William Silcock Gardiner (15 August 1929 – 5 January 2007) was a Scottish

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 played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Rangers,

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and Sudbury Town. Born in

Larbert Larbert ( gd, Lèirbert/Leth-pheairt, sco, Lairbert) is a small town in the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town lies in the Forth Valley above the River Carron which flows from the west. Larbert is from the shoreline of the Firth of ...

, Gardiner started career in reserve football in Scotland with Rangers but got little opportunity to play first-team football with the likes of

Willie Paton William Paton (1 August 1925 – 2005) was a Scottish footballer who played for Rangers and Ayr United. He played as a forward. Paton joined Rangers from junior side Kirkintilloch Rob Roy in 1943 during World War II, but did not make his compet ...

, Billy Simpson and the veteran

Willie Thornton William Thornton MM (3 March 1920 – 26 August 1991) was a Scottish footballer and manager. Thornton's entire senior playing career was spent with Rangers, and Thornton is considered to be one of the greatest players in the club's history. ...

all in contention, although he had a strong scoring record when he was selected. He moved to England and signed for Leicester City for £4,000 under manager

Dave Halliday David Halliday (11 December 1901 – 5 January 1970) was a Scottish association football player and manager. He achieved numerous distinctions and high rankings as a prolific goal-scoring forward with six senior clubs; St Mirren, Dundee, Sunder ...

. He was a prolific goalscorer. In three seasons he scored 48 league goals in 69 games and was the leading goalscorer in the Second Division in the 1955–56 season. He lost his starting place in 1957 and was then playing reserve team football. In 1958 he signed for Reading, his time there being hampered by two serious injuries. He finished his career with Sudbury Town and later found employment as telephone exchange operator for

British Telecom BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...

References

2007 deaths Rangers F.C. players Association football forwards Leicester City F.C. players Reading F.C. players 1929 births Sudbury Town F.C. players People from Larbert Footballers from Falkirk (council area) Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish footballers Scottish Junior Football Association players Scotland junior international footballers {{Scotland-footy-forward-1920s-stub