Marco Gabbiadini

Marco Gabbiadini

Personal information
Full name	Marco Gabbiadini[1]
Date of birth	20 January 1968 (1968-01-20) (age 43)
Place of birth	Nottingham, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Striker
Youth career
–	Poppleton Juniors
1984–1985	York City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1985–1987	York City	60	(14)
1987–1991	Sunderland	157	(74)
1991–1992	Crystal Palace	15	(5)
1992–1997	Derby County	188	(50)
1996	→ Birmingham City (loan)	2	(0)
1997	→ Oxford United (loan)	5	(1)
1997	Panionios	11	(4)
1997–1998	Stoke City	8	(0)
1998	→ York City (loan)	8	(1)
1998–2000	Darlington	82	(47)
2000–2003	Northampton Town	120	(25)
2003–2004	Hartlepool United	15	(5)
Total		670	(226)
National team
1989	England U21	2	(0)
1990	England B	1	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Marco Gabbiadini (born 20 January 1968) is an English former footballer whose career lasted 18 years from 1985 to 2003. He totalled nearly £3 million in transfer fees and played for 12 different clubs, scoring a total of 226 league goals.

Playing career

York City

Marco Gabbiadini was born to an English mother and an Italian father in Nottingham, and was educated at Nunthorpe Grammar School in York. He started his professional career at York City after being signed as an apprentice by Denis Smith at the age of 16 in 1982. His talent was spotted immediately and shortly afterwards he was quickly drafted into the England Under 18 team in order to avoid being tied to playing for Italy, the birthplace of his father. By the time Gabbiadini was 17 he had made his York City debut in the 3–0 defeat to Bolton Wanderers. From then on he quickly established himself in the first team and went onto notch 18 goals in 50 starts and 21 sub appearances for the Minstermen. He also scored his first hat-trick at the age of 18 during York's 4–1 Freight Rover Trophy victory against Darlington.

Sunderland

However the departure of manager and mentor Denis Smith would see him leave York in order to follow Denis Smith to Sunderland for a transfer fee of £80,000. Sunderland had been relegated to Third Division and needed a goalscorer to help fire them back to Second Division and Gabbiadini was seen by Smith as the perfect signing. Despite this Gabbiadini's signing was seen as risky, as in order to raise funds to sign him, Smith had to sell one of Sunderland's most popular players, midfielder Mark Proctor, to Sheffield Wednesday. Gabbiadini made his Sunderland debut in the 2–0 defeat to Chester City. In the match after, he scored his first two goals against Fulham. He would quickly establish himself as a key player and a crowd favourite for Sunderland by scoring on a regular basis. In his first season at the club Gabbiadini scored 21 goals in 31 appearances to help fire Sunderland to the Third Division championship and he became such an important player that manager Denis Smith once said, "If I agreed to sell Marco, then I might as well sack myself". Gabbiadini's form for Sunderland earned him a place in the England under-20 team and he went on tour with them in Brazil.

Gabbiadini's second season at Sunderland was just as successful in the Second Division and he proved that he could score at a higher level. However his disciplinary record was brought to light as he received his first red card in the FA Cup replay defeat to Oxford United. Gabbiadini's red card was blamed for Sunderland's defeat as it made them a man down and put them at a disadvantage. Months later, Gabbiadini's discipline would once against be put under the spot light when he lashed out and assaulted an Ipswich Town player while celebrating a hat-trick. Despite missing 11 games through suspension Gabbiadini finished as Sunderland's top scorer, notching 18 goals. He also became Sunderland's first player to win the North East Player of the Year award, which was decided by football writers.

Next season would see his form continue as Sunderland followed up their previous year with another promotion challenge, and Gabbiadini contributed with a lot of goals.

Gabbiadini found it more difficult in the First Division and he would struggle to score as regularly as previous seasons. He notched just 9 goals in 31 games, which at the time was his lowest total for any club and Sunderland were relegated. Despite his lack of form, Gabbiadini still managed to get a call up to the England B squad.

Crystal Palace

Shortly after the start of the 1991–92 season, Gabbiadini was sold to Crystal Palace for a club record transfer fee of £1.8 million. He was seen as a replacement for Ian Wright, who joined Arsenal for £2.5 million in September 1991.

Derby County

However, Gabbiadini failed to live up to expectation and he made just 25 starts and scored just seven goals before transferring to Derby County for £1 million four months later, which made Derby the third club that he had played for in the space of a season. In its bid to mount a serious promotion challenge, Derby County invested heavily in players around the period of Gabbiadini's arrival. Gabbiadini's first full season at the Baseball Ground, saw him featuring up-front alongside fellow million pound and strikers Paul Kitson and Tommy Johnson, signings from Leicester City and Notts County, respectively. During Gabbiadini's first full season at Derby, he was named Derby's Player of the Year. He would become an established first team player for Derby up until the team got promoted to the Premiership.

In order to survive relegation Derby sought to bring in new players and Gabbiadini found his first team opportunities limited and he was also hampered by knee injuries. He played just 14 games for the rams and saw himself being loaned out to Birmingham City and Oxford United. His loan spell at Birmingham was cut short after he suffered another injury.

Panionios

Gabbiadini then decided to move abroad and signed for the Greek side Panionios. Despite signing a year contract, he became unsettled and moved back to England.

Stoke City

He was then offered a contract at Stoke City on a monthly basis. Gabbiadini failed to impress for Stoke and scored just once in nine appearances and he was not offered a permanent contract.

York City

This saw Gabbiadini return to York in order to resurrect his career. However while at York he only made 7 appearances, scoring just one goal. York manager, Alan Little, told the board that Gabbiadini was "past his best" and they decided not to offer him an extended contract.

Darlington

Gabbiadini then joined his eighth club Darlington, where he spent a further two-years of his career. Gabbiadini was an immediate success for Darlington and he went on to score more than 50 goals for the club. During his second season, Gabbiadini helped Darlington reach the play-offs. However after the first semi-final leg against Hartlepool, Gabbiadini was assaulted by a fan. During that season he was also named as Sky Sports Division Three Player of the Season and he would later be named as Darlington's greatest ever player. Despite his success at Darlington, Gabbiadini decided to leave the club in order to play at a higher level with Northampton Town.

Northampton Town

During his first season at Northampton, Gabbiadini established himself in the first team and played in all of their league teams and scored a memorable goal against Cardiff City at Ninian Park where he managed to score from the halfway line. However, he only managed to score six league goals. During the next two seasons for Northampton, injuries stalled Gabbiadini's progress and he would find it more difficult to establish himself as a regular first team player. He also found himself often used as a midfield rather than as a striker. At the end of Gabbiadini's third season his contract was not renewed despite him scoring 14 goals and finishing as Northampton's top scorer. Gabbiadini participated in over 100 league and cup games for Northampton and scored over 30 goals.

Hartlepool United and Retirement

Gabbiadini's availability alerted his former club, Darlington, who offered him a contract and even let him train with them. However, Gabbiadini decided to sign for arch rivals Hartlepool United instead. Gabbiadini's signing was initially met with discontent as a Hartlepool fan had previously assaulted him and he was considered an enemy of the club. However, Gabbiadini won the fans over by scoring seven goals in 12 starts and six substitute appearances. His final two goals were in Hartlepool's 4–0 FA Cup victory over Whitby Town. Gabbiadini then suffered knee injuries and was advised by doctors not to continue playing and was then denied to play against his old club Sunderland in Hartlepool's FA Cup match. Gabbiadini announced his retirement in January 2004 after making over 750 appearances in all competitions.

Life after football

Since retiring, Gabbiadini is now currently running a restored Victorian hotel in York with his family. The hotel won Guest House of the Year in the 1999 at the York Tourism Awards. Gabbiadini has also hinted that he would be interested in television work and was a Sky pundit for Hartlepool's play-off match against Bristol City in 2004.

Since August 2009, Gabbiadini has co-presented Total Sport on BBC Newcastle with Simon Pryde and John Anderson. The show is on air every weeknight between 5:30 and 7:30.

Honours

Sunderland

• Third Division winner: 1987–88

News Articles

• Marco calls it quits, Evening Press
• Knee problem forces Marco to hang up boots, Northern Echo
• Career Retrospective: Marco Gabbiadini, PoolsOnline.tk
• BBC.co.uk: Gabbiadini quits football

References

1. ^ Hugman, Barry J. (2005). The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005. Queen Anne Press. p. 225. ISBN 1852916656. 

External links

• Marco Gabbiadini profile at Football England

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Ted McMinn	Derby County Player of the Year 1992–93	Succeeded by Martin Taylor

Persondata
Name	Gabbiadini, Marco
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	20 January 1968
Place of birth	Nottingham, England
Date of death
Place of death