Former Northampton Town striker Marco Gabbiadini to undergo heart surgery

Gabbiadini, 56, is now a regular pundit on BBC Radio Newcastle's Total Sport, and he revealed on the show that he had undergone tests having felt twinges in his chest.

The ex-striker, who also played for York City, Sunderland, Derby County, Crystal Palace and Hartlepool United, joined the Cobblers in the summer of 2000 when he was signed by Kevin Wilson.

During his three years at Sixfields, Gabbiadini made 111 starts and 25 substitute appearances, scoring 30 goals.

He left the Cobblers to join Hartlepool United in 2003 before retiring from playing a year later, and has since gone on to own and run a hotel York, as well as doing football punditry work for local radio stations.

Speaking on BBC Radio Newcastle, Gabbiadini said: "I've had some tests done, following up from a slight issue I was feeling in my chest. It turns out that I'm having a triple heart bypass.

"That was from an angiogram procedure I had about 10 days ago. The results weren't very good so I've ended up facing some surgery. So a bit of a shock more than anything.

"They call it heart disease and that's what it is.

"We had a couple of country walks with the grandkids and I was lagging behind a bit on the hills, which is normally not an issue, but it ended up being something that was a bit of a slow burn.

"I had a stress test in early March this year, then they hustled me through to this angiogram and they found out that I've been working on about 20 per cent of my heart's capacity.

"It could have been a lot worse. I'm thankful that I've got to this stage and the NHS is fantastic. But we have a few issues. We had a bit of interaction with the British Heart Foundation and the figures are pretty daunting; the waiting lists and number of people.

"It's our country's biggest killer unfortunately and I want to highlight that. The littlest thing can turn out to be quite serious as it did for me."