The Thistle Archive

Alex and Meg Brownlie raised two footballing brothers in Caldercruix, Gardner being followed by John who would win 7 caps for Scotland in the early 1970s. Both boys went to Glengowan Primary school, which also spawned Jimmy Murray (Airdrie), Billy McPheat (Sunderland) and Willie Henderson (Rangers, Scotland). Being the elder, it was Gardner who showed up first, and Dad would take young John to Firhill to see Gardner turn out for the Partick Thistle reserves.

Gardner started as an inside left in his younger days, but came to be regarded as a right winger. Whilst at Seafied United, Willie Thornton tied him to Firhill towards the end of 1965 and he would remain on the books at Firhill for two and a half seasons, albeit never getting the nod in first team terms. The closest he got was an end-of-season League match at home to Dundee United on 6th May, 1967. This was the first season in which a twelfth man could be listed as a substitute, but such a player could only be introduced if there was an injury, a scenario less likely in a dead rubber. Two goals from John Flanagan and one from Arthur Ducan secured the points for Thistle, but Gardner could only watch from the bench, along with the appallingly low Saturday afternoon crowd of 1,109.

Gardner was granted a free transfer in April 1968 without having made a first team appearance and, after a short spell with Bathgate Thistle, he landed at Second Division Alloa Athletic, where he spent 3 seasons, clocking up around 50 appearances. Clearly, it was his younger brother who made the footballing headlines, but the two remained close, and when John went into management, he often drafted his brother in to help. At one stage, whilst John was managing the Cowdenbeath first team in the late 80s and early 90s, Gardner was in charge of the reserves.