Gil Merrick

Gil Merrick
Personnel
Surname	Gilbert Harold Merrick
birthday	January 26, 1922
place of birth	Sparkhill ,  England
date of death	February 3, 2010
Place of death	Birmingham ,  England
size	185 cm
position	goalkeeper
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1944-1959	Birmingham City	486 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1951-1954	England	23 (0)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1960-1964	Birmingham City
1 Only league games are given.

Gilbert "Gil" Harold Merrick (born January 26, 1922 in Sparkhill / Birmingham ; † February 3, 2010 ) was an English football goalkeeper and coach . He was active for many years for his club Birmingham City and played a total of 23 international matches for the English national team between 1951 and 1954. He was also in goal for England at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland .

Career as a goalkeeper

Although Merricks heart more for the club in his youth Aston Villa had beaten he was during a game of his former clubs Solihull Town of the talent scout Walter Taylor discovered for Birmingham City, with Solihull Town acted as youth department of Birmingham City.

Merrick signed his first, ten pound weekly, professional contract with what was then the second division in 1939. When the game had to be interrupted due to the outbreak of the Second World War, Merrick still completed 170 games during the war and was after the resumption in 1946 in the championship permanently between the posts. In 1948 Merrick managed to return to the first class with his club, but had to go back to the second division two years later.

The Merrick Grandstand in Birmingham City Stadium

Merrick made his debut on November 14, 1951 at the age of 29 as a second division player after an injury to Bert Williams against Northern Ireland for the English national team and was henceforth a regular goalkeeper. Merrick took part in England's famous two games against Hungary in 1953 and 1954, when England lost 6-3 at home at Wembley and lost 7-1 in the intended revenge in Budapest . His last game for England was the 2-4 defeat against Uruguay in the quarter-finals of the 1954 World Cup. After that, he lost his place again to his predecessor Williams.

In 1955 Merrick succeeded with his club again the promotion to the English elite league. The 1955/56 season developed into the most successful season in Merrick's goalkeeping career, not only because of the very good sixth place in the First Division. In addition, he reached the final of the FA Cup with Birmingham , where he faced Manchester City and their goalkeeper Bert Trautmann . Manchester City won the game 3-1 and Merrick remained without a title. Merrick completed three more seasons for his club until he hung up his goalkeeper gloves after 551 league appearances.

Coaching career

Between 1960 and 1964, Merrick coached Birmingham City. There he was able to lead the club in the championship only to one final place between the 17th and 22nd position, but reached the final in the trade fair cup in 1961 , which his team lost after two games against AS Roma . In addition, his team won the league cup in 1963 . After a 3-1 win at St. Andrew's Stadium at home, a 0-0 win against local rivals Aston Villa was enough at Villa Park . In 1964, Merrick was dismissed due to the barely achieved relegation.

Merrick then looked after the amateur clubs Bromsgrove Rovers and Atherstone United before retiring from football. Most recently Merrick lived in seclusion in Shirley , a suburb of Birmingham.

Professional club stations

• 1939–1959 Birmingham City (as a player)
• 1960–1964 Birmingham City (as a coach)

successes

• English league cup winner: 1963 (as coach)

Web links

• Photo by Gil Merrick