Joseph Gardiner (23 August 1916 – 1997) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, who served

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

as both player and coach.

Career

Gardiner joined

in December 1932, signing professionally the following year before making his league debut on 23 February 1935 in a 2–5 loss at Black Country rivals

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. He originally joined as a centre-forward but was converted to a centre-back, as he became a first choice player in the seasons preceding World War II. He appeared in the

1939 FA Cup Final The 1939 FA Cup Final was contested by Portsmouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Wembley. Portsmouth won 4–1, with goals from Bert Barlow, John Anderson and two by Cliff Parker. Dicky Dorsett scored Wolves' effort. As a result of the suspens ...

for the club, where they lost to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in the

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

showpiece. He also narrowly missed out on glory in the league championship as the club finished runners-up for two successive seasons in the late 1930s. He remained with the club while the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

was suspended during wartime, turning out in regional action. He announced his playing retirement in May 1944 but remained on the coaching staff. He was the club's main trainer in the

Stan Cullis Stanley Cullis (25 October 1916 – 28 February 2001) was an English professional footballer and manager, primarily for Wolverhampton Wanderers. During his term as manager between 1948 and 1964, Wolves became one of the strongest teams in the En ...

era as the club became one of the great sides of Europe, winning three league titles and two

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

s. He was named chief scout in 1966, and helped discover the likes of John Richards. He died in 1997.

Honours

;

finalist:

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardiner, Joe 1916 births 1997 deaths Footballers from County Durham English men's footballers English Football League players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players English Football League representative players Men's association football defenders Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Birmingham City F.C. non-playing staff People from Bearpark