Crowd have a key role in Birmingham's Carling Cup semi-final ways former player Jerry Gill

Jan 23 2011 by Brian Halford, Sunday Mercury

JERRY Gill is backing Blues supporters to generate enough good vibrations, quite literally, next Wednesday to help power their team into the League Cup final – just as they did in 2001.

Alex McLeish’s side will take on West Ham needing to turn round a one-goal first-leg deficit at St Andrew’s, the same situation that Gill and the rest of Trevor Francis’s men faced against Ipswich ten years ago.

Back then, Blues did the necessary in spectacular fashion.

They roared to a 4-1 extra-time victory (to win 4-2 on aggregate) over the then Premiership visitors, roared on by an exuberent crowd.

And right-back Gill, now youth coach at League One side Bristol Rovers but still a fervent Bluenose, vividly recalls the pivotal role played by the crowd on that memorable night.

“The place was rocking,” he said. “I remember as we walked up the tunnel on the way to the pitch the ground was literally shaking.

“You can’t over-state the effect that support like that has.

“St Andrew’s will be at it’s most intimidating on Wednesday, just as it was for our game against Ipswich.

“Of course you need the players to go out there and perform individually and collectively on the night – but to have that sort of support behind you gives you an unbelievable lift.

“I was lucky enough to always have a great rapport with the Blues fans. They are working-class, just like I am, and I think they appreciated that I had worked my way up the hard way from non-league.

“They knew I was a wholehearted player and to hear them singing my name was a fantastic feeling.

“I’ll be there among them on Wednesday and I think the lads will do it and reach the final.

“There is a similar ethos to the squad now to the one we had ten years ago.

“We all worked really hard for each other, just like the current team does and I am sure Alex McLeish will send them out organised and determined to finish the job.

“It’s a similar situation to the one we were in, with a one-goal deficit to turn round, and that’s not a bad position to be in when you factor in the fans.”