Sunderland target Craig Gardner admits he is unsure about his future at Birmingham

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Birmingham City‘s Craig Gardner has admitted that he is unsure where he will be playing his football next year.

The 24-year-old was one of the few players to come out of last season with any credit with his eight goals for the club and he has been linked with a move to Sunderland, who are managed by former Blues boss Steve Bruce.

Gardner believes he is a good enough player to be in the Premier League and has said that he has to put his career first.

“Where are we going, what are we planning to do? I don’t know,” he told the Birmingham Mail.

“At the end of the day, like every other player, you have to think of your career.

“Everything is so up in the air at the moment. I’ve just had my best season, I felt at home in the Premier League, it’s the best league in the world, and now we’ve gone down to the Championship.”

Despite still being contracted to Birmingham, Gardner admits he has no idea what is going on at the club, with manager Alex McLeish leaving and nobody set to replace him yet.

As well as acknowledging that the instability was damaging the club’s attempts to regroup and reorganise after relegation, he paid tribute to McLeish and defended his record.

He added: “There’s a cloud over everybody’s head.

“Nobody knows what’s happening. We’ve gone down to the Championship, we’ve lost our manager. Are players leaving, is money going to be spent?

“There’s just so much to sort out and I’ve seen all the criticism Alex McLeish has been getting and I just think it’s a little unfair.

“Whether he goes to the Villa, I don’t know. If it happens, it happens. Only time will tell. You don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.

“But him going, it’s a big blow for us. He’s a top manager and that shouldn’t be forgotten.

“Let’s not forget that this season we won the Carling Cup, last season we finished in our highest position in the league for 50-odd years, we made it to two FA Cup quarter-finals and every single player in that dressing room respects him and will be upset to see him go.”

Gardner moved from Aston Villa to Birmingham in January 2010 under the guidance of McLeish, who looks set to controversially take over at Villa Park.

The Birmingham board have been criticised for not investing enough money into the club and for interfering with transfers.

“What Alex did for Blues was marvellous and if we had got one or two different players in to the ones we ended up with, no way would we have been relegated,” Gardner added.

“We would have scored enough goals here and there and got the extra points we needed.”