Craig Gardner
Personal information
Full name	Craig Gardner
Date of birth	November 25, 1986 (1986-11-25) (age 22)
Place of birth	Solihull, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Central midfielder / Right back
Club information
Current club	Aston Villa
Number	26
Youth career
?-2004	Aston Villa
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2005–	Aston Villa	58 (5)
National team2
2007–2009	England U21	14 (2)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:48, 25 May 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 21:17, 29 June 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Craig Gardner (born 25 November 1986 in Solihull, West Midlands) is an English footballer, who plays for Premier League club Aston Villa as a Midfielder or Right Back.

Gardner turned professional on 31 January 2005.

[edit] Aston Villa

Before Gardner made his Premiership debut on December 26, 2005 he played for the youth team Yardley Kings. This was all before joining Aston Villa's youth system which then later took him to his debut, when he came on as a substitute for Steven Davis against Everton F.C. at Villa Park. He scored his first professional goal for Villa in the 3–1 away win on April 14 against Middlesbrough.^[1] He also netted a contender for goal of the month on the last day of the season away to Bolton Wanderers.^[2] Craig Gardner along with team mates Gabriel Agbonlahor are currently crowd favourites at Villa Park, mainly because they were all Aston Villa fans in their youth. After a series of impressive performances Villa Manager Martin O'Neill entered contract talks with Gardner.^[3]

In August 2007, Gardner signed a new four year deal, which keeps him at Aston Villa until June 2011.

On 1 October 2007 he scored two goals in two games with two free-kicks. First he scored away to Tottenham Hotspur in a 4–4 draw^[4] and then the winner against West Ham 5 days later with a deflected free-kick.^[5] This is the biggest impact so far that he has made for the Aston Villa first team.

On 1 December 2007, Gardner scored the opener in a home match against Arsenal. Villa went on to lose the match 2–1.^[6]

Due to Villa's lack of defensive depth, Gardner has often played in the right-back slot, and impressed both his manager, Martin O'Neill, and captain, Gareth Barry, who said that Gardner could be a key player for years to come.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2008, Gardner signed a new four-year deal with Villa, tying him to the club until summer 2012

He has a younger brother Gary who is in the Aston Villa Academy, he allegedly brutally broke the leg of Small Heath School's Shamraze Riaz, who was considered to be the next big thing out of the celebrated Small Heath School youth system. Darren Farmer who was the coach of Small Heath School at the time before being sacked, was disgusted with the tackle and said it was the worst he had ever seen.

[edit] Career Statistics

All-Time Club Performance

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		International		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Aston Villa[7]	2008-09	11	21	4	7	1	0	11	1	0	0	27	29
	2007-08	23	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	25	3
	2006-07	13	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	2
	2005-06	8	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
Career Total		55	5	6	0	2	0	11	1	0	0	74	6
Last updated 14 April 2009.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Craig Gardner career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at avfc.co.uk
• Craig Gardner's Bio

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