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Jimmy Gabriel

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Jimmy Gabriel
Personal information
Full name James Gabriel[1]
Date of birth (1940-10-10) 10 October 1940 (age 84)
Place of birth Dundee, Scotland
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Youth career
Tyneside Boys Club
Dundee North End
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1957–1960 Dundee 55 (0)
1960–1967 Everton 256 (33)
1967–1972 Southampton 191 (25)
1972–1974 Bournemouth 53 (4)
1973 → Swindon Town (loan) 6 (0)
1974 Brentford 9 (0)
1974–1979 Seattle Sounders 53 (7)
1981–1982 San Jose Earthquakes (indoor) 7 (0)
Total 623 (69)
International career
1959–1964 Scotland U23 6 (0)
1960[2] SFL trial v SFA 1 (0)
1960–1963 Scotland 2 (0)
Managerial career
1977–1979 Seattle Sounders
1980–1982 San Jose Earthquakes
1985–1988 Seattle Storm
1990 Everton (Caretaker)
1993–1994 Everton (Caretaker)
1997–2005 Seattle Sounders (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

James Gabriel (born 10 October 1940) is a Scottish former football midfielder, who earned two caps with the Scotland national football team. Chiefly associated with English club Everton, Gabriel played extensively in Scotland and England before ending his career with the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League. He then became a coach in both England and the US, where he lives today.

Playing career

Dundee

Jimmy Gabriel first came to the attention of Dundee when he played at right-half for the Scotland under-15 schoolboys in an international at Dens Park. His talent shone through and Dundee manager Willie Thornton snapped him up after the game, despite interest from several other top clubs.

He was initially loaned out to Dundee North End Juniors, but was recalled to Dens Park a year later. He made his debut for Dundee as a 17-year-old on 13 August 1958 in a 2–1 Scottish League Cup victory over Motherwell.

He was to remain a first team regular at Dundee, going on to make 67 appearances. In March 1960, Bob Shankly had taken over as manager at Dundee and, although he wanted to keep Gabriel, was unable to refuse the offer of £27,000 from Everton's manager, Johnny Carey. This made Jimmy the most expensive player to leave Scotland.

Everton

Gabriel joined Everton after three years at Dundee in March 1960. Although it took him some time to settle into the pace of the English game, there was a steely determination about the young Scot that was to stand him in good stead. Gabriel became a strong influence in the Everton side as a powerful right-half whose preference for a defensive role made him a useful partner in the midfield for the more attacking Brian Harris on the left.

He played 304 games for Everton, scoring 37 goals and won two Scottish caps. He won the championship in 1962-3 and the FA Cup in 1966 with Everton.[3]

By 1967, he was being challenged for his place in the side by Alan Ball and the emerging Howard Kendall. Southampton's manager Ted Bates tried to sign him initially in March 1967 but Gabriel was reluctant to move South. Eventually, when it was clear that Kendall was to be first-choice, Gabriel agreed to sign for the Saints in July, joining them for a fee of £42,500.

Southampton

At Southampton, Gabriel was a vital part of the defence alongside John McGrath and Denis Hollywood and helped Saints avoid relegation several times. He was a tough defender but had skill to match. He was occasionally drafted in as an emergency striker with some degree of success.

He played a total of 224 matches for the Saints, scoring 27 goals.

Bournemouth, Swindon and Brentford

He left The Dell at the end of the 1971–72 season to join Bournemouth.

He also spent a short period on loan at Swindon Town before finishing his UK playing career at Brentford.

Seattle Sounders

In 1974 Gabriel moved to the United States where he joined the Seattle Sounders of the NASL as a player/assistant coach. That season he anchored the Sounders defence and earned second team NASL All Star recognition. In 1976 the Sounders moved to the newly built Kingdome where he scored the first goal in the stadium's history. The goal, a fabulous header off a cross from Tommy Jenkins, his former Southampton teammate, came against Pelé and the New York Cosmos. In 1977, Gabriel replaced John Best as head coach of the Sounders. Even as a coach, he continued to suit up to play, seeing time in two games in 1977 and one in 1979.

International

Gabriel earned two caps with Scotland and six more with the Scotland under-23 team.[4]

Managerial career

Seattle Sounders and San Jose Earthquakes

Prior to becoming head coach of the Sounders, Gabriel had acted as an assistant coach and head of the Sounders reserve team program. When he became head coach he had several Sounder legends including Mike England, Geoff Hurst and Bobby Moore on his team. Under his guidance, Seattle made it to the championship game only to fall to the hated New York Cosmos. He was unable to replicate his first year success and in 1980, the Sounders replaced him with Alan Hinton. Gabriel then went on to coach George Best and the San Jose Earthquakes (NASL) from 1980–1982 for one outdoor season and two indoor seasons. During the 1981–82 indoor season he appeared in a handful of indoor matches for San Jose.

Bournemouth and Everton

On returning to Britain in 1986, he spent four years as coach to Bournemouth, before going back to Goodison Park in 1990, where he became assistant to Colin Harvey at Everton.

He was briefly caretaker manager of Everton for one game in November 1990 and for seven games between December 1993 and January 1994. According to Yahoo! Sports Gabriel's points per game average of 0.14 from his seven games makes him statistically the least successful manager of the Premier League era with one point from a possible 21 gained.[5]

He continued coaching Everton's reserves until 1997.

Back to Seattle

Gabriel returned to Seattle in 1997[6] where he became an assistant to Dean Wurzberger, who played for Gabriel on the Sounders reserve teams in the 1970s, on the Washington Huskies men's and women's teams. Both teams won the 2000 Pac-10 championships. In addition to other players, Jimmy coached Hope Solo. Gabriel has also been the coaching director of the Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association and has worked in certifying coaches for the State Association. Jimmy currently provides radio commentary for the Seattle Sounders. He and his wife, Pat, now reside in Kirkland, Washington.[6]

Gabriel also served several years as an assistant coach with the Sounders. On 2 October 2005, the Sounders defeated the Richmond Kickers to take the US Second Division championship. On this high note, Gabriel retired from the Sounders.[7]

On 29 March 2009, Gabriel was honoured by the new Seattle Sounders FC MLS club with the "Golden Scarf" award for his services to soccer in Seattle. He received the scarf at a ceremony on the pitch before the Sounders' second game, versus Real Salt Lake.[citation needed]

Honours

Everton

References

  1. ^ "Jimmy Gabriel". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  2. ^ Ronnie McDevitt (2016). Scotland in the 60s: The Definitive Account of the Scottish National Football Side During the 1960s. Pitch Publishing. ISBN 9781785312458.
  3. ^ Jimmy Gabriel is "All the Best" of Sounders | goalWA.net
  4. ^ "Scotland U23 Player Jimmy Gabriel Details". fitbastats.com. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  5. ^ "The least successful Premier League managers". Yahoo Sport. 23 April 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  6. ^ a b Player profile – Jimmy Gabriel, UW Huskies Sports, retrieved 24 February 2011
  7. ^ Massey, Matt (2 October 2005). "Sounders win championship in extra lengthy finale". The Seattle Times.
  8. ^ "1963/64 Charity Shield". footballsite.co.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
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