Ricardo Gardner (born 25 September 1978 in Saint Andrew, Jamaica) is a Jamaican footballer who currently plays for Bolton Wanderers. He is naturally a left winger but can also play in the centre of midfield or at left wingback.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ricardo Gardner | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Left winger/Left wingback | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Bolton Wanderers | ||
| Number | 11 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1992–1997 | Harbour View | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1997–1998 | Harbour View | 10 | (2) |
| 1998– | Bolton Wanderers | 343 | (21) |
| 2011 | → Preston North End (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 1997–2009 | Jamaica | 109 | (9) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 16:00, 22 May 2011 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:53, 29 July 2009 (UTC) | |||
Club career
Early career
Gardner began his professional career with Harbour View F.C., where he debuted as a starter at only 14 years old. He also, representing Wolmer's Boys' High School, dominated the local high school football leagues and was considered outstanding.[1] His performances for Jamaica during the 1998 World Cup attracted Bolton Wanderers, then playing in what is now known as the Football League Championship to offer Harbour View £1 million for his services.
Bolton Wanderers
Gardner immediately established himself a place in the first team for Bolton. He scored 60 seconds after coming on for his debut. He made 22 appearances, half of them starts, in his first year while scoring three goals. In his second season, 1999-00, he established a place in the starting eleven, starting 23 of 26 games, that he has held on to since. Although Gardner suffered a cruciate ligament injury that took him out of action at the end of the season, he made a full recovery, and was able to return to the starting lineup in 2000–01 (scoring in the 2001 Division One Play off Final), playing with the promoted Bolton in the Premier League. Due to a knee injury, Gardner did not make his first appearance in the 2006–07 season until December.
In November 2007, he scored his first goal at club level in nearly five years when he opened the scoring in Bolton's 2-2 draw against German giants Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in the UEFA Cup group stage. A year later after being moved from a wing-back role back into midfield he scored in the Wanderers 2-0 win over local rivals Manchester City.
Gardner made his 400th appearance for Bolton in a 3-0 defeat to Fulham on 27 April 2011. On 24 May 2011 he was in discussions to extend his Bolton contract into a fourteenth year. Gardner rejected a move to West Ham favouring to sign a new contract at Bolton.[2]
Preston North End
On 8 March 2011, Gardner went to Preston North End on an emergency one-month loan as cover for Phil Brown's side. Bolton manager Owen Coyle said it was a great chance for Gardner to improve his match fitness after only just recovering from injury.[3]
He made his debut the following day at the left-back position in the 2-1 loss to Leeds United and played three more games for the club.[4]
Career statistics
Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1998–99||rowspan="13"|Bolton Wanderers||rowspan="3"|First Division||33||2||1||0||3||1||colspan="2"|-||37||3 |- |1999-00||29||5||4||0||9||1||colspan="2"|-||42||6 |- |2000–01||35||3||2||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||37||3 |- |2001–02||rowspan="10"|Premier League||31||3||2||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||34||3 |- |2002–03||32||2||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||32||2 |- |2003–04||22||0||colspan="2"|-||4||0||colspan="2"|-||26||0 |- |2004–05||33||0||4||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||38||0 |- |2005–06||30||0||4||0||3||0||7||0||44||0 |- |2006–07||18||0||3||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||21||0 |- |2007–08||26||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||4||1||30||1 |- |2008–09||29||4||1||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||31||4 |- |2009–10||21||1||3||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||26||1 |- |2010–11||4||0||0||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||5||0 |- |2010-11||Preston North End (loan)||Championship||4||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||4||0 |- Template:Football player statistics 3345||20||24||0||25||2||11||1||405||23 Template:Football player statistics 5346||20||24||0||25||2||11||1||405||23 Template:Football player statistics end
Statistics correct as of matches played 19:55, 14 May 2011[5]
International career
Gardner rose to international prominence following the 1998 World Cup. Gardner has also been an important player for the Jamaican national team for much of the last decade and has earned his place as the team's captain. He captains every match for the team whenever he plays and he has been from 2005.
Honours
Personal life
Gardner is a rastafarian and sports dreadlocks.[1] He is part owner, with Robert Scarlett and Ian Goodison, of a record label, Heart of Love Production [1] which promotes ragga and dancehall music.[6]
References
- ^ a b c "Bibi - the 'big dog' now". Jamiaca-gleaner.com. 11 October 2008. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
- ^ http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/9089701.Ricardo_rejects_Sam_to_stick_with_Whites/
- ^ "Gardner joins Preston on loan". www.bwfc.co.uk. March 08, 2011. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Ricardo Gardner". www.pnefc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Set Me Free Riddim". www.caribbeanmusicdatabase.com. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
{{cite web}}: Text "Various Artists (VA)" ignored (help)
External links
- Profile at Boltonwanderers.us
- Ricardo Gardner at Soccerbase