Birmingham City midfielder Craig Gardner sets out New Year's resolutions

Jan 2 2011 by Gregg Evans, Sunday Mercury

 

CRAIG Gardner’s New Year’s resolutions are considerably different to the rest of us.

The Blues star is as fit as a fiddle, follows a healthy diet, and doesn’t drink or smoke – unlike the majority of people who will be hoping to turn over a new leaf.

Finance isn’t a problem for the 24-year-old either, and his career-defining move across the Second City to St Andrew’s made 2010 one of the most exciting years of his life.

So there will be no visits to the job centre or receipts for treadmills, nicotine patches or non-alcoholic beer as Gardner embarks on 2011.

Instead the dynamic midfielder is aiming to score more than ten goals, reach the Carling Cup final and stop the media talking about Blues and relegation in the same sentence.

Postponements and poor results have left Alex McLeish’s men teetering nervously above the dreaded drop zone.

But the ambitious Solihull-born star thinks his side are too good to go down.

Apart from a few niggling injuries, the past 12 months have been a personal success for Gardner.

Not only has he joined the club he supported as a boy, he has also become a fans’ favourite and has finally been given the chance to show the Premier League what he can do on a regular basis.

The ex-Villa man is refusing to rest on his laurels, though, and has set his sights on improving this year.

“It’s been a good year but I want to get bigger and better,” he said. “I want to achieve more in my career, and I want to get more goals.

“I said at the start of the season my aim was to get 10 goals and If I beat last year’s tally in 2011 then I’ve done it and it will be a great achievement if I do.