Jimmy Gabriel

James Gabriel (10 October 1940 – 10 July 2021) was a Scottish football defensive midfielder and defender who earned two caps with the Scotland national football team.

Chiefly associated with English clubs Everton and Southampton, 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 United States.

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.

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.

At Everton he won the First Division title in 1962-63 and the FA Cup in 1966.

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.

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, and was a firm crowd favourite.

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

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

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.

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

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.

In 1980 he was contracted to coach ASL expansion team the Phoenix Fire, but the team folded in pre-season.

Gabriel then went on to coach George Best and the San Jose Earthquakes (NASL) from 1980 to 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.

On returning to Britain in 1986, he spent four years as coach of 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.