they were founded in 1887 under the name Barnsley St. Peter's...

.

Specialising in insolvency, Birch became chief executive of Chelsea

Chelsea F.C.

Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...

, a club with a debt burden of around £80m, in February 2002, and attempted to restructure their finances. He also helped put together the £140m Roman Abramovich

Roman Abramovich

Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich is a Russian businessman and the main owner of the private investment company Millhouse LLC.In 2003, Abramovich was named Person of the Year by Expert, a Russian business magazine. He shared this title with Mikhail Khodorkovsky...

 takeover during June and July 2003. The takeover wiped out most of the club's debts, making Birch's role no longer necessary, and he was replaced by Peter Kenyon

Peter Kenyon

Peter Kenyon is a British businessman who has served as the chief executive of English Premier League clubs Manchester United Football Club and Chelsea Football Club, where he has been involved in contentious transfer dealings.-Early life:Kenyon was educated in Tameside at West Hill...

. Birch was offered another role, but instead resigned.

In October 2003, Birch was appointed chief executive of Leeds United

Leeds United A.F.C.

Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...

, another club with high debts, and was briefly chairman following Professor John McKenzie's resignation. He helped the club avoid administration, and oversaw the takeover of Leeds by Gerald Krasner

Gerald Krasner

Gerald Krasner FCA, FABCA was a partner in Bartfields, a corporate recovery firm based in the United Kingdom. He is a former chairman of the West Yorkshire football club Leeds United A.F.C....

's consortium, before moving on to Everton

Everton F.C.

Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...

 in June 2004 to become their chief executive. Birch was given the task of overhauling the Merseyside

Merseyside

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

 club's finances, but resigned just six weeks later.

In June 2007 he became Chief Executive Officer of Derby County

Derby County F.C.

Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...

, replacing Mike Horton's previous role as managing director. Horton remained on the board as vice chairman.

In October 2007 Birch left Derby County. He was lined up to be the new Southampton

Southampton F.C.

Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

 Chairman heading the new regime if the proposed takeover from Daniel Williams had materialised.

On the 20th November 2009, Sheffield United announced Birch as their new Chief Executive, replacing Terry Robinson.