Birmingham City convincing hero out of retirement was a Blues masterstroke | OneFootball

Stephen Carr had given up on life as a footballer before Alex McLeish came calling, before ending his career in style

Stephen Carr was ready to give up on football in December 2008. He had waved his goodbyes to a career that had served him well and was preparing for life after hanging up his boots.

Injury issues hadn’t been kind to the full-back, with a niggling hamstring continuing to cause its problems, and at 32 the then-Newcastle United man announced his retirement from the game with immediate effect.

But roll on 26 months, and the Irishman is lifting the League Cup at Wembley Stadium surrounded by thousands of Birmingham City supporters, having just produced one of the most unlikely cup victories at the home of football.

Football is a funny old game sometimes, and Carr is living proof of that, with the defender going on to be a Blues legend after giving up on the game altogether.

Stephen Carr announces retirement before Birmingham City come calling

Having come up through the ranks at Tottenham Hotspur, Carr had earned a reputation as a solid performer on the right-side of defence at White Hart Lane, with over 250 appearances for the club during his 11 years in the capital.

From there, he moved on to Newcastle at the age of 28, and would continue his fine form during his early days at St James’ Park, before his body started letting him down time and time again.

Games would be coming in fits and starts as his fitness issues took their toll. After being released by the Magpies in the summer of 2008, things were getting too much for a man who began to despise the very chassis that made him a professional in the first place.

“I hardly played in my final season at Newcastle. I think I was diagnosed with a hamstring injury four times,” Carr told Birmingham Live in 2012.

“That might have put people off. I can understand it, I suppose. They’d be looking at a 32-year-old with a poor injury record and wondering what he had to contribute.

“Only those injuries weren’t as they seemed and we had finally got to the root cause of the problem before I was released by Newcastle.

“But then I sat by the phone. And I waited and waited. No one seemed to be interested in me, so I announced my retirement.

“I still felt I could do it in the Championship or Premier League. Clearly no one else did. So you do all those things you have promised you’d do when you stop playing. You mess about with the kids, take some holidays.

“Only it comes as a shock when the phone doesn’t ring. Did I take it for granted? Yes, I think I did. And I think a lot of footballers possibly do, too.”

Within a matter of years, Carr had gone from being Mr Dependable down the right side to being an injury-prone has-been who nobody wanted to take a punt on. Nobody but Birmingham City, that is.

The Blues had just been relegated from the Premier League and were aiming for an immediate return to the top flight under Alex McLeish, and needed that extra bit of experience to help them get over the line.

Despite having not played a professional game for over a year, the Midlands side tempted Carr out of retirement to give it another bash at St Andrew’s in February 2009. What came next was something of a fairytale.

Stephen Carr resurrects playing career at Birmingham City and earns EFL Cup success

Having put a family holiday to Tenerife on the back burner to join up with his new teammates, the Irishman was afforded some time to get back up to the speed of the Championship after so long away from the everyday rigours of training, before getting back in the mix on a Tuesday night at Selhurst Park.

While there may have been some initial rustiness, Carr soon blew away the cobwebs to help play his part in the Blues’ promotion that season, with just two of his 13 appearances ending in defeat.

Within days of their return to the Premier League being confirmed, Carr was awarded a new deal at St Andrew’s, with McLeish putting faith in a player who had been there and done it at the top level ahead of the challenge to come.

Few could have expected the season that was to come, not least Carr himself, who only six months before had been preparing to sun himself in the Canary Islands, before going head on with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Ryan Giggs in his first appearance of the following season.

In fact, Carr would go on to play in 35 top flight matches that season as Birmingham finished ninth in the top tier, a total that exceeds the sum of his last two seasons with Newcastle.

The time out of the game had done the defender the world of good, with his body needing the time to recover after the stresses of over 300 professional appearances during his career, with his golden swan song far from over yet.

While things weren’t as rosy in the day-to-day of the league, Brum were putting together a fine run in the League Cup during the 2010/11 campaign, with Rochdale and MK Dons overcome in the first couple of rounds, before needing penalties to see off Brentford.

Rivals Aston Villa awaited in Round Five, and as blue and white squared up to claret and blue, it was Carr’s side that emerged victorious, with Nikola Zigic [pictured] getting the winning goal on a fierce encounter at St Andrew’s, putting the Blues through to a semi-final showdown with West Ham United.

With both legs finishing 2-1 to the hosts, extra time beckoned at the home of the Blues, with Carr still going strong as we headed into the additional 30-minute period, something that would have seemed impossible some three years before.

Not only was he able to put in the hard yards over two hours of work, but he also had a hand in the winning goal, as he cut out a Hammers pass, steamed forward in typical fashion down the right-hand side, before feeding Craig Gardner in a central position.

Gardner’s goal will need no describing for any Bluenose old enough to remember, for it will always be emblazoned on their retinas for the rest of their existence. Left foot, one touch, right foot, bang. St Andrew’s erupts. Wembley awaits.

From then on, we all know the story. It’s Zigic, it’s Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczęsny, it’s Obafemi Martins. The cup is Birmingham City’s in one of the most dramatic cup finals of recent times.

And who is there accepting the trophy? Stephen Carr. The man who came out of retirement to help the Blues reach the Premier League, and left with a major piece of silverware to his name, as well as legendary status at St Andrew’s for the rest of time.