Craig Gardner - TheSportsDB.com

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Name
Craig Gardner

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60%

Born
1986 (37 years old)

Birth Place

Solihull, England

Position
Central Midfield

Status

Ethnicity

Team Number

Height
176 cm

Weight
74 kg

Outfitter

Kit

Side

Agent

Wage Year

Player Manager ID
5123512

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Player Action Render

Sport

Soccer

Team
_Retired Soccer

2nd Team

League
_No League Soccer

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No

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Craig Gardner (born 25 November 1986) is an English professional football coach and former player who made 260 appearances in the Premier League and a further 67 in the Championship. He joined the coaching staff at Birmingham City in January 2021 and was appointed technical director in June.

A versatile midfielder, Gardner was able to play in many different positions, although he preferred central midfield. He began his career at Aston Villa before spending the 2010–11 season with city rivals Birmingham City, with whom he won the 2011 League Cup. After three seasons with Sunderland, he joined West Bromwich Albion in 2014 before rejoining Birmingham City in 2017. He retired from playing in 2020 to take up a position as first-team coach at the club. He moved on to a similar role at Sheffield Wednesday in November 2020, before leaving a month later when Tony Pulis' contract was terminated and returning to Birmingham.

Internationally, Gardner represented England at under-21 level, and was a member of the team that finished as runners-up on the 2009 European Championships.

Gardner was a member of the England under-21 team that played at the 2009 European Championships. He appeared in two group matches and was a second-half substitute in the final, which England lost 4–0 to Germany.

Gardner had acted as Birmingham City's player-coach during the 2019–20 season under Pep Clotet's management, and took up a permanent position as first-team coach on 1 July. The club had announced that Clotet would leave at the end of the season, which had been extended because of the coronavirus pandemic, but after a series of poor results, he left on 8 July. Gardner and Steve Spooner finished the season in joint charge, presiding over a draw and three defeats as Birmingham avoided relegation on the final day of the season.

Gardner initially remained in post after new head coach Aitor Karanka brought in his own staff, but left the club in November to join the coaching staff at Sheffield Wednesday under newly appointed manager Tony Pulis, with whom he had worked at West Bromwich Albion. His spell lasted just over a month, as he left the club when Pulis was sacked on 28 December 2020. He returned to Birmingham's coaching staff in early January 2021, and was appointed technical director in June. After the club was taken over in July 2023, the new chairman expressed the owners' gratitude to Gardner, "without help we would never have completed this transaction. He deserves an enormous amount of credit in helping to shepherd the transaction over the finish line."

Gardner was born in Solihull and raised in the Yardley district of Birmingham, where he attended Cockshut Hill School. After transferring to Birmingham City in 2010, he said he was a lifelong Birmingham City supporter. His younger brother Gary Gardner also played for England at youth level and turned professional with Aston Villa. In June 2012, Gardner donated £500 to the family of a disabled toddler after a chance meeting in a department store; this was only revealed after the Stoke-on-Trent family told a local newspaper.