Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Gardner-Hickman backs City to win at Hawthorns
TAYLOR Gardner-Hickman was attracting national media attention this week – not due to his imminent return to The Hawthorns which, admittedly, is a big moment for him, but because he and his partner happened to be photographed as they attended the Cheltenham Festival on Tuesday, with the image used on multiple news websites.
A regular attendee with his family, the Bristol City midfielder looked dapper as he rocked up donning a dark blue suit with naval-style big gold buttons. For Gardner-Hickman it has all been a bit embarrassing as the banter, as you can imagine, has flowed at the High Performance Centre, especially as he was labelled “a racegoer” in the accompanying captions, with the photographers evidently not Championship purists.
He will, to some extent, be centre of attention at West Brom today as he returns to the club where it all began for him as a footballer.
Hoping for a positive welcome from the Baggies faithful, GardnerHickman joined the academy when he was aged seven, spending the next 14 years of his life in (again) navy and white before making the move on loan to Ashton Gate in August, an agreement which then became permanent in January.
He jokes that he has conditioned himself to turn left not right, and into the correct dressing room, when he arrives at The Hawthorns, given how familiar he is with the stadium.
Although a Manchester City fan growing up, there is an obvious affinity with the club and all that surrounds it, but his family will very much be stationed in the away end among the 2,009 travelling Robins supporters and any sentimental stuff can be left until after the game.
“Ultimately, I’m going there to compete, and all I want to do is win,” Gardner-Hickman said. “I was there for 14 years, so I do owe a lot to them in terms of that’s where my journey started and where I got given the chance to make my professional debut, so I’m very grateful and I’ve learned so many great things and had so many great memories there, but we have to move on in football and nothing lasts forever, so you have to make the most of it while you can.
“If there is to be a reaction I think it’ll be reasonably nice. They’re a club that likes people coming through their academy and I’d like to think I haven’t done that bad for them so hopefully it’ll be a nice welcome back.
“I get excited for every game, I love playing football, it’s my job and I’m a competitor first and it’s no friends until the final whistle and let’s see if we have any after the final whistle.”
At West Brom, and in the early stages of his time at City, GardnerHickman played in a variety of positions and fulfilled a number of roles, but under Manning he has very much been established as a deep-lying midfielder and, given
Matty James’ achilles issues, his partnership with Joe Williams is likely to continue today.
It has brought a consistency to his profession as he notes throughout his footballing life, due to his varied skillset, height and football IQ, he has played every position on the field, including in goal, something he believes is of considerable benefit to what sort of player he is in 2024.
“I used to play further forwards coming through in the academy,” Gardner-Hickman added. “I played in the number ten role, on the wing and sometimes as a nine... I was a bit all over the place, really, I even played goalkeeper when I was younger, just to fill in for a game.
“It all helps. Especially as you grow up. You don’t see it then, but when you look back it definitely helps in terms of knowledge of what each position needs.
“For example, if I’m playing centre mid, I know what the left-back needs from me, because you’ve been in that situation yourself.”
When asked, Gardner-Hickman, left, admits he is not exactly sure how he will react if he happens to score, depending on how the moment takes him. But, then again, with one goal all season, it is probably not an immediate focus to occupy thoughts for the game, although he has surely pictured it.
City will certainly have lots of bases to cover to reach the necessary performance level, given West Brom have lost just one of their last nine games and since the start of December their only defeats at The Hawthorns have been to Leicester City, Southampton and Premier League Wolves in the FA Cup.
The Robins stopped the rot against Swansea last Sunday, a result which may not have been an aestheticallypleasing watch, to put it mildly, but was necessary in the moment and its significance is outlined by GardnerHickman. But, echoing head coach Liam Manning and Rob Dickie, the 22-year-old also believes the entire experience has brought the squad together.
“I think if you were a fly on the wall, you’d genuinely be quite impressed,” Gardner-Hickman said about the atmosphere in the camp over the last month. “We dig people out when we have to, and we all come together when we have to.
“We’ve got a really good balance in this squad of, every player wants to speak, every player wants to learn and ultimately that gels the squad.”