FOOTBALLERS have such an easy life. All those afternoons off, a handsome salary for doing something they love and all the acclaim and fame that goes with being a top sportsman.

Try telling that to Graham Branch!

Sometimes it's not all a bed of roses and down the years the livewire Liverpudlian has had to fight with every nerve and sinew to be accepted, stand his ground in the face of adversity and win over his fiercest critics - the supporters.

But the biggest battle Branch has won by far is with his own inner demons.

Confidence can never be underestimated. When it's coursing through the veins it allows you to feel you can achieve almost anything. That nothing is impossible.

However, when shattered it's easy to crumble and it can require extreme measures to piece you back together again.

And perhaps Branch knows that more than anybody.

"It would have been nice doing my YTS and easing myself into the professional game, but I was thrown straight in at the deep end at 19 and it was a hard learning curve at Tranmere," insisted Branch, who was spotted late in his teens playing for Wirral outfit Heswall in the West Cheshire League.

"I found the first three years very tough, especially in the first team. I used to do okay in the reserves, but I had a real problem with my confidence in the first team and I ended up playing as many games there as substitute as I started.

"I turned into a total wreck and it got so bad that my nerves began jangling on a Wednesday, three days before a game.

"It got so bad that I nearly packed it all in and eventually, the Tranmere manager at the time, John King, sent me to a sports psychiatrist to try to get my head sorted.

"It was such a massive problem and only a select few people in the Tranmere hierarchy ever knew about it.

"The doctor delved deeply into my personal life and what he felt might be going wrong and in the end he did help me, but it was quite a low process and ultimately, I knew I had to solve the problem myself."

Branch was as good as his word, digging deep and taking action in the most decisive way by standing up to renowned Rovers hard man Kenny Irons.

"It even used to affect my training because you have to become one of the lads," explained Branch. "Scousers are quite harsh anyway and if you can't handle stick you might as well not be a footballer.

"One day, Kenny gave me a bit of a kick and I just snapped at him. He was looking for a fight but I stood my ground and after that, he never gave me any more stick.

"From there, I got a bit of confidence back and began to stick up for myself more and become one of the boys."

Such a fragile trait is hard to totally eliminate, however, and it still lurks beneath the calm exterior of a player who has regularly divided the Burnley support since his arrival on New Year's Day 1999.

Several seasons ago, Branch revealed exclusively to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph that he almost quit Turf Moor because of a small section of supporters who regularly targeted him for abuse.

Support from his family, including father Colin and uncle Maxi, a full back who once played for Liverpool reserves, has remained a towering pillar of strength.

But support can only go so far and Branch continues to exorcise his ghosts in the only way he knows how - by fighting back!

"I've always had things affect me, even at Burnley," he revealed. "I have the best job in the world and yet I was always letting people dictate to me how I feel and how I should be playing.

"I would go into a first team and do two runs and that was me finished because I had wasted so much energy through being nervous.

"I was utterly exhausted, my game suffered and people would get on my back. I used to get hammered for not being able to transfer my reserve team form into the first team.

"I ended up taking the criticism to heart and worrying about what I'd heard all week. It was a vicious circle that snowballed until, one day, I thought I have to sort this out.

"I remember getting some particularly bad stick one weekend after things had been simmering for a while. On the Monday, I asked the gaffer (Ternent) for a word and he knew straight away what it was about.

"He said I could either go somewhere else, or get the fans back on my side as he knew I was capable of doing.

"I was close to going and part of me really wanted to, but I thought **** it. I am not going to let these people affect my job."

Branch, who signed a new one-year deal this summer, added: "People say I think too much and they are probably right. I've let them affect me far too much.

"Some think I sometimes don't give a toss and that's possibly why I've had some of the abuse I've had.

"I've been told I'm lazy, but I put that down to my laid back nature on the pitch and that's just the way I am. It just gets misconstrued.

"In the end, if you want to get anywhere in life, you have to be strong and it took me a long time to realise that.

"We are in a hard game where some fans think they can do better, but they are paying your wage, so they are entitled to their opinion.

"In the past I've been quite critical, but now I know you can't do that or else they will turn on you.

"I feel stronger than I've ever been now and I take any stick I get at face value because I know what I can do!"