Ken Rae, chairman of Blue Square North club Redditch United, has moved swiftly to find a replacement manager for the club following on from the recent departures of Gary Whild and Micky Moore.
The Reds have announced the appointment of Matt Gardiner as first-team manager with immediate effect.
Thirt-six-year-old Gardiner began his career as an apprentice with Torquay United, making his professional debut aged just 18 years old in the Division Three fixture away at Bury in September 1992.
He then moved on to Shrewsbury Town before playing for a host of Midlands clubs, including Moor Green, Stourbridge and Halesowen Town before going back into the full -ime game with then Conference side Hereford United in June 2000.
After missing the end of the 2000 season through injury, he joined Worcester City before re-joining Hereford for a short while. Then in November 2001 Gardiner joined Hednesford Town as one of new manager Kenny Hibbitt's first signings and successfully helped the team avoid relegation.
He then rejoined Redditch and was an integral part of the 'double-winning' squad that won the Southern League Western Division title before going on to win promotion to the newly-formed Football Conference North.
Gardiner left The Valley to rejoin Worcester in February 2005 before moving to local rivals Bromsgrove Rovers, who he captained and played for until rejoining the Reds for the final months of last season, where his typically committed performances helped to ensure the club`s survival in the second tier of non-League football for yet another season.
Also joining Gardiner as part of the Reds` new management team will be the highly-respected and experienced John Snape.
The former West Bromwich Albion apprentice, Halesowen, Hereford and Bromsgrove team-mate of Matt's also has managerial and coaching experience at clubs such as Worcester, Stratford Town and Bromsgrove.
Gardiner has also confirmed that John Reeves, the club`s goalkeeping coach, will remain as part of his backroom staff and further appointments will be announced in due course.
Chairman Rae said of Gardiner`s appointment: “We weren’t looking to make an appointment this quickly but Matt was always an option as I made no secret of the fact that ideally I was keen to promote from within the club and hence when Micky made his decision on Monday I had no hesitation in contacting Matt and arranging a meeting.
“We got together on Wednesday evening and he showed in the meeting that he has some tremendous ideas for the club and coupled with his obvious passion and desire to succeed along with his great work ethic, he was the man for the job and deserved a chance.
“Both I and the club know him, as a player and a person and have worked with him before, which is very important as we know what Matt is about, how he conducts himself and what he can bring to the club.
“He has playing experience at both professional and non-League levels so knows the game very well and he is a consummate professional.”
Rae added: “Matt was not phased in any way by the challenge ahead and the budget restraints we have set for the coming season and he convinced me that both he and John Snape have the contacts and networking connections within the game that can attract the kind of players in to this club that will work hard towards keeping us in this division - which at the end of the day is all we can ask of the new manager and his team.”
Gardiner said of his appointment: “I am extremely grateful to the chairman and Board for the opportunity to manage Redditch United Football Club and look forward to working with Ken, the fans and everyone connected with the football club.
“I am very excited about the challenge ahead and have already begun planning for the new season.
“I am under no illusions of the testing and challenging season we have ahead of us. However, I am very confident, both John Snape and I understand what it takes to be competitive at this level and whilst we will have a very tight budget to work with, we will strive to blend the right mix of experience, youth and local talent in order for the local community to be proud of its football club.”
