Career
He played mainly as an outside right. Birch made his debut for Bolton at the age of 16 in the autumn of 1954 but did not make the regular first team until the 1957-1958 season. He remained a regular up to the 1961-1962 season but was pushed out of the team by the arrival of Brian Pilkington.
Staying on the fringes for three more years he finally made the short journey across Lancashire to Rochdale, where he remained for three more years before moving into non-league football.
Birch was a schoolboy international, and was capped by England at youth level Birch is the grandfather of Canadian football player Will Johnson.