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Gil Merrick |
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Gil Merrick was with the Blues for almost 25 years, as a player from 1939 to 1960 and as a manager for four years after that .When he announced his retirement from playing he was appointed manager in succession to Pat Beasley and almost immediately saw Birmingham City lose to Barcelona in the second leg of the Inter-City Fairs Cup Final is Spain. Merrick, along with Blues' trainer Ken Fish, remained at the Barcelona club to make intensive studies of Spanish fottball methods and organization. When he returned to England before the 1960-61 season, he bought with him the former Spanish international, Emilio Aldecoa, as coach, and also sought advice from 'Laddie' Kubala, the great Hungarian inside-forward. The Blues' performances improved slightly but, at the end of his first season as boss, blues finished 19th. At the start of the 1961-62 season, he watched his team lose the Fairs Cup Final against AS Roma (a competition that was carried over from the previous season) and witnessed a 5-3 aggregate defeat at the hands of RCD Espanol in the 1961-62 competition. In 1960-61, Merrick has signed three Jimmys - Bloomfield, Harris and Singer - from Arsenal, Everton and Newport County respectively. He added Bertie Auld to the side at the end of his first season and, in 1961-62, went for the experience of full-back Stan Lynn from Aston Villa and Ken Leek from Newcastle, as well as trying out a handful of youngsters. Yet the Blues still struggled in 17th position. Birmingham were fortunate to escape relegation in 1962-63, although they won their first-ever major trophy that season, beating Aston Villa 3-1 in the two-legged Football League Cup Final. Merrick lasted only one more season before resigning as the Blues again struggled in the First Division and went out of the FA Cup to lowly Port Vale, while Norwich City knocked them out of the League Cup. Merrick had fought a losing battle at St.Andrews. He became manager of Bromsgrove Rovers and then Atherstone Town before becoming a personnel manager for a Midlands sales firm before retiring to Shirley. | |
| Managerial Career | |||||||
| Competition | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | For | Against | Perf % |
| League | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx.x% |
| FA Cup | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx.x% |
| League Cup | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx.x% |
| Other | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx.x% |