The Game of My Life Gary Ablett - My Story

GARY ABLETT was always a fighter. As a football-mad kid growing up on Merseyside he dreamed of pulling on the famous red shirt of Liverpool Football Club. His determination to succeed made his dream came true - but the real battle had only just begun. Ablett faced a struggle to find his voice in a powerful dressing room and keep his place in a star-studded team full of Anfield legends. Despite winning a league title in 1988 and the FA Cup on an emotional day in 1989, he fell out of favour when Graeme Souness arrived at the club and he made the controversial move across Stanley Park. Nobody gave Ablett and his Everton team-mates a hope when they lined up against Alex Ferguson's title-winning Manchester United side in the FA Cup Final in May, 1995. But the Blues famously overturned the odds and Ablett made history as the only player to have won the famous trophy with both Merseyside teams. After a succession of injuries effectively ended his career, he landed an Academy coaching role with Everton before he crossed the Park again to become a member of Rafael Benitez's backroom team. Ablett later tried his hand at management but little did he know, the biggest game of his life still lay ahead of him. When he was confined to his bed for a week while coaching with Roy Keane's Ipswich, he thought he was just suffering from a bad virus.The truth was much worse. Ablett was suffering with an aggressive form of cancer. He was devastated but just as he had always done, he fought back - although this time it wasn't just the result of a football match that was at stake. It was life itself.