Draft:Jimmy Gardner (labourer)

Jimmy "Five Bellies" Gardner (born 1966) is a British former paving labourer who earned media attention in the 1990s and early 2000s as the best friend of England international footballer Paul Gascoigne, whose issues with alcohol were in the public eye. A 2004 article in The Guardian described Gardner as "the only person in Britain famous for being a footballer's mate."

Relationship with Paul Gascoigne
Gardner and Gascoigne met at school at the age of 14, and Gascoigne gave him his nickname referring to his obesity. Gardner gained notoriety for accompanying Gascoigne while drinking, and stories of their alleged antics were included in newspapers. One such case alleged that Gardner withstood a lighter flame being applied to his nose to win a £1,000 bet with Gascoigne, while Gardner states that the flame was Gascoigne's way of waking him from a deep sleep in a bar. Gascoigne once recalled firing at Gardner's bare buttocks with an air gun. A 1999 report in The Herald stated "Gardner's celebrity has often appeared dubious, but his close and often calamitous friendship with Gascoigne, aided by his nickname, made him a headline writer's dream". During Euro 96, a columnist for the Italian paper Gazzetta dello Sport wrote about the friendship. On 19 September 1996 he appeared in an episode of They Think It’s All Over.

He denies allegations that he introduced Gascoigne to alcohol abuse, saying "if anything, it's the opposite." His cousin, David Cheek, died of acute alcohol poisoning at the age of 43 on 13 August 1998 during a night out with Gardner and Gascoigne. Gardner followed Gascoigne throughout his career, and during the footballer's time at Rangers, manager Walter Smith banned him from the Ibrox Stadium. According to Archie Knox, when Smith arrived in Rome to sign Gascoigne for Rangers, he found Gascoigne attempting to run Gardner over with a quad bike. Gascoigne had on a previous occasion hit Gardner with his car while driving at 30 mph, having been attempting "just to scare him."

The relationship between Gardner and Gascoigne remained in the public eye as the footballer's condition worsened after his retirement. Gascoigne's autobiography, Gazza: My Story, details an incident in Lanzhou, China in 2003 when he had a breakdown related to alcohol and Gardner was unable to help as he had left town shortly before. Gardner said later, "He was drinking all this whisky, but it was having no effect on him. But you can't tell Paul not to do something, or he'll just do it even worse." In 2008, they fell out when Gardner aimed to address his friend's rapid weight loss and depression, but reconciled later that year. They fell out again in 2013 after Gardner made a public call for his friend to seek help for his addiction, and Gardner confessed that he searches Gascoigne's name on the Internet every day to check if he is still alive.

Personal life
Gardner is from Dunston, Gateshead. He left school with no qualifications and worked as a tarmac layer. He had two sons as of 1998. Gascoigne is godfather to his son Liam. Gardner was fined £500 in February 1997 for assault, having punched a Celtic fan in the face at a pub in Houston, Renfrewshire, after an Old Firm game in which Gascoigne had played for Rangers; the sheriff said that there was a sectarian element to the attack.

In August 1999, Gardner was sentenced to six months in prison for drunkenly threatening a group of youths with an unloaded air pistol when they taunted him; radio presenter Chris Evans gave him a character reference in court. Less than 72 hours into his sentence, he was released on bail from HM Prison Durham. Gardner described his imprisonment as a trigger event for him to give up drinking.

He was declared bankrupt in 2005. In 2010, having shed his weight from a peak of 21 stone to 13 stone due to a drastic change in lifestyle, he took part in the Great North Run for the Bobby Robson Foundation. His shirt number was 555, a reference to his nickname.