I’ve found writing these introductory pieces for this summer’s new United signings to be either a glowing essay of optimism, or a fairly toe-curling torrent of worry. Lavery, Watts and Reyes - all sunshine and happiness. Loft and Richards - cloudy with a chance of rain.
It’s worth noting, these pieces are not intended to be casting judgment on players before we’ve seen them kick a ball. We can all make our own minds up about the quality of the player in question once we see them play in a U’s shirt. These articles are simply meant to give a broad introduction to who the new signing is, and what his previous clubs’ fans made of him, to give us all a bit of context beyond some numbers on a Wikipedia page. Time will tell whether those previous fans’ opinion had any weighting on how they performed in CB5.
And so, to the latest of those new signings. Judging by the reaction to the signing of Gardner (not to be confused with his older brother Craig who you might catch on a few episodes of Premier League Years), this article is a return to the first few introductory articles of the summer. The sun poking through the clouds.
Gary Gardner joins United on a two-year deal as a free agent after being released by relegated Birmingham City. He is a 6 foot 2, 32-year-old centre midfielder who is about to play his first ever minutes in League One having spent the vast majority of his career in the Championship (at Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday, Brighton, Forest, Barnsley and finally Birmingham), with 16 appearances in the Premier League for Villa before that.
That’s a very impressive CV. Having spent the last 6 seasons at Birmingham, that was the most obvious place to start when it came to finding out a bit more about him as a player. He arrived at St Andrews in 2018 initially on loan from city rivals Villa, and then was signed permanently in 2019 - by none other than Garry Monk.
The lovely chaps from Blues Breakdown say that link-up was crucial for Gardner:
He’s been reunited with Garry Monk, who arguably got the most out of him of any manager at Blues. He offers a physical presence in midfield. At his best he’s a decent ball carrying centre-mid who can chip in with a few goals. Decent from set pieces, but never been brilliant technically on the ball - just about good enough in that respect.
That said, his best season was probably 5 or 6 years ago now, under Monk. He’s been plagued with injuries for the last couple of seasons so really hasn’t featured much at all, despite scoring a lovely free kick against West Brom after coming on last season in John Eustace’s last game.
Under Monk at Blues he played as a RCM in a 442 next to Kieftenbeld who was very much a ball winner but very limited technically. Our game plan was built around a really solid defensive unit: win the ball back and then break with pace, with Gardner often being the one to carry the ball forward.
That last paragraph might be the biggest indication not just to how Monk plans to utilise Gardner, but how he plans to set up his central midfield. In Gardner, Smith, Cousins and Digby, it sounds like we have four players whose strengths all lie in winning the ball back rather than what they can do with it. Their task will be to be solid defensively and then play simple balls to our more creative players to help us break up the pitch quicker. Of those options, it sounds like Gardner might be the most comfortable with the ball at his feet, and despite Blues fans not rating his technical ability that highly, it might fall on him to be the progressive ball-carrier in the middle of the park.
Blues Focus were a bit more positive about his attributed on the ball:
Gary Gardner's strengths lie in his versatility and work ethic as a midfielder. He is adept at both breaking up opposition play with his defensive capabilities and contributing to his team's attacking moves. Gardner possesses a good range of passing and is known for his ability to make crucial interceptions and tackles. Additionally, his physical presence and stamina allow him to cover a lot of ground during matches.
However, his weaknesses include occasional inconsistency in performances and a relatively limited goal-scoring record for a midfielder. Injuries have also been a setback throughout his career, affecting his ability to maintain a regular place in the starting lineup.
This compilation video from last season is worth watching. I suppose there’s a case to be made that if you could make a compilation video of this nature of any player and they would look world-beating. But still, there’s a lot of positives to pick out:
So, a player with a great work ethic, top class stamina and dominating physical presence, with a good passing range and confident enough carrying the ball forward. What are the drawbacks? Well, there’s two.
The first is obvious, and like that Simpsons meme when everyone is starting at Bart… “injuries!”. He’s only played 24 league games over the past two full seasons, so it could be that we can’t rely on him to play all 46 as much as we might want to. Both Blues fans mentioned his injury record too, which is never a good sign.
The second drawback is not necessarily a reflection of Gardner as a player at all, but more that it’s hard to escape a repeat of the same feelings when we signed Jordan Cousins last summer. A player the wrong side of 30 who had also spent the vast majority of his career in the Championship (bar one in League One where he won the title with Wigan), and who despite that obvious pedigree ended up putting in a distinctly sub-par level basically all season.
But as mentioned, Gardner is a different player. And the context of the club he is joining is different, namely that he is reuniting with a manager he has worked for successfully before at a higher level. He feels like the sort of stalwart or general that Monk will want to be the focus of his team, and who can trust to set an example from minute one of game one.