Harry Storer, appointed just before the war ended, won the championship of the 1945–46 Football League South wartime league and the Second Division title two years later. Under Bob Brocklebank Birmingham were relegated from the First Division, but they reached the semifinal of the 1951 FA Cup and Brocklebank signed many of the players moulded by Arthur Turner into a successful team. Turner won promotion in 1955, the next season led the team to their highest league finish of sixth place and their second FA Cup final, and in 1957 reached the semifinals of both the FA Cup and the inaugural Inter-Cities Fairs Cup competition. In 1958 the club experimented with a joint appointment, hiring Pat Beasley to work alongside Turner; the experiment annoyed Turner and after six months prompted his resignation. Beasley and successor Gil Merrick took the club to successive finals of the Fairs Cup in 1960 and 1961. Merrick managed the club to their first major trophy, the League Cup in 1963, beating local rivals Aston Villa 3–1 on aggregate, but four years in the bottom six places earned him the sack.