Bracewell was born in Heswall[1] and started his football career with Stoke City progressing through the youth ranks at the Victoria Ground and made his professional debut away at Wolverhampton Wanderers just before his 18th birthday.
[3] He soon became a regular in the first team and went on to complete three full seasons before in June 1983 he moved to Sunderland for a fee of £250,000 linking up with Alan Durban.
[3] Sunderland had an unsuccessful 1983–84 season and Durban was sacked by the Roker Park club and new manager Len Ashurst did not believe Bracewell could play for him and so sold him to Everton for £425,000.
[5] In September 1997, Bracewell took a similar role with ambitious Division Two club Fulham, working under head coach Ray Wilkins and director of football Kevin Keegan.
During his brief spell in charge he steered to the team to just 11 wins in 41 games, which included a 2–0 home FA cup exit at the hands of non league Gateshead.
[9] Bracewell is currently an elite development coach at Tottenham Hotspur's academy and a consultant for the Grow Football app.