Michael Gardyne (born 23 January 1986) is a Scottish professional

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 plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Montrose. Gardyne previously played for Ross County,

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton ...

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

and

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

Club career

Born in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, Gardyne began his career with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, the team he supported as a boy. He signed a professional contract in 2004 and was tipped to be one of the "next crop of youngsters to emerge" but found first-team opportunities limited and spent his first two seasons in the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

. Once credited for performing a 'toilet activity' within a teammate's football boot. Additionally, Gardyne himself confessed to being too focus on making teammates laugh rather than performing top quality skill at training while at Celtic. Gardyne spent the 2006–07 season on loan to Ross County, scoring on his debut and being part of the side that won the 2006–07 Challenge Cup, scoring the first penalty in the

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...

victory against

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

. After returning to Celtic, Gardyne left the club permanently and joined

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

on a free transfer on 31 August 2007, having worked with Morton manager

Jim McInally James Edward McInally (born 19 February 1964) is a Scottish football manager and former player. He played for Dundee United for 10 seasons in which he won the 1993–94 Scottish Cup and played in the 1987 UEFA Cup Final. At United he was also ...

previously in Celtic's youth team. The move lasted just five months, however and Gardyne returned to Ross County in January 2008, going on to help them win the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

title that season. Gardyne's form in the 2009–10 season saw him nominated for the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

First Division Player of the Year and gain a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, Out of contract at the end of the 2011–12 season, Gardyne signed a pre-contract agreement with hometown

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

club

in January 2012, some 18 months after the move was first rumoured. In early August, Gardyne scored on his league debut in the victory against Hibernian, appearing as a late substitute. In August 2013, Gardyne joined

on loan for 6 months, and in January 2014 it was confirmed that the loan deal had been extended until the end of the season. On 1 September 2014, Gardyne returned to Ross County, signing on loan until January 2015. He made his first appearance since returning to the club on 13 September 2014, in a 2–1 home defeat against Motherwell. Dundee United announced in April 2015 that Gardyne would be released when his contract expired at the end of the season. In May 2015, Gardyne signed for Ross County on a permanent basis. Gardyne became Ross County's all-time top goal scorer on 29 December 2015 when he scored twice against Kilmarnock in a 3–2 win which brought him to 60 goals for County. On 13 March 2016, Gardyne scored the opening goal as Ross County won their first major silverware with a 2–1 victory over Hibernian in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

. Gardyne was released by Ross County on 27 May 2021 along with nine other players and subsequently joined

Highland derby The Highland derby is a football rivalry that is based in the Scottish Highlands. It is contested between the only two full-time SPFL clubs in the Highland council area, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross County. The city of Inverness and ...

rivals

. Gardyne would have his contract with the ''Caley Jags'' mutually terminated in January 2022. Gardyne signed a two-and-a-half year deal with Montrose in January 2022.

Club statistics

Honours

Club

;Ross County *

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as t ...

(second tier): 2011–12, 2018–19 *

Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...

(third tier): 2007–08 *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2006–07,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2018–19 *

: 2015–16

Individual

* PFA Scotland First Division Team of the Year: 2011–12 * PFA Scotland Team of the Year (Championship): 2018–19

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gardyne, Michael 1986 births Living people Footballers from Dundee Scottish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Celtic F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players Montrose F.C. players