Club mourns loss of Gabriel

Born in Dundee in October 1940, Gabriel broke through into the first team for his local side at Dens Park before moving to Everton still aged 19 in 1960.

Soon winning the first of two senior caps for Scotland, Gabriel spent seven years at Goodison Park and won both the First Division and the FA Cup ahead of a move to the south coast in 1967 with Southampton.

Five years and over 200 appearances followed with the Saints, mostly in defence but also pushed into an emergency striking role at times, as the side qualified for Europe.

Aged 31, Gabriel would join the Cherries for a fee of £20,000 and he quickly became a key performer for the side as they looked to gain promotion in 1972/73.

In total he scored four goals in 53 Third Division matches for the Cherries and was latterly loaned to Swindon Town before joining Brentford in a permanent transfer in March 1974.

A two-month spell at Griffin Park was his final stop as a player in the UK before heading to the USA where he joined several other ex-Cherries when signing for Seattle Sounders, where he would later became a player-coach.

Gabriel helped lead the Sounders to the NASL Soccer Bowl in 1977 and he also coached at San Jose Earthquakes before returning to Dean Court as Harry Redknapp's assistant in the mid-1980s.

Part of the coaching staff as AFC Bournemouth won promotion to the second tier at the end of the 1986/87 season, Gabriel spent four years back with the Cherries until 1990 when he moved to another former club in Everton, acting as assistant to manager Colin Harvey.

Twice taking in brief caretaker manager roles on Merseyside, Gabriel coached back at Seattle from 1997 to 2005.

His contribution to football in Seattle was recognised in 2009 when he was presented with a Golden Scarf award by the newly-emerging Sounders MLS club.

All at AFC Bournemouth would like to pass on their best wishes to Gabriel's family and friends at this difficult time.