Chris Gardiner (1946-2016)
BORN Brownhills, Staffordshire, Christopher Gardiner is usually regarded as Grantham Town’s outstanding goalkeeper and at his peak was considered the best in non-league football.
He went to Colsterworth School and Charles Read, Corby Glen.
Chris Started out in local football as a striker, scoring 70 goals in one season for Colsterworth Mines, but began goalkeeping with Sunday League side, Beedon Park.
At the end of the 1966/67 and 1967/68 seasons, with appearances also made for Grantham St John’s, he played in goal for Grantham sides that appeared in the Bourne Hospital Cup.
Chris played his first genuine competitive game for the club after taking over the goalkeeping role from John Small for the first game of the 1968/69 season at Sutton Town. In this first season, he played in every game and while Grantham was still in the Midland League, he began to notch up appearances in some of the club’s important games.
Among those were the FA Cup ties against Chelmsford City, Swindon Town, Oldham Athletic, Stockport County and Rotherham United, an FA Trophy Quarter-Final tie against Yeovil Town, along with the achievements of two Midland League Championship winners medals, two for the Midland League Cup and one for the Lincolnshire County Cup.
The first two campaigns after Grantham’s entry into the Southern League saw appearances for Chris in FA Cup ties against Bradford City, Hillingdon Borough, Rochdale and the club’s biggest ever game, at home to Middlesbrough in the January 1974 Third Round Proper game, not to mention another league winner’s medal as Grantham swept their new opponents aside.
The following four seasons saw precious little for the supporters to cheer about, other than an FA Cup tie against Port Vale, which obviously Chris played in as well as the majority of the other games as well. Grantham briefly dipped down a level in the non-league pyramid in the Summer of 1978, but a year later Chris had won his fourth league winner’s medal, when Grantham clinched the Southern League Division One North Championship by a single point, with Chris playing in that all important decider at home to Merthyr Tydfil in May 1979.
Grantham moved into the Northern Premier League and his ability soon became noticed by the England Semi-Professional selectors although unfortunately Chris never made the starting line-up.
More highlights continued with The Gingerbreads though.
He played in the October 1980 County Cup Final against Lincoln City and only two months later faced his most formidable opponents when Nottingham Forest came to London Road, with Trevor Francis putting three past him.
The following Summer marked the end of his secure career at London Road, although the 1981/82 season did see four more appearances for Chris, but his understudy for several years, Graham Cox, was finally awarded the coveted Number 1 shirt.
He then spent two seasons at Bourne Town and had a brief spell at Stamford Town, before a surprise return as cover to London Road, although the February 1985 league fixture at home to Bangor City was his lone and final appearance.
Other than football, Chris was also a reputable cricketer, winning a Daily Mirror award for performances in the Haig Cup and well known on the local darts scene.
Chris spent more than 25 years at the top of Grantham’s list of record appearance makers, but lost the lead in February 2005 to Adrian Speed, sportingly being at The Meres to see his record equalled. For many years Chris worked for British Steel, before becoming an inspector at a local tyre company.
Research by Jon Barnes
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