Craig Gardner Bio Send To Friend  

Gardner spent his Aston Villa filling in across the midfield and defence as the club struggled with injuries and therefore chose to join city rivals Birmingham in January 2010 for regular first-team action.

A hard-working, box-to-box midfielder, Gardner began his career at Villa and was first included in the first-team squad over the festive period in 2005. The midfielder soon made his debut when he replaced Steven Davis for the final seven minutes of the 4-0 home win over Everton on Boxing Day.

However, he failed to make his mark and spent more time in the reserves before an injury to his groin hindered his progress. Returning to the first-team when he regained fitness, he scored his first professional goal for Villa in the 3-1 away win in April against Middlesbrough.

During the 2007-08 season, Gardner proved himself to be a competent free-kick taker and also showed his versatility as he filled in at right-back during another Villa injury crisis.

Tipped for future success by his manager, Gardner signed a new four year deal in 2007, but was unable to make the breakthrough into the first XI.

Making just a handful of starts in 2009-10, he chose to join Birmingham in January in search of regular football and moved to St Andrew's for £3 million.