Former Everton and Scotland midfielder Jimmy Gabriel dies aged 80

Jimmy Gabriel, who won a league title and FA Cup with Everton in the 1960s, has died at the age of 80.

The Goodison Park club confirmed the former Scotland international’s death on their Twitter account.

A brief statement read: “Everyone at Everton Football Club is deeply saddened to hear the news that our former player and coach, Jimmy Gabriel, has passed away.

“Jimmy played 303 games for the Blues, scoring 37 goals, winning the League title in 1963 and the FA Cup in 1966. RIP Jimmy.”

Gabriel started his career at home-town club Dundee, making his debut at the age of 17, before joining Everton in 1960.

The Scottish Premiership club wrote on Twitter: “Everyone at Dundee Football Club is deeply saddened to hear that our former player Jimmy Gabriel has passed away.

“Jimmy made 67 appearances for the club between 1956 and 1960. Our thoughts are with Jimmy’s family and friends at this sad time.”

The right-half helped Harry Catterick’s side win Everton’s sixth league title and saw out the 3-2 FA Cup final win over Sheffield Wednesday in 1966 by running past several players and keeping the ball in the Owls’ corner.

He made his two appearances for Scotland while at Goodison.

After being displaced by Howard Kendall, he moved to the south coast in 1967 and played more than 200 times for Southampton and then turned out for Bournemouth and Brentford before moving to the United States.

He played for Seattle Sounders before becoming their head coach, and then moved on to San Jose Earthquakes, where he managed George Best.

Gabriel returned to Bournemouth as coach before re-joining Everton in 1990 as assistant to Colin Harvey. He also had two spells as caretaker manager at Goodison before returning to a coaching role with Seattle in 1997. He continued to live in the US until his death.

Seattle wrote on their Twitter account: “The original Mr. Sounder. Thank you for setting the standard of what it means to be a Seattle Sounder. We will miss you, Jimmy.”