Gill pleased to come full circle at helm of Romans
It was 25 years ago this week that Jerry Gill appeared to have left Bath City for good.
His 218th and final outing as a player was in a 3-1 defeat at Telford United on 4 May 1996. Regardless of manager Tony Ricketts’ efforts to keep the full-back at Twerton Park, he opted for pastures new, electing to join arch-rivals Yeovil Town in the Isthmian League.
Despite dropping a rung in the non-league ladder, Gill worked his way towards the top. His journey took in the highs of playing at Anfield, to the debilitating low of nearly losing his sight at the tail end of his career.
Before all that, the Clevedonborn defender’s move to the Glovers had been instigated in January 1996, when the sides were paired in the FA Trophy.
“Graham Roberts [then-yeovil player manager] tapped me up during the game,” Gill laughed. “I don’t think that sort of thing goes on anymore.
“Financially things were tough at Bath. Rikko [Tony Ricketts] had a really small budget. He invited me to his house in Bristol and said he’d make me the highest paid player in our history.
“I went into that Telford game knowing it would be my last. It was time for me to go. Graham sold the club to me but it wasn’t financial. It was more around my career.”
Gill was joined at Huish Park by long-serving Roman Rob Cousins, who ended his 328 appearances stretch with Bath which lasted seven years.
“We’d spoken about it,” said Gill. “It was great to have a familiar face alongside a lot of London-based players. I ended up based there too because my job, a sales rep for golf
course equipment, was moved to Ascot.
“People forget I was dropping down a level. I still believed I was going to be a professional football player.
“We turned up at every game knowing we would win. We had an air of arrogance about us. My confidence was sky high.”
A return of 16 goals in the 1996/97 season, two more than his five-year Bath City career, attracted the attention of Trevor Francis, manager of Birmingham City.
He was invited for three trial matches with the Blues early in 1997. A meeting with Manchester
United saw him come face-to-face with the Neville brothers with Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday the other opponents. Gill impressed enough to sign with the Division One (now Championship) side at the end of the season.
“The games couldn’t have gone any better,” said Gill. “I played in midfield but they wanted to move me to right-back.
“There was no-one fitter than me. I scored most of my goals from an hour onwards for Yeovil. I was that arrogant and cocky that I was turning around central midfielders and telling them ‘I’m going again.’
“I signed my contract at Trevor Francis’ house, a mansion of a place. I had a kick-around with his two boys, James and Matthew. It felt like I was still on trial.
“When I joined I had questions in my head to whether I had the ability to play at that level. It took me a good six to nine months to get up to speed. There some phenomenal players like Anders Limpar, the level was ridiculous.”
It took until April 1998 for 27-year-old Gill to make his Birmingham bow. He was placed in a back four alongside Steve Bruce, then nearing the end of his illustrious career. The current Newcastle boss took over from Francis in December 2001 and Gill still holds him in high regard.
“Brucey probably wasn’t as athletic then as he was in his Man United days,” said Gill. “But he was a fantastic reader of the game.
“He pulled me aside before my debut and wished me all the best.
He then said I’d be in trouble if I left his side during the game because he couldn’t run any more. I did his running for him.
“When he came in as manager I was 31, I knew I was getting too old to play in the Premier League and we were going for promotion to it, we’d lost in the play-offs three years running.”
Gill never did appear in the top flight, but realised a dream by playing at Anfield in January 2002, home of his beloved Liverpool, in an FA Cup tie. It turned out to be the last of his 76 appearances for Birmingham.
“Nicholas Anelka and Michael Owen were up top,” recalls Gill. “Steven Gerrard was also playing. There were 43,000 there, 5,000 from Birmingham including my dad and brother. It was one of those days I’ll never forget.
“Even though we lost I’m so proud that I played there. It’s the best feeling in the world that my two boys can look back at those memories too.
“I think Steve played me in that game at Liverpool to thank me for my services to Birmingham.
“I saw him in Marbella a couple of years ago, we shared a glass of wine. I chatted to him for 20 minutes about managing Bath. He’s someone I really respect in the game, he’s an unbelievable guy.
“I agreed to join Northampton permanently after leaving Birmingham but then I snapped my cruciate just before I signed my contract,
so people thought I was done.
“Steve Bruce phoned and said to use their surgeon and do their rehab with them. If I didn’t do that I probably wouldn’t have played any more league games.”
Gill moved to Cheltenham in February 2004 where he used his sales patter to obtain 35 suits freeof-charge for a play-off final success over Grimsby in 2006. They survived three years in League One, completing a league double over Leeds United in 2007/08, before Martin Allen’s appointment spelled the end of nearly five years with the Gloucestershire side.
“I had some amazing times at Cheltenham,” Gill mused. “I was still feeling fit but Martin left me out of the squad, then told me I’d be his number two despite us not having a conversation.
“It just didn’t work out. I knew when my last game was so waved to the fans but they didn’t understand. I couldn’t say anything because Martin didn’t want me to. He knew what the reaction would be like because I was well respected.”
After knowledge of coaching at Birmingham City with their under15s, Gill was thrown into a similar role at Forest Green by manager Jim Harvey, where he remained for the rest of the 2008/09 campaign.
His career, and life, took a drastic turn for the worst in March 2009 in a home fixture with Oxford United.
“Chris Carruthers, who I played alongside at Northampton, knocked me off balance and I was heading towards a steel barrier,” said Gill.
“I suffered a triple fracture to my cheekbone and eye socket. I ran back on the pitch but I felt nauseous, couldn’t see anything.
“It was a traumatic time in my life. I had an operation from Phil Earl, a fantastic surgeon. He inserted a titanium plate inside my face. They said there was a chance I could have gone blind after the operation.
“I still suffer a bit now but from where it was and what I am now, I’m really lucky.”
Gill ended his playing days, aged 39, at Redditch United before making
what he declared was a massive mistake in taking on his first manager’s job. Weymouth chairman George Rolls, who later received a lifetime ban in football, managed to convince him to take on the struggling Conference South outfit.
“What was I doing there?” Gill reflected. “I was living in Solihull, it took me six hours for me to get there, I was paying for my own hotel.
“George was a goalkeeper at Leyton Orient when I was there years back. He said he’d stayed in touch with my career and offered me the job at Cambridge United before, but I was nowhere near ready.
“We met and I started to believe this was a big opportunity for me. But he didn’t tell me anything about the finances. The team weren’t getting paid, literally zero budget, I didn’t realise until my first week there.
“We won our first game against Lewes but I knew I had a hell of a job to keep us up. We played at Twerton, I met Adie Britton before the game and told him we were just going to defend. We lost 2-0.
“My job was untenable; I couldn’t cope with it anymore. I couldn’t have it tarnishing my career.”
It didn’t. Gill spent six months at Bristol Rovers as youth team coach before two years with Kidderminster.
“I was really fortunate to work under some great managers,” said Gill. “The unfortunate thing is you end up getting sacked alongside them because you’re their people, like Paul Trollope at Bristol Rovers. That’s part of football.
“I set up the academy programme at Kidderminster which I’m really proud of.
“In 2013 I was approached by Paul Trollope and Chris Hughton at Norwich to do some scouting for them which progressed into watching European players, turning up at Birmingham Airport most Sunday mornings at 5am. It was a fantastic learning curve for me. I learnt a lot about my philosophy on playing the game in Holland and Spain.
“I went on to manage Norwich’s under-18s and 23s including players like Todd Cantwell who is very
well thought of.
“I was learning from so many wonderful people but was missing that buzz of 3 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon.”
That took him back to Bath in October 2017 as Gary Owers’ replacement, handing him a return to Twerton Park after 21 years away.
“When the club contacted me, I’d committed to a role in India,” Gill said. “I think Gary Owers had mentioned my name to Paul [Williams, football chairman] who I met before I went to Delhi.
“I had to do my second interview on a Whatsapp video. I came back and met Nick [Blofeld, chairman] at Warwick Castle. We had a good chat about my vision, we hit it off straight away. I sorted a deal with Paul soon afterwards. It was a nobrainer.
“It’s really nice that my career has gone full circle.”
In his two full seasons in charge, City have lost at the first stage of the play-offs, before spending the 2020/21 season at the wrong end of the National League South table.
“Last year wasn’t good enough,” Gill admitted. “Too much off the field affected us. At times we didn’t look like a Bath City team which disappointed me.
“We’ll have a really good go at this again next year. I think top seven is realistic.
“I don’t want to go through an Eliminator again. I think it’s a good format but it’s cruel, losing one play-off game and knowing that’s it.
“The players have worked unbelievably in the last few months. When you’re training and there’s no game at the end of it that’s hard for a football player, but they’ve taken to it and will benefit when they’re back on June 15.
“We went out last Friday for food and a few drinks. We had missed that bonding and togetherness.
“We’re really looking forward to coming back. Hopefully we’ll have a squad that’s hungry, competitive and ready to go with a season that’s not disrupted.
“I can’t wait to see the fans. The games have been horrendous without them, I’m looking forward to having that unity back at Bath City.”