This is another match day programme article written by Peter Lewis. We have been given permission to re-produce it here. All images are copywrited to BCFC.
It says everything about Craig Gardner’s love of football that on a free afternoon he chose to go for a kick-a-round in the park!
Over 2,000 people have viewed a clip on the popular video-sharing website YouTube showing the Blues midfielder taking on his older brother Mark in a football-related challenge. The impromptu contest was the brainchild of the Solihull siblings’ uncle, Danny Fitzpatrick, as a way of passing a bit of time and adding some excitement to an otherwise uneventful day earlier this year. The task involved chipping a football into a plastic swing-lid bin placed 30 yards away. There was little room for error, the direction and trajectory had to be spot-on to ensure it landed in just the right spot to open the bin and allow the ball to drop inside. The brothers’ battle of skills was expected to last some time – but it didn’t happen that way, as Craig recalls.
“We were bored one afternoon. My uncle has a little green outside his house and we said ‘come on, let’s go and make a video’. It was the first one to chip it in the bin and I think we had a little wager on it – nothing big! It was funny because we thought we’d kill an hour and literally it was over in two minutes with my first attempt. Mark hit the bin and I got it straight in. It was a good crack though,” the Blues midfielder tells Blues News.
The Gardner family has certainly been blessed with the football talent gene. Mark has played at a semi-pro level for several years whilst Craig’s younger brother Gary is very highly thought of at Aston Villa and recently signed his first professional deal with the Second City’s other club. It may be partly due to his undoubted natural ability but Blues’ midfield dynamo has also worked very hard to get where he is today.
The 24-year-old reveals: “I’ve always dreamed about being a footballer, even when I was little at school and people asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I wasn’t the cleverest at school, I’ll admit that, but I always said that I was going to be a professional footballer. I fully focused on what I wanted to achieve.
“When I was running up hills at the age of 13, 14, 15, I used to dream that one day the Blues fans would be singing my name. Now all those long distance runs, which often left me feeling sick and on the verge of tears, are paying off. I’d like to thank all the Blues fans for getting behind the team, and me, because they are a vital part of our season this year,” he adds.
At the time of going to press Blues were preparing for the Boxing Day trip to Everton and, providing that fixture beat the inclement weather, Alex McLeish’s side reach the halfway mark in the season with this evening’s visit of Manchester United. Ahead of the Goodison Park clash, Blues were lying in 16th spot in the Barclays Premier League, just two places and two points above the drop zone. But Gardner quickly quashes any predictions of an impending struggle to retain top-flight status.
The former England under-21 international insists: “We’re having a steady season. In parts we have shown our true class and other times we haven’t. There are a great bunch of lads here, a great management team and I am convinced that we’ll be fine this season. Everyone is talking about relegation this and relegation that but that’s all a load of nonsense. We have the personnel – experience and youth – and the enthusiasm, people that want to work for the team.
“It is one of the weirdest Premier League seasons I have ever known. This time last year we were on 28 points, the same number this season puts you in the top five – it’s madness. Teams are winning and losing every other week. You just have to take each game as it comes and try and get as many points on the board. Nobody is safe in this league and we’ve got to keep fighting and fighting. But I know for sure that with the team spirit that we’ve got in that dressing room this season, there is no way we’re going down. Hopefully we can get enough points on the board to get ourselves safe sooner rather than later.”
On a personal level, this season has been something of a rollercoaster for Gardner. The low points included a harsh red card against Wigan which left him kicking his heels for a month out of action and then the ankle injury that sidelined him for a couple more weeks. But combine that with the exhilarating highs of a first-ever goal-brace in the win over Blackburn, a late equaliser to snatch a point against Spurs and, of course, a cherished local derby win over Villa in the Carling Cup.
The former Villa Park trainee currently tops the Blues scoring charts with five goals, taking his tally to six in less than 12 months at St. Andrew’s – equalling his total from four years wearing claret and blue. He says he is relishing the opportunity to play in an advanced midfield berth during this campaign: “I always knew that I could score goals if I played in my right position. This is my first season really playing in that role and at the moment, touch wood, it’s paying off. Long may it continue because I know that I’ve still got a lot more goals in my locker.
“It has been my most enjoyable season to date. Getting sent off was a down point, missing three games and then getting injured. It’s been a stop-start season but hopefully that’s all in the past now, there’ll be no more suspensions and injuries, and I can crack on with my season, score as many goals as I can and stay in the team.”
Gardner admits that he has benefited from playing in front of someone as experienced and reliable as Barry Ferguson. “Fergie is brilliant, he is always talking to me and encouraging me to get forward and get my shots off – he tells me ‘don’t even think about it when you’re outside the box, just hit it’. He is encouraging me to gamble and get forward and that’s why I’m scoring my goals. He has made an unbelievable career out of the game. When he was up at Rangers he was scoring week in and week out, so he knows what it takes. He is a brilliant pro to play with and be around because you know if you listen to him you’re not going to go far wrong in the game,” says the St. Andrew’s favourite.
Gardner forced his way back from the aforementioned injury to gain a place in the squad for the Carling Cup quarter-final against Villa. And even though he had to make do with a cameo substitute’s role, the fully-fledged Bluenose more than played his part in a victory to treasure against the locals rivals and his former employers.
“It was unbelievable – one of the best days of my life,” he says. “Villa have got good players but we showed great fighting spirit, to go one-up, then be pegged back, but still go on and win it. It was a great game and the atmosphere was fantastic – a brilliant night all round.”
“West Ham are a good team and I’m sure it’s going to be a cracker, home and away. The prize at stake is just different class. Everybody dreams of playing at Wembley. It would be a great achievement to reach the final and something the players well deserved after last season, finishing so high up the league. I’m here week in, week out, and I know what it means to the players and how much graft they put in, in the gym and on the training pitch. It would be fantastic to achieve something that not many players achieve during their careers.”
Back in the league, the weekend before Christmas was a frustrating one for Gardner and his team-mates who were determined to right the wrongs of the previous week’s defeat at Wolves with victory over Newcastle. Unfortunately the heavy snow had other ideas and despite the very best efforts of club staff to get the game on, the match was postponed on safety grounds.
Gardner now wants to make this a memorable Christmas for Blues fans with a first victory over Manchester United in over 30 years. But he knows it won’t be an easy assignment against the high-flying Red Devils. He concludes: “I think United will win the league this year. There is too much experience in that team and in Alex Ferguson they have one of, if not the best manager in the game. But we fancy our chances against anybody at home. Tottenham came here and Harry Redknapp said that before the match they just thought they were going to win. Teams may come to Birmingham City and think they’re going to win but, I’ll tell you what, they’ll have to work very hard to get it. Hopefully we can make it a great Christmas for the Blues fans – and a happy New Year by beating Villa again in January!”
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