Joe Cardle

Joseph Cardle (born 7 February 1987) is an English footballer.

Cardle tends to be played as a winger but can play on either side.

In July 2003, 16-year-old Cardle signed for League One club Port Vale as an apprentice.

Starting his career at Port Vale in 2005, he made occasional appearances in his three years as a senior player at the club.

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.

Following a loan spell with Clyde in 2007, he signed with Scottish club Airdrie United in 2008, winning that year's Scottish Challenge Cup.

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.

He made ten appearances in all competitions, the final one being against Montrose in the Scottish Cup in November 2007.

He was taken off with an injury, and failed to recover before his loan spell ended.

Back at Vale Park, he played nine games in 2007–08.

Cardle was released by new Vale manager Lee Sinnott in May 2008, 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.

In May 2009, Cardle signed with Airdrie's First Division rivals Dunfermline Athletic.

He scored eight goals in 31 games over all competitions in the 2009–10 campaign.

The following year he moved on to Dunfermline Athletic, and helped the club to the First Division title in 2010–11.

On 23 January 2010, Cardle scored a hat-trick in Dunfermline's 4–1 win at Partick Thistle, after coming on as a substitute.

In 2010–11, he helped Jim McIntyre's "Pars" to promotion into the Scottish Premier League as First Division champions.

He also scored past Rangers at Ibrox in Dunfermline's 7–2 defeat in the League Cup.

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.

Cardle switched to Raith Rovers in March 2013, after Dunfermline Athletic hit a financial crisis.

He was made redundant by Dunfermline in March 2013 after the club suffered a financial crisis.

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.

He helped Raith win the Scottish Challenge Cup in 2014, and won a move to top-flight club Ross County in May 2014.

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.

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 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.

Born in Blackpool, Cardle played for Lytham Juniors in his youth alongside Joe Anyon.

Both players signed for Burnley as schoolboys.