Gary Vincent Mabbutt (born 23 August 1961) is an English former

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 ...

who made more than 750 professional appearances, first playing for Bristol Rovers and going on to play 619 games for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, despite being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 17. During his career he also won 16

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Jav ...

for the England national team. He mostly played in central defence but was a versatile player who excelled also in midfield, winning both the 1984 UEFA Cup and 1991 FA Cup.

Career

Mabbutt is best remembered for his 16-year spell at

, where he played from 1982 until 1998, and was the club captain for 11 years from 1987 to 1998. He became one of the best known defenders in English football in the 1980s, playing initially for Bristol Rovers before joining the first division club

, where he became captain and won 16

for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separa ...

, scoring against Yugoslavia in 1986.England Players: Gary Mabbutt
England Football Online He scored on his Tottenham debut in a 2-2 draw with Luton Town at White Hart Lane. With Spurs, he won the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

in 1984, and captained them to victory in the

1991 FA Cup Final The 1991 FA Cup Final saw Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup for a then-record eighth time, by beating Nottingham Forest 2–1 at Wembley in the 110th FA Cup Final. Tottenham's triumph made them the first club to win the trophy eight times, tho ...

. In the 1987 FA Cup Final against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

, Mabbutt had an eventful game where he scored Spurs' second goal to put them 2–1 up but, after Coventry had equalised to force extra time, he scored an own goal to give Coventry a 3–2 win. This incident led to him being held as something of a folk hero at Coventry City, with a fanzine being named ''Gary Mabbutt's Knee''. Having sustained a fractured skull and

eye socket In anatomy, the orbit is the cavity or socket of the skull in which the eye and its appendages are situated. "Orbit" can refer to the bony socket, or it can also be used to imply the contents. In the adult human, the volume of the orbit is , of ...

in November 1993 from Wimbledon striker John Fashanu's elbow in an aerial challenge, an injury after which he became the first player to wear a protective mask on the pitch even after a three-month absence, he suffered a broken leg on the opening day of the 1996–97 season and did not return until the following campaign, at the end of which he retired from playing after 16 years at White Hart Lane. By this stage, he was the club's second longest-serving player. His final appearance for the club came against Southampton on the last day of the 1997–98 season.

Personal life

Mabbutt was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. His father was Ray Mabbutt and his brother is Kevin Mabbutt. He is married to Kathy, and has two daughters, Stephanie (1998) and Tabitha (2003). Mabbutt has

type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar fo ...

, and became an icon for many children with the condition. He famously appeared on the BBC's children's television programme ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

'' where he demonstrated injecting

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolis ...

into an orange to show how he dealt with his condition on a daily basis. In 2013, Mabbutt had surgery to save his left leg, following a bout of

peripheral arterial disease Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is an abnormal narrowing of arteries other than those that supply the heart or brain. When narrowing occurs in the heart, it is called coronary artery disease, and in the brain, it is called cerebrovascular diseas ...

, brought on by his diabetes. Following the surgery, he can no longer run or kick a ball. Mabbutt was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the 1994 New Year Honours for services to football. Mabbutt was awarded an Hon. Master of Science degree from the University of Hertfordshire in 1998, an Hon. Doctor of Health degree from the University of Bath in 2018 and an Hon. Doctor of Law degree from the University of Bristol in 2019. He served as an ambassador for the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa. He is also working with the Deloitte

Street Child World Cup The Street Child World Cup is a global movement that unites street-connected children from five continents ahead of the FIFA World Cup. The tournament provides a platform to champion the rights of street children – the right to identity, the ri ...

, training and encouraging street children and ex-street children in football and for street children's rights in Durban, South Africa. This is run by the Amos Trust. He is currently a Global Club Ambassador for Tottenham Hotspur FC and the English Football Association, an Ambassador for the Prince's Trust and Hon. Vice-President of Diabetes UK. During the Covid 19 Pandemic, 2020/21, Mabbutt has been calling Spurs fans who are in the "Vulnerable" age bracket (over 70's) making sure that they are keeping in good health. He has made over 2,500 calls, around 625 hours on the phone. In 2018, Mabbutt had part of his foot eaten by a rat. While on holiday with his daughter in the

Kruger National Park Kruger National Park is a South African National Park and one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends from north to south and from ea ...

, in South Africa, Mabbutt, who has little feeling in his feet due to diabetic neurophy, awoke to find a rat had eaten part of his foot and had bitten one toe to the bone. He was forced to fly back to the UK for surgery and spent a week in hospital.

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur *

: 1983–84 *

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 competit ...

: 1990–91; runner-up: 1986–87 *

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 ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Ph ...

(shared) Orders *

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mabbutt, Gary 1961 births Living people Footballers from Bristol English footballers England under-21 international footballers England B international footballers England international footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Bristol Rovers F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players UEFA Cup winning players Members of the Order of the British Empire People with type 1 diabetes Animal attack victims Rodent attacks FA Cup Final players