Birmingham City star Craig Gardner wants to follow Gary Cahill's post-Villa lead

May 9 2010 by Andy Walker, Sunday Mercury

CRAIG Gardner is using Gary Cahill’s post-Villa development to inspire him to great things with Blues.

Alex McLeish’s men end their season with a trip to Bolton this afternoon.

And, although the midfielder is hoping to overcome a hamstring injury, the fixture will see Gardner reunited with his pal and former Villa team-mate Cahill.

Since leaving Villa due to a lack of first-team action and rejecting a move to Blues to head to Bolton in January 2008, Cahill’s career and reputation has gone from strength to strength.

His towering performances at the back for the Trotters have already resulted in a call-up to Fabio Capello’s England squad while Cahill continues to be touted as a potential World Cup candidate.

It’s solid proof that Cahill’s decision to leave behind a life on the bench with Villa to seek Premier League pastures new was possibly the best move the 24-year-old Yorkshireman ever made.

And Gardner is now hoping that his similar move will also help propel his own career to new levels.

Having come through the Villa ranks, Cahill struggled to nail down a first-team berth under both David O’Leary and Martin O’Neill.

While the claret and blue faithful never got to fully appreciate Cahill’s potential, he’ll always be remembered for his stunning strike, his only Villa goal, against Blues in the Second City derby of April 2006.

Gardner, almost exactly a year younger than Cahill, did have some joy as something of a regular in the Villa first-team but slipped down O’Neill’s pecking order before moving to St Andrew’s to join his boyhood club in January.

Now he wants to make as much of an impact on the Premier League as Cahill.

“I speak to Gaz quite a bit and my dad is quite good friends with his dad so they speak a bit over the phone too,” said the ex-England Under-21 international.

“He’s a top quality player. Not only can he defend but he’s good on the ball. Not many defenders are as good on the ball as him.

“How well he’s done at Bolton just goes to show you how good Gaz was.

“At the academy at Villa, he was always one that stood out in his age group. It’s great to see players do well and especially ones that have left Villa.