Willie Gardiner

William Silcock Gardiner (15 August 1929 – 5 January 2007) was a Scottish footballer who played as a forward for Rangers, Leicester City, Reading and Sudbury Town.[3]

Willie Gardiner
Personal information
Full name William Silcock Gardiner
Date of birth (1929-08-15)15 August 1929
Place of birth Larbert, Scotland
Date of death 5 January 2007(2007-01-05) (aged 77)[1]
Place of death Stirling, Scotland
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Bo'ness United[2]
1951–1955 Rangers 25 (16)
1955–1958 Leicester City 69 (48)
1958–1959 Reading 8 (2)
Sudbury Town
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Born in Larbert, Gardiner started career in reserve football in Scotland with Rangers but got little opportunity to play first-team football with the likes of Willie Paton, Billy Simpson and the veteran Willie Thornton all in contention, although he had a strong scoring record when he was selected.[4] He moved to England and signed for Leicester City for £4,000 under manager Dave Halliday.

He was a prolific goalscorer.[5] In three seasons he scored 48 league goals in 69 games and was the leading goalscorer in the Second Division in the 1955–56 season.[6] He lost his starting place in 1957 and was then playing reserve team football. In 1958 he signed for Reading, his time there being hampered by two serious injuries. He finished his career with Sudbury Town and later found employment as telephone exchange operator for British Telecom.[7][8]

References
  1. "Willie Gardiner". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  2. Junior Scotland 1889 to 2019: The Players and Matches, Douglas Gorman, Tom McGouran; Lulu.com, 2019
  3. Willie Gardiner at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
  4. Rangers player Gardiner, William Silcock, FitbaStats
  5. Chris Carra (1 October 2014). Swansea City's Greatest Games. Pitch Publishing. pp. 34–. ISBN 978-1-909626-96-6.
  6. "Division 2 1955-56". www.footballsite.co.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  7. "Willie Gardiner". www.foxestalk.co.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  8. "Willie Gardiner". www.11v11.com. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
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