Ex-Sunderland striker Harry Gardiner reflects on ‘ruthless’ release and '£20m' valuation - exclusive

Most boys and girls in Sunderland fantasise about donning the red and white stripes but few succeed. How does it feel when that dream ends having come so close?

Sunderland fan Harry Gardiner didn’t come up through the traditional academy route. The striker was with non-leaguers South Shields as a youngster before being offered a scholarship deal at his boyhood club aged 17. Something that is usually unheard of.

Three-and-a-half happy and successful years at Sunderland followed. Gardiner scored goals for the club’s under-18s and under-21s sides. He was also promoted to train with the first team several times under Lee Johnson and Tony Mowbray.

After one training session with Sunderland’s senior squad, then-manager Johnson was so impressed with the player’s performance, graft and determination he joked Gardiner was Sunderland’s “new £20million striker”.

Gardiner’s biggest chance of first team minutes came under during Mowbray’s time at the club. The striker was playing well for the under-21s, scoring goals and winning Player of the Month awards in the Premier League 2 at the same time Ross Stewart picked up a season-ending injury.

Gardiner netted a hat-trick in the under-21 league against Stoke City in March 2023 with Sunderland’s first team struggling for goals without Stewart. “That was what the club lacked at that time, a six-yard box striker,” Gardiner exclusively told The Echo. “I remember coming back from the game, I'm sat up there scrolling through Twitter and I see comments from fans on the SAFC Academy page saying get him in the side.

“And then Mowbray is getting asked questions about me. I was like what's going on here? This is incredible. I'm not saying I'm ready now because I've still got a lot of development to do, but we didn't sign Joe Gelhardt to play as a number nine, we signed him to play off Ross Stewart. I'm not saying I should have started five games in a row but it would be nice to have a little opportunity on the bench and maybe get a few minutes with Stewart out injured.”

Sunderland made the tough decision to release Gardiner at the end of last season despite the player having impressed staff members at the Academy of Light, including youth coach John Hewitson. “I've lived every fan's dream for three years,” Gardiner told The Echo after his release. “If you'd have told me, leaving school to where I am now, I'd have done what I've done, I wouldn't have believed you at all. I'm proud of what I've done.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed in how it's ended but I suppose that's football,” Gardiner added. “The more I've been in the building and been in that environment, the more I have learned that it's ruthless. Stuff like that's going to happen but I've loved every minute of it. I've learned so much that I can take forward. It doesn't matter if it was the under-18s or the under-21s, you're put on the red and white shirt, and you're playing all over the country in incredible places. It's something I didn't even dream of leaving school. The experiences and the lessons I've learned can help me move forward.”

I ask Gardiner about the day of his actual release and his feelings when the bombshell eventually came. “It's a weird one,” he responds. “I wasn't too disheartened by the decision. I didn't take it badly because I thought it was just going to be a one-year contract again if I did get offered one. I kind of thought what's the point? I didn't really want to do that. You want a bit of security as well.

“I might sound a bit daft but I thought it was a win-win. If they said yes then it's like oh it's nice but what's the benefit behind it? If they said no I can get a fresh start somewhere else and try and get myself out there and build up but the only thing I'd say is that it probably knocks your pride a little bit.”

Gardiner played a big part in Sunderland’s success at under-21 level during the early part of last season and helped Graeme Murty’s team pick up valuable points before heading out on loan to National League North side Blyth Spartans. Gardiner’s teammates would advance to the Premier League 2 play-off final against Tottenham Hotspur while the striker netted five goals during his non-league stint before injury ended his season.

“I've not been a part of the 21s since January, but look how well they've done,” Gardiner added. “I think Murts has got a lot to do with that and Hewitson. They are really good coaches and since they have come in, they have taken the lads to a different level. The coaching staff and the whole staff in general in the building, whether that's the analysts, the chefs, they're absolutely top drawer. The whole club, they're the blood. They're the ones behind the scenes that you don't see. They deserve loads of credit, not just the coaching staff.”

Gardiner, though, now has something many of Sunderland’s promising current under-21s group, for all their talent, don’t: experience of senior men’s football and the rigours and pressures that come with it. Kevin Phillips rated the player so highly he specifically requested Sunderland loan Gardiner to South Shields during the club’s 2022-23 promotion push, though the striker was used sparingly. Gardiner then went out to Blyth Spartans this campaign before the Northumberland club were relegated.

“There was the South Shields loan last year. It wasn't ideal and it didn't go how I expected. So I think the one thing I was trying to get out of this loan this year at Blyth was just getting that experience, getting the first taste of men's football, seeing what it's like, and I think it was five goals in 14 appearances, which might not look great but it was in a struggling side.

“Academy football is full of lads who are technically gifted and everyone is just bang at it, really good technically. Whereas you go to National League North, and it's like the football's different. You look at Tamworth, they won the league pretty comfortably, and they weren't the best team, but they were the most effective team, and that's what wins you games at that level.”

What comes next for Gardiner? The striker is rehabbing a hamstring injury, which he picked up last March, but is expected to be fit for pre-season. The forward also believes his academy days are behind him. Gardiner explains he would be open to moving aboard or elsewhere in the UK.

“My main target at the minute is to get back fit as quick as I can and then just see what happens.” a laser-focused Gardiner adds. “I want to land at a decent level but I also want to land at a level where I'm going to be out there in the eyeline playing games. I don't want to be going back into an academy environment. I want to be going to a first-team environment now. I need men's football. I'm going 21 in September. I don't want to be going back to that. There's only one chance to make it work type of thing so I might as well just go all in and see what happens.”