During the close season we will be catching up with a few former Blues players to talk about their career and find out what they're up to now. Next up is winger Jon McCarthy

Jon McCarthy suffered his fair share of heartbreak during his five year spell with Blues.

The likeable North Easterner was part of the first Blues team to lose in the play-offs when Watford went through to the 1999 final on penalties on a nerve-tingling night in B9.

McCarthy missed out on the 2000 play-off games against Barnsley having just suffered a second broken leg in the space of six months and one year later he broke his leg for the third time in the infamous second leg of the semi-final against Preston.

Even though he spent so many months on crutches and in the Wast Hills treatment room, 'Macca' won a legion of fans amongst the St. Andrew's fans who admired his whole-hearted performances in the royal blue shirt.

But it took him some time to win over the supporters after he arrived at St. Andrew's from Port Vale for a fee of £1.5 million in September 1997.

"I struggled when I first came to Birmingham. I had been at smaller clubs and always done well," recalls McCarthy.

"But I had a big price tag. I thought I actually played well for the first 15 or 20 games but the team weren't getting the results and so a lot of criticism came on to me as the player that they had paid a lot of money for and it did affect my confidence.

"It took a couple of seasons before the Birmingham fans really saw the best of me.

"I became a little bit of cult figure because the fans were on my case but they could see I was always working hard.

"It all turned around after I scored a goal away at Norwich from 25 yards with my left foot and the fans really got behind me after that.

"The confidence that gave me meant that I played the best football of my career for a while and from them on I had a great relationship with the supporters."

McCarthy admits that the support he received from the fans during his rehabilitation from injury still brings a lump to his throat.

"The stuff that went on the website and all the emails that were forwarded onto me by the club were unbelievable," he says.

"We are having an extension done on our house and I found some of it in the garage the other day and it was really nice to read.

"My kids are getting older now, my little boy is five and he is starting to pay a bit of interest but I have got all those emails that I will be able to show him at some point.

"I may be a journeyman football who is past it now but it was nice to know that fans appreciated my efforts."

McCarthy adds: "I was the type of modern day player who relied a lot on my fitness and running strength and I was somebody that needed to be fit so the injuries were really frustrating and took their toll on me."

The play-offs weren't all bad for the Middlesbrough born winger as they provided one of the highlights of his early career - an appearance at the old Wembley Stadium.

He helped York win promotion from the old Fourth Division in 1993 with a play-off final victory over Crewe.

"The game finished 1-1 after extra time, we won on penalties and I scored the first penalty," remembers McCarthy.

"Wembley held about 80,000 and both teams only took about 10,000 fans and they were all down one side of the pitch.

"But when I played on the other wing there was nobody there and if the ball went out, you had climb into the seats to get it!

"So it was a bit strange but it was great to have the opportunity to play at Wembley."

McCarthy played 233 first team games during a five-and-a-half year spell at Bootham Crescent before Port Vale stumped up almost half a million pounds to take him to the Potteries.

He enjoyed two good seasons at Vale Park which included a starring appearance on Match of the Day.

"I was fortunate to be part of a good First Division team at Vale with Steve Guppy on the other wing and Martin Foyle and Tony Naylor up front," he recalls.

"We had a good FA Cup run in 1995/96. Everton had won the cup the previous season and we were drawn away to them in the fourth round.

"It ended up being on Match of the Day because Everton scored in the 90th minute to make it 2-1 but we equalised in injury time so it was the best tie of the day and was shown as the main match.

"I had a good game and Trevor Brooking picked me out as the best player.

"It was unbelievable how so many more people know you when you've been on Match of the Day.

"We went onto beat Everton in the replay and I scored the winning goal and my career took off from there."

Towards the start of the 1997/98 season Trevor Francis had seen enough of the industrious winger and lured him to St. Andrew's.

Although McCarthy admits that he was a little awestruck when he first joined the club.

"The fact that Trevor was the manager and they had people like Steve Bruce and Gary Ablett in the team - it was just a completely different level for me," he continues.

"Those two players were in my card school on the first couple of away trips and they were talking about winning medals and league championships and I had a little story about an Anglo Italian Cup final!"

He adds: "The people I was playing with at Birmingham could only improve my game.

"I had been at Hartlepool and York and developed a lot later than some players and really in some respects I overachieved - I never thought I'd get the chance to play at that sort of level.

"I played in a major cup final at the Millennium Stadium against Liverpool in the Worthington Cup.

"But just the chance to wear the blue shirt in front of 25,000 fans will always be something I look back on with great pride."

McCarthy spent a month on loan with Sheffield Wednesday during the 2002/03 season in his bid to return to fitness after the third broken leg.

"It was frustrating that I wasn't in the type of shape that meant I would make an impact for Steve Bruce on his return to the Blues," he says.

"I worked with him for about six months and I could see that he was a good manager and coach.

"But I had only played a handful of matches in about two-and-a-half years and I needed to play some games.

"Steve was good with me, he got it around and on Sky News that I was available and that helped get me to a big club like Sheffield Wednesday.

"It went okay there and I played a few games.

"They were struggling a bit against relegation and we won the first match, 2-1 against Coventry, which meant that we were safe and the season died away after that.

"I played a couple more games but then they started to bring a few young lads through."

The collapse of ITV Digital during the summer of 2002 meant that clubs had to tighten their purse strings and few were willing to take a risk on a player that suffered three broken legs.

McCarthy spent the following season on a whistle-stop tour of the lower leagues including brief stays at former clubs Port Vale and York plus stints at Doncaster and Carlisle before he retired from the professional game.

He was then fortunate to be able to fall back on the Sports Science degree he gained at Nottingham Polytechnic during his early 20's.

McCarthy actually made his Football League debut for Hartlepool in the final game of the 1987/88 season but he turned down the offer of a professional contract to concentrate on his studies.

He is now reaping the rewards of that decision as a lecturer in Sports Science at Mid-Cheshire College.

"I enjoyed a 13-year professional football career but ultimately the degree that I got when I was a younger has helped me to get the job that I'm doing now," he adds.

"My lifestyle balance is quite good and I am fortunate that I was sensible with the better wage I earned during my time at Birmingham.

"I'm not in a position like some former players where I can put my feet up with a glass of wine and a cigar!

"But I can choose and do something that I like doing which is teaching."

But the qualified UEFA B licence coach hasn't hung up his boots completely and still turns out for Conference side Northwich Victoria, as well as running their Academy side as part of his college job.

"Northwich have been good to me, they let me train just one morning a week, and if the same manager is in place next season then I might continue.

"But I have got three young kids and it would be nice to spend a few weekends with them."