Craig Gardner reportedly set to leave Blues director of football role | OneFootball

Craig Gardner is reportedly set to leave Blues after five years in senior off-field roles. The former West Brom Premier League midfielder has been in the role of director of football.

According to ExpressAndStar.com, the 39-year-old has been central to the club’s transfer recruitment at St Andrew’s.

Gardner spent three seasons at The Hawthorns, two as a regular in the Premier League, scoring six in 86 Albion appearances.

Part of that third spell included a Championship loan at Blues, before a permanent return in 2017. He retired in 2020 after a player-coach stint.

He briefly reunited with former Albion manager Tony Pulis at Sheffield Wednesday in 2020, but that stay lasted only a month. He returned to Blues in 2021 and was appointed technical director in June 2021.

The former Villa academy graduate, who also featured in the top flight for Sunderland, spent four years as technical director before moving to director of football last year, after the club’s promotion from League One back to the second tier.

He has also been credited with aiding Knighthead’s takeover in July 2023, after which the American ownership expanded the recruitment staff around him. Reports of his departure have not yet been confirmed.

Source: ExpressAndStar.com