Gareth Ian Ablett (19 November 1965 – 1 January 2012) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and manager. He played as a defender from 1985 until 2001. Ablett spent nine years with

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, winning several honours, before moving to their city rivals Everton in 1992. He went on to win the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

with Everton, having previously won an FA Cup in 1989 with Liverpool against Everton. He also played for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

and ended his playing career in the United States with the

Long Island Rough Riders The Long Island Rough Riders are an American soccer team based in South Huntington, New York, United States. Founded in 1994, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays its home games at Hofst ...

. He moved into coaching and managed

Liverpool F.C. Reserves Liverpool F.C. Reserves is the reserve team of Liverpool F.C. It is the most senior level of the Liverpool academy beneath the first team. In the summer of 2012, the whole English reserve football system was overhauled and replaced with an Under ...

, and then spent a year as manager of

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

. Ablett died on 1 January 2012, following a 16-month battle with

non-Hodgkin lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tiredness. ...

, at his home in

Tarleton Tarleton is a village and civil parish in the borough of West Lancashire, Lancashire, England. It situated in the Lancashire mosslands approximately 10 miles north east of Southport, approximately 10 miles south west of Preston, approximately ...

, Lancashire. He was 46 years old.

Playing career

Liverpool

Ablett joined hometown club

as an apprentice upon leaving St Margaret's Church of England High School in 1982. He made his Liverpool debut on 20 December 1986 in a goalless league away draw with

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

, when regular defenders

Barry Venison Barry Venison (born 16 August 1964) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player was a defender from 1981 to 1997. He played for Sunderland, Liverpool, Newcastle United, Galatasaray and ...

and

Mark Lawrenson Mark Thomas Lawrenson (born 2 June 1957) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender for Liverpool, among others, during the 1970s and 1980s. After a short career as a manager, he then became a radio, television and internet pu ...

were absent due to injury. He made five more appearances that season, scoring what would be his only goal for the club on 18 April 1987 in a 3–0 home league victory over

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. Alongside experienced players in defence, such as

Gary Gillespie Gary Thompson Gillespie (born 5 July 1960) is a Scottish former professional football defender who played for Coventry City and later Liverpool, through much of the 1980s. Liverpool His three goals in that double winning season all came in th ...

Steve Nicol ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

and skipper

Alan Hansen Alan David Hansen (born 13 June 1955) is a Scottish former footballer and BBC television football pundit. He played as a central defender for Partick Thistle, for the successful Liverpool team of the late 1970s and 1980s, and for the Scotland ...

, Ablett helped Liverpool win the League championship and reach the

1988 FA Cup Final The 1988 FA Cup Final was the 107th final of the FA Cup. It took place on Saturday, 14 May 1988 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Wimbledon and Liverpool, the dominant English club side of the 1980s and newly crowned league champion ...

. Ablett only collected a runners-up medal in the latter competition due to Liverpool's shock 1–0 defeat by

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

. In 1988–89, Liverpool made it to their second consecutive FA Cup final. This time they were successful, after a 3–2 victory over

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

rivals Everton. They lost the League title, however, to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

with practically the last kick of the season. Ablett was now firmly established as the club's regular left back, missing just three league games that season. Ablett flitted in and out of the squad over the next year, relegated in the pecking order following the arrival of

Glenn Hysén Glenn Ingvar Hysén (; born 30 October 1959) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a defender. Starting off his career with IFK Göteborg in 1978, he went on represent PSV Eindhoven, Fiorentina, and Liverpool before retiring ...

and the progress of

Steve Staunton Stephen Staunton (born 19 January 1969) is an Irish football manager, scout and former professional footballer. He played as a defender (association football), defender with two separate spells each with Premier League sides Aston Villa F.C., A ...

and David Burrows. He was used more frequently as a central defender rather than left full-back after Hansen began suffering more with injuries. Eventually, he took the central role more often following the arrival of left back Burrows from

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

and won the League again with Liverpool in 1990.

Everton

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. During his career, he made 338 appearances for Celtic F.C., Celtic and 515 for Liverpoo ...

resigned as Liverpool manager on 22 February 1991, and his successor,

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, and current TV pundit. A midfielder, Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s, player-manager of Ranger ...

, decided to sell Ablett for £750,000 to Everton in January 1992, after 147 appearances for the Reds. Ironically, his departure came at a time when he was getting more first team opportunities than he had done since the 1988–89 season. He made his league debut for the club on 19 January 1992 in a 1–1 draw with

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...

. Ablett won the FA Cup with Everton in 1995, becoming the only player to win the competition with both Merseyside teams. However, he lost his place at left-back to

Andy Hinchcliffe Andrew George Hinchcliffe (born 5 February 1969) is an English former professional footballer, sports television pundit, and co-commentator for Sky Sports. As a player, he was a left-back from 1986 until 2002. He began his career with Manchester ...

in the 1995–96 season, who had been moved back into defence after spending most of the previous season playing left midfield with Ablett behind him.

Later career

Ablett went on to make 128 league appearances and score five goals for Everton, and later went on to have a brief loan spell with

before making a permanent move to

for £390,000, joining them at the same time as established Premiership players

Steve Bruce Stephen Roger Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a centre-back. He most recently managed West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Br ...

and Mike Newell, as new manager

Trevor Francis Trevor John Francis (born 19 April 1954) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million player follo ...

set about building a side capable of challenging for a place in the Premier League. In three years with the Blues, he scored twice, with goals against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

in the league and Leeds United in the FA Cup. He was released by Birmingham City manager

in 1999, and after short spells with

(playing under former Anfield teammate

Steve McMahon Stephen Joseph McMahon (born 20 August 1961) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and current television pundit. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1979 to 1998, most notably playing for Liverpool in the late 1980s. ...

, scoring once against Luton Town) and

, he signed for American A-League side

in June 2000. In February 2002, at the age of 36, Ablett was taken on trial by

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

. In 2006, Ablett appeared as a substitute in Replay 86, a charity match staged in aid of The Marina Dalglish Appeal, which pitted the Liverpool and Everton sides that had contested the

1986 FA Cup Final The 1986 FA Cup Final was the 105th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 10 May 1986 at Wembley Stadium and was a Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton. The match was played seven days after Liverpool had secured the league title, ...

against each other one more. Ablett's inclusion was curious, because although on Liverpool's books at the time of the Final, he did not actually make his debut for the club until the December of that year. Regardless, his contribution ensured Liverpool won the game 1–0.

Coaching and managerial career

In the summer of 2002, Ablett moved into coaching, taking up a post as the coach of Everton's under-17 side. He worked as part of the club's youth academy for several years until the summer of 2006, when he returned to his first club, taking the vacant job of

team coach, replacing

Paco Herrera Francisco "Paco" Herrera Lorenzo (born 2 December 1953) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a midfielder, and is a manager. His managerial career of over a quarter of a century was spent mostly in Segunda División, where he led 13 ...

. The same career opportunities were not available at Everton with Andy Holden firmly established as reserve-team manager. In April 2008, under Ablett's guidance, Liverpool's reserves were crowned champions of the Premier Reserve League North, and the following month they became national champions after a play-off final victory against Aston Villa's reserves. In July 2008 he completed his final

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

coaching qualification by obtaining the

UEFA Pro Licence UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are iss ...

. Ablett's son, Fraser (born 1991), signed for Chester City and has since played for

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...

since the demise of Chester City. He currently plays for Widnes Vikings FC in the North West Counties Football League Division 1. On 28 May 2009, Liverpool announced that Ablett would be leaving his position as reserve team manager. On 8 July 2009, Ablett was announced as the new

manager. The club was in administration for the whole of the 2009–10 season, during which his team managed only five league wins. At the end of the season the club was relegated, 25 points adrift of safety. He left the club on 17 June 2010 when the 2015 Group took ownership of the club.

Illness and death

Ablett agreed to a one-year contract with

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

in July 2010 to join their coaching staff. After being taken ill on the training ground, he was diagnosed as suffering from

, a form of

blood cancer Tumors of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (American English) or tumours of the haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (British English) are tumors that affect the blood, bone marrow, lymph, and lymphatic system. Because these tissues are all ...

. On 1 January 2012, 17 months after his diagnosis, Ablett died at the age of 46. His funeral was held at

Liverpool Anglican Cathedral Liverpool Cathedral is the Cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool, built on St James's Mount in Liverpool, and the seat of the Bishop of Liverpool. It may be referred to as the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool (as recorded in the ...

on 17 January 2012 and was attended by former teammates, as well as members of the teams and the then managers of Everton and Liverpool. Ablett's widow Jacqueline has supported calls for investigation into the hypothesis that artificial turf causes cancer.

In Popular culture

"Gary Ablett", normally shortened to "Gary", is a prevalent form of

rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymin ...

used in

for "tablet" (specifically ecstasy tablets).

Honours

Liverpool *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1987–88, 1989–90 *

: 1988–89 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

(shared) Everton *

: 1994–95 *

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

References

External links

Past players profile
at Liverpool F.C. website
Player profile at LFChistory.net
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ablett, Gary 1965 births 2012 deaths Deaths from non-Hodgkin lymphoma People from Tarleton Footballers from Liverpool English footballers English football managers Association football fullbacks Liverpool F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Everton F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Long Island Rough Riders players Premier League players English Football League players England under-21 international footballers England B international footballers Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff Stockport County F.C. managers People educated at St Margaret's Church of England High School (Liverpool) Deaths from cancer in England English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States English expatriate footballers FA Cup Final players