Joe Cardle

Joseph Cardle (born 7 February 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Starting his career at Port Vale in 2005, he made occasional appearances in his three years as a senior player at the club. Following a loan spell with Clyde in 2007, he signed with Scottish club Airdrie United in 2008, winning that year's Scottish Challenge Cup. The following year he moved on to Dunfermline Athletic and helped the club to the First Division title in 2010–11.

Cardle switched to Raith Rovers in March 2013 after Dunfermline Athletic hit a financial crisis. He helped Raith win the Scottish Challenge Cup in 2014 and won a move to top-flight club Ross County in May 2014. He rejoined Dunfermline Athletic in July 2015 and helped the club win the League One title in 2015–16. He signed with English non-League side AFC Fylde in July 2018 and then returned to Scotland to sign for Partick Thistle in January 2019. He won another League One title with Partick Thistle in 2020–21 before joining Kelty Hearts. He was named on the PFA Scotland Team of the Year for the second time after Hearts won the Scottish League Two title at the end of the 2021–22 season and left the club the following summer.

Career

Port Vale Born in Blackpool, Cardle played for Lytham Juniors in his youth alongside Joe Anyon. Both players signed as schoolboys for Burnley. In July 2003, 16-year-old Cardle signed for League One club Port Vale as an apprentice. Cardle made his senior debut on 10 September 2005 in a 2–0 defeat to Scunthorpe United. He made nine appearances in the 2005–06 campaign, and ten appearances in 2006–07. In May 2007, he signed a one-year extension to his contract.

In August 2007, Cardle signed on loan for Scottish First Division club Clyde until Christmas. He made his debut on 1 September against Dundee, but was sent off 25 minutes into the game. and subsequently returned to Scotland to join Airdrie United. He played for Airdrie in the final of the Scottish Challenge Cup at McDiarmid Park, helping his new club to beat Ross County on penalties to claim their first trophy. He scored his first goal for the club in a league match against Queen of the South on 18 October 2008, and his second and final goal followed in the Scottish Cup against Cove Rangers the following month.

Cardle was red-carded in his final match for Airdrie, against Livingston on 7 March 2009, after an on-field incident with captain Marc Smyth. Cardle later said that "Big Marc got me mixed up with another Airdrie player who had lost possession which led to their [Livingston] fourth goal... Marc's verbal onslaught mistakenly directed at me, made me lose it". Cardle left the Excelsior Stadium by mutual consent four days later, having made a total of 24 appearances on the right side of midfield for the "Diamonds", scoring three goals in cup competitions along with one league goal.

Dunfermline Athletic In May 2009, Cardle signed with Airdrie's First Division rivals Dunfermline Athletic. On 23 January 2010, Cardle scored a hat-trick in Dunfermline's 4–1 win at Partick Thistle, after coming on as a substitute. He scored eight goals in 31 games over all competitions in the 2009–10 campaign. In 2010–11, he helped Jim McIntyre's "Pars" to promotion into the Scottish Premier League as First Division champions. However, Athletic were relegated straight back out of the SPL in 2011–12, despite a late managerial change in putting Jim Jefferies in charge at East End Park. He was made redundant by Dunfermline in March 2013 after the club suffered a financial crisis.

Raith Rovers On 31 March 2013, he joined Raith Rovers until the end of the season, after manager Grant Murray acted quickly to beat the player registration deadline. In July 2013, Cardle signed a new contract to stay at Stark's Park for another year. In February 2014, Cardle stated he had "fallen back in love with football" at Stark's Park. He played in the final of the Scottish Challenge Cup at Easter Road as Rovers beat Rangers 1–0 in extra time to claim his second winners medal in the competition.

Ross County Cardle signed a one-year deal with Scottish Premiership club Ross County in May 2014 as manager Derek Adams felt that he was "an out and out winger... very creative and direct which will suit our style of play." He made his debut for Ross County on 10 August 2014, in a 2–1 home defeat against St Johnstone in the opening game of the season. At the end of the 2014–15 season, Cardle was released by the "Staggies".

Return to Dunfermline After appearing and scoring for now League One side Dunfermline Athletic as a trialist against Berwick Rangers, Cardle re-signed for his former club in July 2015. On his return, Cardle's first competitive goal came in a 6–1 defeat of Brechin City in the first league match of the season. He scored a further 10 goals in 15 matches, including an important goal in the Scottish League Cup against Scottish Premiership side Dundee and a hat-trick against Forfar Athletic. In December 2015 however, he was sent off against title rivals Ayr United for receiving a straight red card for violent conduct, shortly after he received a yellow card for simulation. However, after appealing against referee Andrew Dallas' decision on the basis that there was no actual contact with Ayr player Peter Murphy, the card was rescinded. He helped the "Pars" to win promotion as divisional champions in the 2015–16 season. He was also named on the PFA Scotland Team of the Year for League One.

He scored a hat-trick in a 4–3 victory over Dumbarton at East End Park on 6 August 2016. Athletic finished in fifth-place in 2016–17, with Cardle claiming five goals in 21 games. Cardle was named as SPFL Championship Player of the Month in August 2017 after scoring five goals from four league games. However, soon after picking up the award he was sidelined for six weeks with a hamstring injury. He ended the 2017–18 campaign with ten goals in 34 appearances as Allan Johnston's Dunfermline qualified for the play-offs with a fourth-place finish, going to lose to Dundee United at the quarter-final stage. He left the club in June 2018.

AFC Fylde After 10 years playing in Scotland, Cardle returned to England in July 2018, signing for National League club AFC Fylde on a two-year deal. He scored two goals in 17 appearances for the "Coasters", however, he left the club on 6 November; manager Dave Challinor said that this was because the player was unsettled after his wife and children were unable to relocate from Scotland.

Partick Thistle On 4 January 2019, Cardle signed a deal with Partick Thistle to keep him at the Firhill Stadium until the end of the 2018–19 season after training with Gary Caldwell's side for some weeks. Cardle said that he was surprised to see the "Jags" struggling in the Scottish Championship and went on to say "I'm an experienced player and I know the division, so I know for certain that we have enough here to drag ourselves up the table". Cardle made his first appearance for Thistle in a 1–1 draw away to Dundee United, where he entered as a substitute, and scored his first goal in his third appearance; a 4–1 victory in the Scottish Cup against Stranraer. He scored his first league goal the following week in a 2–1 home win against Queen of the South. After helping the "Jags" to safety with a sixth-place finish, Cardle signed a new one-year deal with the Glasgow club in May 2019. He scored four goals in 32 games in the 2019–20 season, which ended in relegation when the season was declared early with nine games left to play due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland. Cardle complained that Thistle were only two points behind Queen of the South with a game in hand, saying "the whole thing just doesn't feel right... Partick are too big a club to be relegated into League One and we believe we would have prevented it happening". He was offered a new contract in the summer.

Cardle signed a one-year contract extension with Thistle for the 2020–21 season. He scored his first and second goals season on 10 October, coming off the bench to score both goals in a 2–0 home win over Queen's Park in the League Cup group stages. Partick Thistle went on to win promotion as League One champions at the first attempt, with Cardle rounding off the scoring of the title-clinching 5–0 victory over Falkirk on 29 April.

Kelty Hearts On 1 June 2021, Cardle signed a two-year contract with Kelty Hearts, who had just achieved promotion into Scottish League Two. On 31 July, he became the first player to score for Kelty Hearts in the Scottish Professional Football League, in a 2–0 win over Cowdenbeath at New Central Park. Kevin Thomson's Hearts won the division by a 21 points margin, with Cardle scoring 16 goals and providing 10 assists in 46 games. He was named on the PFA Scotland Team of the Year for League Two at the end of the 2021–22 season. He made forty appearances in the 2022–23 campaign, scoring two goals, as Hearts secured their third tier status with an eighth-place finish.

Personal life Cardle's parents were originally from Glasgow and moved to England before his birth. His brother, Scott, is a lightweight boxer. Cardle has indicated that he would want to represent Scotland over his country of birth. He owns UEFA B and A licences and set up a football academy in Dunfermline in 2020.

Career statistics

Honours Club Airdrie United Scottish Challenge Cup: 2008 Raith Rovers Scottish Challenge Cup: 2014 PFA Scotland Team of the Year (Scottish League One): 2015–16 Kelty Hearts PFA Scotland Team of the Year (Scottish League Two): 2021–22