I received the following e-mail from Sarah Gould today, regarding the forthcoming memorial service for Gil Merrick. I have a story that one of our members told me that I will be passing on. Either contact Helen – or send it to me via our contact page and I will make sure the club receive it.
Anyway, the e-mail:
As you may be aware we are holding a memorial to commemorate the life of Gil Merrick on the 14th March 2010. I am contacting you to ask if you or any of your members have any memories of Gil that would like to featured during the memorial on the 14th March 2010.
See attached story and if your club would like to be mentioned please e-mail my colleague Helen Tims direct at the following e-mail address. helen.tims@bcfc.com
http://www.bcfc.com/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10412~1981897,00.html
Kind regards
Sarah Gould
I am aware that many of you were very fond of Gil, so I thought I would advertise this.
The club have announced a memorial service for the late great Blues Legend. Taken from the Blues site:
—————————————————————————————–
GIL MERRICK MEMORIAL
To commemorate the life of Gil Merrick, Birmingham City Football Club are holding a memorial service for the fans at St. Andrew’s on Sunday March 14.
The seating will be limited to the Gil Merrick Stand Lower and fans can obtain tickets from Monday March 1 via telephone by calling Helen Tims on 0844 557 1457 or the ticket office front counter. Tickets will be available on a first come, first served basis and will be free to all supporters. Tickets will not be available on the day of the event so please book in advance.
The approximate order of service will be as follows:
11.00am: Arrival
11.10am: Introduction by Tom Ross (Chairman of the Former Players’ Association)
11.20am: Minister’s service and minute’s silence
11.25am: Tributes and readings from fans and former team mates
11.45am: Eulogy by club historian Ivan Barnsley
11.55am: Tribute footage on the big screen
12.05pm: Tribute by Gil’s daughter, Jill Hay
12.10pm: Keep Right On played over the tannoy on exit and there will be books of condolence left in the concourse of the Gil Merrick Stand for fans to write their own tributes to Gil.
Please note entrance to the Gil Merrick Stand will be via the Visitors Car Park and the away turnstiles and car parking will be available on the Kop Car Park and Visitors Car Park.
A collection for the family’s chosen charity will also take place on the day of the memorial.
Get hold of your tickets in advance through the above methods and come along and join us for a celebration of the life of one of Birmingham City’s greatest ever players, who went onto guide the club to its only major silverware as manager.
Original page at BCFC.com
I haven’t done one for a couple of days, so here is a few stories relating to the Blues that have been in the press the last 24 hours.
Kevin Phillips will keep his options open about where he plays according to SSN.
Tom Ross added his thoughts about the late Gil Merrick. Mail.net.
The club are hosting a fund raiser for the Haiti appeal. Mail.net.
Barry Ferguson’s International come back, may not be easy according to Alex McLeish in an interview with the Daily Mail online.
Yesterday I did an article on our previous board. J&S.
Today I did an article about financial difficulties. J&S.
The news today is dominated by the sad passing of Gil Merrick. Our own tribute can be found here
In other news The Birmingham Mail is reporting how Alex McLeish believes that the squad still has the necessary depth despite our lack of activity in January.
The same source is also reporting that McLeish is planning to go try again to sign Roman Pavlyuchenko and Kris Boyd. I expect this story to go on for months.
Away from transfers there are a lot of articles about the upcoming derby game with Wolves. The Express and Star carries an article in which Mick McCarthy admits that the pressure is all on then for Sunday which is not something you hear very often.
Vital Football has an interview with Wolves defender Kevin Foley who admits that it will be a tough game for them but they need to bounce back after their midweek cup defeat to Palace.
You’ll be able to read the J&S preview of this game tomorrow.
Yesterday, it was announced that Gil Merrick died on the 3rd of February 2010 aged 88. Sometimes the word legend is over or misused, but not here. Gil was DEFINITELY a legend.
He played for the club as a goalkeeper and went on to manage the side achieving the success of winning the league cup against some other local club. More of that in a while, back to the beginning.
Gil was a Brummy lad, born January 26th 1922 in Sparkhill. He signed for Blues in 1939 and played for the club over 500 times in all competitions. He set an amazing statistic of playing 126 league games in a row for the club, (between 1949-1952). During this time he also played in all the FA cup games and that included an FA cup semi-final, (his second). At the end of this amazing run, Gil was injured and lost his place to Johnny Schofield.
Gil was regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the country during the early fifties, so it wasn’t surprising that in 1951, Gil won his 1st of 23 caps when he was picked to played for England. He played in the 1954 World Cup when England made it to the quarter finals.
In 1955/56 he had re-established himself as first choice. This was an amazing season for Blues, not only did they finish 6th in the top division – still our best finish – but Gil achieved 1 step further in the FA cup as runners up to Manchester City. The following season, Gil and the side achieved ANOTHER semi-final appearance.
Gil Merrick
Towards the end of his career, Gil also played his part in the Blues European games in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. During the 1956-1958 competition, Blues got through to the Semi-finals only to be beaten by Barcelona. He also played during the 1958-1960 competition. This time Blues made it to the final, but Gil lost his place after the final and only played 1 game the following season. He retired from club football in 1960, however his association with the Blues hadn’t finished.
He became the manager of Blues in 1960. The Blues entered the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup again, and Gil lead the team to another final. Once again, however, we were beaten again this time by Roma. He did lead the side to victory in the San-Siro and Blues were the only English club to win there for 40 years.
He main achievement was winning the recently formed League Cup, (then a two legged final), when we beat Villa over 2 legs 3-1 on aggregate.
After a couple of bad seasons in the league, Gil left his post as manager in 1964. He went on the manage a couple of local non-league sides but never another professional club. The only club he was ever associated with, was the Blues.
The club recently re-named the Railway end after him and he also unvieled the new Jeff Hall Memorial clock. Gil was also named in the Legends XI for the Blues Hall of Fame.
Just a little something that Aff posted on the forum:
Always remember a story told to me by a work colleague. She was best friends with one of Gil’s daughters. One day, she was invited around to Gil’s for dinner. During dinner, she asked Gil what he did for a living. He calmly replied that he was manager of Birmingham City FC – and left it at that.
And it’s a story that you hear over and over about the man. He seemed to have no ego and was a gentleman in every sense of the word.
So what can we say about a man who appeared in 3 FA Cup semi-finals and 1 final, who played / managed the club in a semi final and 2 finals of the Inter Cities Fairs Cup, won a domestic trophy and played for England for 23 times including a World Cup, and played and managed only one club and clearly was a gentleman - obviously one word. LEGEND.
RIP Gil.
Please feel free to add your comments / memories about Gil.
Image used by permission John Baker ©
Loading ...
