Gary Ablett

Liverpool

Ablett joined hometown club Liverpool as an apprentice upon leaving St Margaret's Church of England High School in 1982. He made his Liverpool debut on 20 December 1986 in a goalless league away draw with Charlton Athletic, when regular defenders Barry Venison and Mark Lawrenson were absent due to injury. He made five more appearances that season mainly at left-back, scoring what would be his only goal for the club on 18 April 1987 in a 3–0 home league victory over Nottingham Forest. Alongside experienced players in defence, such as Gary Gillespie, Steve Nicol and skipper Alan Hansen, Ablett helped Liverpool win the 1987–88 League championship and reach the 1988 FA Cup final. Ablett only collected a runners-up medal in the latter competition due to Liverpool's shock 1–0 defeat by Wimbledon. In 1988–89, Liverpool made it to their second consecutive FA Cup final. This time they were successful, after a 3–2 victory over Merseyside rivals Everton. They lost the League title, however, to Arsenal with practically the last kick of the season. Ablett played most of the season at center-back due to injury problems for Alan Hansen, missing just three league games that season. Ablett flitted in and out of the squad over the next year, relegated in the pecking order following the arrival of Glenn Hysén and the progress of Steve Staunton and David Burrows. He was used more frequently as a central defender rather than left full-back after Hansen continued suffering with…

In the summer of 2002, Ablett moved into coaching, taking up a post as the coach of Everton's under-17 side. He worked as part of the club's youth academy for several years until the summer of 2006, when he returned to his first club, taking the vacant job of Liverpool F.C. Reserves team coach, replacing Paco Herrera. The same career opportunities were not available at Everton with Andy Holden firmly established as reserve-team manager. In April 2008, under Ablett's guidance, Liverpool's reserves were crowned champions of the Premier Reserve League North, and the following month they became national champions after a play-off final victory against Aston Villa's reserves. In July 2008, he completed his final UEFA coaching qualification by obtaining the UEFA Pro Licence. On 28 May 2009, Liverpool announced that Ablett would be leaving his position as reserve team manager. On 8 July 2009, Ablett was announced as the new Stockport County manager. The club was in administration for the whole of the 2009–10 season, during which his team managed only five league wins. At the end of the season the team were relegated, 25 points adrift of safety. He left the club on 17 June 2010 when the 2015 Consortium took ownership of the club.

Liverpool

Football League First Division: 1987–88, 1989–90 FA Cup: 1988–89; runner-up: 1987–88 FA Charity Shield: 1988, 1989, 1990 (shared) Everton

FA Cup: 1994–95 FA Charity Shield: 1995