We always want to recognise our own - i.e. youth players - and we have had some that achieved exalted status such as Sid, Gary Shaw, Spink, Tony Daley, Mark Walters and a few others. There were some for whom we had high hopes but they failed to achieve such as Stefan and Luke Moore and Nathan Delfonseo. There a couple who achieved great things away from the club such as Cahill and Albrighton and we think what might have been. Gabby doesn't fit into any of these groups and it is sad. He was not a complete failure but never a great. He was a one club man and with some guidance and proper coaching he could have achieved more. Like many young players in the modern game, his money attracted hangers on and the potential for bad ways - he succumbed to this and it soured his last few years.
Before we criticise him too much about some of his antics, let's not forget someone else was lying in the street completely blotto and was on the back pages inhaling hippy crack from a balloon.
Gabby in the latter years did not do himself any favours but he was still a decent servant and should be remembered as such - after all the Holte belted out his chant on a regular basis.