Marco Gabbiadini

Marco Gabbiadini
Personal information
Full name	Marco Gabbiadini
Height	5'10 (177cm)
Position(s)	Striker

Marco Gabbiadini (born 20 January 1968 in Nottingham, England) is a former English-Italian football player whose career lasted 18 years from 1985 to 2003. He totalled nearly £3 million in transfer fees and played for 12 different clubs.

Early career

Gabbiadini was born to an English mother and an Italian father in Nottingham. 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.

Gabbiadini follows the boss to Roker Park

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 Division 3 and needed a goalscorer to help fire them back to Division 2 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 Division 3 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.

A solid season

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. 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.

Promotion number 2

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

Life in the top flight

Gabbiadini found it more difficult in the Division 1 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.

Three clubs in one season

Shortly after the start of the 1991–92 season, Gabbiadini was sold to Crystal Palace for a club record transfer fee of £1.8million. He was seen as a replacement for Ian Wright. 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 £1million 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 Baseball Ground, saw him featuring up-front alongside fellow million pound + 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.

Falling behind in the pecking order

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.

Return to York

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. 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. 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.

Success at 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 onto 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 3 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.

Move to Northampton

During his first season at Northampton, Gabbiadini established himself in the first team and played in all of their league teams. 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.

Gabbiadini's career comes to an end

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.

News Articles

External links

Marco Gabbiadini profile at Football England