Merseyside unites for Gary

As a footballer, he was vastly underrated. As a man, Gary Ablett could not have been held in higher esteem, writes Brian Reade.

Which was why the football world turned out in force at ­Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral on Tuesday to honour someone who made that seismic leap across the great Mersey tribal divide yet never lost a single friend or admirer along the way.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, along with current stars such as Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, sat alongside Everton boss David Moyes and his players.

They were joined at the funeral by ex-managers Rafa Benitez, Howard Kendall and Joe Royle and players from both clubs, including Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler, Graeme Sharp, Duncan Ferguson, John Barnes, Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson.

There were giants of the game who had travelled from afar, such as Roy Keane, and champions from other sports, like snooker's John Parrott, who was a long-standing friend of a man everyone who knew him called "the nicest guy you could ever meet".

Gary Ablett, who lost his 16-month battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on New Year's Day, aged 46, will go down in the record books as the only player to have won the FA Cup with Liverpool and Everton.

But as we witnessed, he was much, much more than that.

He was a devoted dad to five children, whose moving tributes brought tears to many eyes in the congregation.

The hundreds of thousands who knew him as a footballer will remember him as the antithesis of today's stereotype of an over-privileged, over-pampered prima donna.

Gary was humble, modest, ­dedicated and loyal.

There was always a smile on his face because he was painfully aware that being a professional footballer made him one of life's blessed.

He was a throwback to a generation of young men who were honoured to play football for their local team.

Men who woke up every day and couldn't believe how lucky they were to be paid for kicking a ball in front of mates who'd worked all week for the chance to see them.

More than a thousand mourners were inside the cathedral where Blues and Reds sat together to say goodbye to a defender who played for their clubs for a combined 11 years, winning two league titles at Anfield to add to those FA Cups.

When he'd finished playing (he had spells at Birmingham, ­Sheffield United, Wycombe, Blackpool and the Long Island Rough Riders) he returned to both Merseyside clubs as a coach.

Small wonder he was held in such respect by both sets of fans, and why the family paid back that respect in the choice of songs.

As his coffin was brought into the cathedral, it was accompanied by a beautiful organ recital of the Anfield anthem You'll Never Walk Alone.

On leaving it was played out to Everton's: The Z-Cars theme.

His wife, Jacqueline, led the mourners, alongside his children, Scarlet, Reece, Riley, Josh and Fraser, with two former team-mates, Liverpool's Jim Beglin and Everton's Matt Jackson, doing readings.

They choked back emotion to pay tribute to the pal they lost so ridiculously young.

Beglin said Gary was "as sincere and genuine a person as you'd ever meet. He was the perfect gent".

Jackson said: "It takes a special person to win the love and respect of both sides of this city. Gary did."

Everton's chaplain, Canon Henry Corbett, reminded us how Gary, who played during the fateful 1989 FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, attended 11 of the victims' funerals, doing a reading at one.

A reading which his mother said had made her more proud than any of his achievements on the field.

The tributes were tinged with sadness. But it was the words his children asked others to read out on their behalf that truly touched the heart. Especially from Scarlet.

She called her dad "one of the finest people in the world who always put others first" and told of his bravery: "Not once did he moan or ask, 'Why me'?"

Scarlet said his "massive, gorgeous smile" stayed on his face until his final days, before adding: "I'll spend the rest of my life hurting inside but I'll go on loving you, remembering what a special person you were."

His body was taken for committal at Anfield crematorium, between Liverpool and Everton's grounds.

The perfect final destination for a legend and a gent who served his city so modestly yet so impeccably.

Source: The Mirror

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