These puns might be a little funny if his name was actually GARDENER instead of Gardner some of you have lost the PLOT ....BOOM FECKIN BOOM!!!!
Well I heard he was once on the "verge" of joining "Man Ure" . Also before he became footballer he considered joining the "copse" but he was little "green" back then.
Gary Gardner credits James Bree and Conor Hourihane for convincing him to join the Reds instead of other Clubs who showed an interest in him. In an article in today's Chronicle, he said that both players spoke very highly of their former Club and in particular praised Paul Heckingbottom. He says " I spoke with Conor and James and that was the main reasons that made me choose Barnsley. They told me the gaffer is great to work with and that you work really hard, which we have done so far with double sessions every day. That was really attractive because I like working hard." Gardner adds experience to the Reds side, having played 88 Championship matches and he is the second oldest at the Club. He said " it's strange because I have always been one of the young lads in the dressing room. I have got a bit more experience and hopefully I can pass that onto a young set of lads who want to learn. I have been very impressed with training so far." Gardner is a more rounded central midfielder than attack minded players like George Moncur and provides extra options for Heckingbottom who has only had one defensive minded midfielder in Joe Williams to choose from so far this season. Hecky says that Gardners addition will provide him with the possibility of moving away from the 4-1-4-1 formation he has played with this season. He said " We want to play four across the middle and two up front at times, so we have brought Gary in for that. He's a big lad and physically strong and can pass the ball." Gardner was at Villa Park and watched the Reds beat Villa 3-1 last season. He said " It was breathtaking to watch a young team go on that pitch and be fearless. I want to be part of that and I can't wait to get started."
Let's hope he can bed in , do some of the spadework in midfield to weed out the weak links in the opposition to hopefully blossom into one of our better players, before he forks off back to Villa.!