Dan Gardner (footballer)

Daniel Keith Gardner (born 5 April 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder and can also play as a striker for League One club Wigan Athletic. He previously played in the Football League for Crewe Alexandra, Chesterfield, and for Oldham Athletic.

Dan Gardner
Gardner playing for Chesterfield in 2016
Personal information
Full name Daniel Keith Gardner[1]
Date of birth (1990-04-05) 5 April 1990
Place of birth Gorton, England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Club information
Current team
 Wigan Athletic
Number 15
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2009 Celtic 4 (0)
2009–2010 Flixton
2010 Crewe Alexandra 2 (0)
2010–2012 Droylsden 69 (19)
2012–2014 FC Halifax Town 51 (17)
2014–2017 Chesterfield 71 (8)
2015 → Tranmere Rovers (loan) 4 (2)
2016 → Bury (loan) 6 (0)
2017–2019 Oldham Athletic 63 (3)
2020– Wigan Athletic 11 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:09, 12 December 2020 (UTC)

Career

Celtic

Gardner was attending The Manchester College, training to be a panel beater and playing for their academy team (affiliated with FC United of Manchester) when he was noticed by scouts from Scotland and invited for a trial with Celtic's youth team in mid-October 2008. An "outstanding" performance against Rangers secured a short-term deal which was extended to a three-year professional contract.[2] He went on to make a couple of substitute appearances for the reserve team. However the SPL decided to scrap the Reserve League and so teams continued with a smaller first-team roster and a youth team. This effectively left him surplus to requirements and he was released by the club in May 2009.

Flixton

Gardner returned to Manchester where he was persuaded to join local team Flixton in the Vodkat Premier Division. His performances soon attracted the attention of football league sides, he spent two weeks on trial at Oldham Athletic and a month training with Crewe Alexandra.[3]

Crewe Alexandra

While training with Crewe he hit the only goal in a reserve game against Aston Villa on 20 January 2010. This earned him a deal until the end of the season. He was handed the number 34 shirt and went on to make two substitute appearances in League Two before being released at the end of the 2009–10 season.[4]

Non-League

Gardner joined Droylsden for the 2010–11 season in the Conference North. He signed for fellow Conference North team FC Halifax Town in July 2012.[5] He made his league debut in November in a 4–0 home win against Vauxhall Motors.[6] His first league goal for the club was a penalty in a 3–3 draw at home to Histon in February, a couple of days after scoring a brace in the FA Trophy at Dartford. He went on to score 8 more league goals for the club and was instrumental in the Conference North play-off final at Brackley Town which secured Town's place back in the Conference Premier for the 2013–14 season.

Chesterfield

It was announced on 4 January 2014 that Gardner had joined League Two side Chesterfield.[7]

On 8 March 2016, he moved to Bury, signing a loan deal with the Shakers that was due to last until the end of the 2015–16 season, however Gardner was recalled early and scored against Bury in Chesterfield's final home game of the season.[8]

Oldham Athletic

On 2 June 2017, after leaving Chesterfield, Gardner signed for Oldham Athletic on a two-year contract. He became John Sheridan's first summer signing as Oldham boss.[9] After a knee injury in November 2018, he was released in 2019.[10][11]

Salford City

Following his recovery from injury, Gardner signed for Salford City.[12] However he failed to make a first team appearance for the club.

Wigan Athletic

At the beginning of September 2020 he joined Wigan Athletic on a short-term deal[13] and on 5 October 2020, his contract was extended until January 2021.[14] He scored his first goal for Wigan in a 4-3 win against Accrington Stanley on 12 December 2020.[15]

Personal life

Gardner has an autistic son.[16]

Career statistics
As of match played 26 September 2017
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Crewe Alexandra 2009–10[17] League Two 2000000020
Droylsden 2010–11[18] Conference North 29140~~4[lower-alpha 1]1372
2011–12[18] Conference North 401820~~2[lower-alpha 1]04418
Total 691960~~618120
FC Halifax Town 2012–13[18] Conference North 281000~~4[lower-alpha 1]23212
2013–14[19] Football Conference 23720~~1[lower-alpha 1]0267
Total 511720~~525819
Chesterfield 2013–14[19] League Two 16300001[lower-alpha 2]0173
2014–15[20] League One 17130002[lower-alpha 3]0221
2015–16[21] League One 304201000334
2016–17[22] League One 34200004[lower-alpha 4]0382
Total 971050107011010
Tranmere Rovers (loan) 2014–15[20] League Two 4200000042
Bury (loan) 2015–16[21] League One 6000000060
Oldham Athletic 2017–18[23] League One 43110005[lower-alpha 4]0491
2018–19[24] League Two 20210103[lower-alpha 4]0251
Total 633201080743
Career total 292511502026333553
  1. Appearances in the FA Trophy
  2. Appearance in Football League Trophy
  3. Appearances in League One play-offs
  4. Appearances in EFL Trophy

References
  1. "Notification of shirt numbers: Wigan Athletic" (PDF). English Football League. p. 75. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  2. Kenny, Nicole (27 February 2009). "College star signs for Celtic". North & East Manchester Advertiser. MEN Media. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  3. Morse, Peter (17 February 2010). "Danny Gardner gets leave to prove he is real deal". Crewe Chronicle. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  4. "Gradi wields axe as injury ends Gardner hopes". This is Staffordshire. 1 May 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  5. "He Loves To Score Goals". FC Halifax Town. 8 July 2012. Archived from the original on 20 July 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  6. "Vauxhall Motors: Report". FC Halifax Town. 6 November 2012. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  7. "Spireites: Chesterfield snap up former Celtic prospect". Derbyshire Times. 4 January 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  8. "Bury bring in Chesterfield midfielder on loan". BBC Sport. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  9. "SIGNING: Latics Make First Signing Of The Summer". Oldham Athletic AFC. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  10. Chubb, Jon (28 November 2018). "Oldham Athletic hit with injury blow to key midfielder". Revolution Local Sport. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  11. "Dan Gardner wants Football League stay after Oldham exit". The Oldham Times. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  12. Lord, Adam (17 May 2020). "Salford announce 11 players will leave club at end of contracts". Salford City News. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  13. "SIGNINGS | LATICS BRING IN DAN GARDNER AND VIV SOLOMON-OTABOR". Wigan Athletic. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  14. "Viv Solomon-Otabor and Dan Gardner extend Latics contracts". www.wiganathletic.com. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  15. "Wigan 4-3 Accrington Stanley". BBC. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  16. "Oldham Athletic: Latics become first club in EFL to offer sensory packs to autistic fans". BBC Sport. 22 November 2018.
  17. "Games played by Dan Gardner in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  18. Dan Gardner at Soccerway. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  19. "Games played by Dan Gardner in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  20. "Games played by Dan Gardner in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  21. "Games played by Dan Gardner in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  22. "Games played by Dan Gardner in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  23. "Games played by Dan Gardner in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  24. "Games played by Dan Gardner in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
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