WHEN Sunderland legend Marco Gabbiadini had to contemplate giving up football at the age of 35, he chose to embark on an unlikely second chapter in his life.
With his knees shot from the wear and tear of the rigors of the game and his contract at Northampton coming to an end, he opened up Bishops guest house in 2003.
Some 15 years later, the bed and breakfast is recognised as one of the best guest houses in the tourist city of York.
Even the hard-to-please TripAdvisor reviewers have scored the business he runs with wife Deborah an astonishingly credible four point five out of five from over 6,000 reviews.
Explaining why he set Bishops, Gabbiadini, 50, told SunSport: “You have to have a plan for when you retire. And we had four kids who were under 11 at the time.
“I did my coaching badges, but being a manager wasn’t what I envisaged doing for the rest of my life.
“My wife and I are both from York. A lot of footballers have that dilemma where their missus is from Liverpool or Southampton, so where do you end up?
“And both are families came from the hotel and guest house business, so I suppose when you roll all those things together it wasn’t a bad choice. After all, it’s York’s biggest industry.
“So we bought an ongoing business, because it would’ve been difficult to start something like this from scratch.”
A hands-on owner, Gabbiadini admitted that it’s a hard job, and sometimes he has to roll up his sleeves and do some manual labour for his new role.
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“It’s just like running a big family,” he said.
“The hardest thing is you’ve got to be flexible. We get up really early in the morning and you can still be waiting for people to check in at 11pm at night.
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“You always have to have your shoes on, you always have to smart. We do have staff, but we live on site.
“And you have to always be prepared for anything. You can come into a room one day and someone’s had an accident and spilled coffee on the mattress.
“Then, you have to quickly go to a shop, find a replacement mattress because the next person’s checking in that afternoon.
“I cook breakfast some days and I’ll do some of the handyman stuff, like bleeding radiators or fixing toilets.
“I can do most things – plumbing, painting and decorating, but we will also get the professionals in too.
“We’ve had family that have grown up in it, and now they’re older they can run it when we go away.”
Many husband and wife teams would find it difficult to work together. However, Gabbiadini confessed they are brutally honest with each other when it comes to running Bishops.
“For us it is great,” he revealed.
“We’re both people who like to get things of our chests, I was a bit like that in the dressing room too.
“It’s better not to keep grudges, tell someone what you think. So, if I make a mistake or error, she’ll tell me and vice versa.”
The guest house itself has 11 big letting rooms, blending a mix of modern and classic in their decor.
“The scale of the house allows us to have spacious rooms, our bigger rooms are 22 feet square,” Gabbiadini said.
“They’ve all got sofas in them, so we’re going more high-end.
“When there’s race meets, and during the summer, our bigger rooms can be from £140-£170 a night at the weekend.
“But midweek, we are flexible, and it’s always best to book with us directly because we can do a better deal.”
TripAdvisor can make-or-break any business, and with the bed and breakfast industry being so competitive in York, Gabbiadini keeps an eye on what’s said about Bishops online.
“It’s bit like a footballer saying they don’t read the sports pages in the paper,” he joked.
“When you’re a guest house owner, you DO read the TripAdvisor reviews!
“But it’s Deborah’s job to reply to everyone, she’s the diplomat in the house.”
However, the reviews are mostly positive and it’s earned the couple a string of awards in the process.
“We’ve entered the York Tourism Awards ‘Guest House of the Year’ competition four times and won it three, which is pretty good going.
“You always going to get people that are going to be unhappy. But if you’ve got 600 or 700 reviews saying you’re doing the right thing, then that’s good too.
“It a British guest house is such a traditional thing. I think a really comfortable bed and good breakfast is the key to being successful.
“It’s that simple really, but it’s what’s the most important.”
As a player, Gabbiadini didn’t win too many awards himself. But one Third Division title with The Black Cats made him a hero at Roker Park.
And on the top floor, a painting of their former forward sits above a cabinet of a handful of golden boots from the lower divisions.
“The painting was a gift from Bob Murray, the former chairman at Sunderland,” he told SunSport.
“When I left the club he gave that to me, it was a drawing of a couple of pictures of me, and it’s lovely to be appreciated.
“I didn’t win too many awards, but I think I won Player of the Season for my clubs six times and made over 700 appearances.
“There aren’t many players that did that, so that’s a big thing for me.”
Alongside his duties as a bed and breakfast owner, Gabbiadini works for BBC Newcastle, on a show called Total Sport, where’s he’s worked for five years
He also has a business called Quantum Sports.
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“We’re an agency, we have Duncan Watmore on our books and just took on Ben Woods, who is an ex rugby union star to work with us.
“It’s building, it takes time but I do get to go back out and watch football again.
“I do miss the game, but there’s no way I could play again because it would take me too long to recover!”
If you’re planning a trip to York, and you’re looking for somewhere to say, check out Bishop’s website and give Gabbiadini and Co. a ring for a good rate.
Linkhttps://textbacklinkexchanges.com/marco-gabbiadini-from-thrilling-fans-at-roker-park-to-conquering-the-bb-world-with-his-guest-house-in-york/
News Pictures Marco Gabbiadini: From thrilling fans at Roker Park to conquering the B&B world with his guest house in York
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