John Gardiner

Who is John Gardiner?

John "Jackie" Gardiner was a Scottish footballer who represented Great Britain at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Gardiner played amateur football for Queen's Park, he joined from John Street School in Bridgeton. He embarked on a tour of Norway with the club 1933.During his time as a Queens Parker, he represented the amateur national Scotland team in games against England, Wales and Ireland.

He retired from playing due to a cruciate ligament injury.

During the 1936 Olympics games, he represented Great Britain twice, his debut came in a 2-0 victory over China and his final game against Poland in a 5-4 loss. During the game against Poland he was booed by the crowd for body charging several players and knocking over Polish left winger Hubert Gad at a time when Great Britain were losing 5-1.

In the 1950s and 1960s he was general manager of the Kelvin Hall exhibition centre in Glasgow. He died in 1965 due to lung cancer. His son is Barry Gardiner, a politician.

Gardiner returned to Queen's Park after his playing career and taught a young Alex Ferguson, Ferguson had complained that an opponent had bitten him during the game and Gardiner told Ferguson to "bite him back".