Fans have taken to fume as Charlton Athletic get set to appoint Swindon Town head coach Ben Garner as a replacement to Johnnie Jackson.
The South London Press reported late Wednesday night that Garner has agreed to take over, just a week after his side were beaten on penalties in the League Two playoff semi-finals at Port Vale.
Garner has been in charge at the Robins for not even a full year and the previously stint in management saw him last 11 months at Bristol Rovers when they were in League One.
#cafc set to appoint Ben Garner as their new manager.
Led Swindon Town to the League Two play-offs in the campaign just completed.https://t.co/3Z6xXElxmO
— Richard Cawley (@RichCawleySLP) May 25, 2022
It is being reported that compensation has been agreed with Swindon, a club he was under contract with until 2024 – and he will also take assistants Scott Marshall and Scott Lindsey with him.
Whilst completing the UEFA Pro Licence in 2014, Garner was mentored by then Chelsea manager José Mourinho. Previously, Garner was the assistant head coach at West Bromwich Albion and first team coach at Crystal Palace.
Before managing Bristol Rovers, he was assistant head coach at ATK in the Indian Super League.
Garner began coaching at a young age following a serious injury with the original motivation to coach being he didn’t feel young players were being coached well enough technically and tactically. Garner was also inspired by Terry Venables who “stood out from anything I had experienced previously”.
Garner has previously been praised for how hard he works to develop his game and how much time he dedicates to each player. Another added that “he’s a phenomenal person. He’s a top, top coach, his attention to detail is unreal and he sees things that we don’t see. He’s a class act all around”.
On the 21st of July 2021, Garner was appointed head coach of Swindon Town by new owner Clem Morfuni. At the time of Garner’s appointment, the club only had seven players, Garner’s newly implemented transfer policy focusing on the signings of younger players. Despite this difficult start to his time at the club, Garner guided Swindon to the play-offs in his first season in charge, finishing the season in sixth place.
HIS MANAGERIAL CAREER:
Bristol Rovers – 23 December 2019 until 14 November 2020 – 33 games, 6 wins, 10 draws, 17 defeats, 18.18 win %
Swindon Town – 21 July 2021 until Present – 56 games, 28 wins, 12 draws, 16 defeats, 50.00 win %
Total – 89 games, 34 wins, 22 draws, 33 defeats, 38.20 win %
As mentioned, some fans fume as Charlton get set to appoint Swindon head coach while others had something else to say..
@Nataliecafc: WTF… this is fucking unbelievable
@CAFCmattt: ‘Came through the coaching ranks at Palace’. Of course he did, all we do at the moment is mop up their rejects. Underwhelming
@Maccn5: Said to be a good coach & plays good football. But such a strange appointment like TS is trolling us. Ex Palace, L2, Failed at Rovers, mediocre at Swindon. Will be open minded but fans will be all over both BG & TS from day 1 on this for sacking JJ & underwhelming them. Tough gig
@addickted1905: Sacked Jackson for this?!? Fuck off
@ShoreRobert: Gotta at least give him a chance. Lot of entitlement on here.
@MartCAFC45: Well when you set your sights low I suppose we should have expected this
@_SamuelDay: When’s the protest?
@bovvywevvy: So how did he impress Sandgaard? What did he do, tell him he’ll play whatever formation TS wants? Play the fucking solo from ‘Stairway To Heaven?’ Fuck me, we are SO lower division now. Thank you. We WILL get our club back one day, but christ that’s looking like a long time away.
@joejeffcoat_: I’m done 🤮
@StuartR850: To say I’m underwhelmed is an understatement
@1983richings: As a Bristol Rovers fan, this is a bad, bad appointment. He totally dismantled our squad and brought in ‘known’ names..but it totally backfired and was the cause of our relegation.. #Goodluck #cafc #UTG
@maccalad10: Thank fuck i ain’t renewed my ST 🤦🏻♂️
@Jackosaysrelax: Out of all the options out there. Really.
@Machenzio: Never heard of him & know absolutely nothing about him. Will just have to see how he does. I don’t expect this appointment will go down well with the fanbase though. #cafc
@GnightIrene1883: I think we need to remember the Gas was his first Mgr appointment and he would have learned a lot from the CEO and DoF which I think Barton called clowns that got fired out of a cannon. His recruitment seemed better at Swindon but that may well have been Ben Chorley… If the Charlton recruitment set up is on point and he can reach decent players, his coaching ability was never questioned so I can see this appointment maybe making sense. Time will tell though Addicks fans!
• Coaching in India
• Developing young players like Zaha and Wan-Bissaka
• Working under Holloway, Warnock, Pardew and PulisBen Garner’s early managerial career has been a fascinating one… 🔴📜
— The Coaches’ Voice (@CoachesVoice) May 26, 2022
@Alex70889454: Happy to judge him on performance but this was far from expected. TS should know that he’ll be hanging his hat on this one – it’ll be make or break. #cafc
@ValleyFloydFred: Meh. We need to give Ben Garner a chance, but my initial view is this doesn’t scream romping the league. Underwhelmed.
@close131074: 25 years season ticket holder I won’t be renewing prob get a few free tickets when they dish out the freebies
@flud97: That confirms no renewing of the season ticket
@swindonsixties: #stfc fucking hell! And I thought Ben Garner was one of the good guys? I want to know what the inside story is – there’s more to this than meets the eye. What a terrible end to a wonderful season.
@ClaireFurnell1: Well, did not see that coming….Please tell me Ben Garner leaving isn’t true?! @Official_STFC
@ceej69: Garner is the 32nd ‘permanent’ manager of #stfc since I went to my first match. Shame if he goes but he’s no Macari, Ardiles, Hoddle or DiCanio. But if it turns out he’s leaving due to lack of funds for next season then we should all be massively concerned.
@GuyJDavies: Bristol Rovers fans finding this absolutely hilarious is probably all we need to know really.
@alfiedavis118: That’ll be Josh Davison as our main striker next season then
@simongoodall1: If Garner goes, I can’t help feeling he’s walking into another Bristol Rovers situation. They certainly won’t give him the time as we have done #STFC
@lolzamapop: Not sure how I feel about Garner leaving if it’s true. Just feels like a constant merry go round, with no stability. The Swindon way. #STFC
@DannyKimber: Poor from #Garner if he’s jumping ship, concern is who he could take player wise with him. Saying that there are better managers out there that must of been keeping an eye on #STFC
@cafcbillyboy: Obviously a yes man and happy for the owner and his son doing the recruiting, guaranteed he wasn’t 1st 2nd or 3rd choice
@Stfc_Glen: If Garner leaves at the first approach after what Clem & the club have given him a chance to do then good riddance, bring in someone more committed! #STFC
@Ryan_austin1999: Yep so the whole time we had these big names being linked constantly and this is who we end up with 🤦♂️ JJ should have been given his fair chance if this is who we’ve appointed not happy for this at all but I guess we have to give him a chance now I just hope he gets it right now!
@mitchelredgate: So underwhelming… fingers crossed I’m proved wrong.
@michaeltulley64: Don’t do it Ben.
@jbennett1997: Mckirdy and Jonny back again then?
@marklay11: Well, made my decision. Not going to The Valley next season (after nearly 50 years on and off). Had enough. Maidstone Utd and the National League. At least a club with some ambition.
@joteddyuk: If true, rather strange. Hasn’t achieved anything yet as a manager. Loads of managers have led teams to the play-offs. Counts for nothing if you don’t get promoted.
@emmacafc1980: Wtf is this 🤦♀️
@bradysilverfox: How’s that an improvement on JJ
@Joe_Cafc: God what
@WesleighWainwr2: No offence to BG. CAFC need a better appointment. Neil Warnock would do wonders with you.
@fredbarney2014: Well that’s extremely underwhelming, #cafc
@ledcafc: Christ.. poor @SandgaardThomas
@ben180smalley: No Way!!! That is no better than keeping Jacko and let him build a squad that he wanted. @CAFCofficial need to be aiming for more established people at this level to get us up and out this league and back to where we belong!! #cafc #WeWantOurCharltonBack #WhyDidIRenew
@Turkishcypriot8: Wtf is this a joke?
@SimonP4: Most decent managers would want to build their own squad of players and shape their team accordingly. So I guess this guy is happy to leave the recruiting to Sandgaard and son and concentrate on coaching only….. I just don’t get it!!!
@JohnBak58538194: By all accounts he likes to play attacking, passing football. So that’s okay. Now it’s down to the recruitment. If he gets the players who will fit in with his style of play, before pre season. We may have a winning team.
@darrell_ben: Feel bad for Charlton fans if you get him. Brought in some of the worst players I’ve seen in my life and took us from 2nd in league one to 14th in the space of just over 4 months and the season after brought in shite and we finished bottom. Owners should stay well clear.
@sjreynolds1883: Straight up this is awful for @CAFCofficial. Your club deserve a manager with credentials. I wish u luck! Glad we got rid when we did… the damage was almost irreparable but we did get back.
@prendall68: Good luck with him sacked by xmas
@smit112: I hope this Ben Garner succeeds, but if it goes tits up, next season will be unbelievably toxic at the Valley. #cafc
@BRFCBill: Gone by October
“Of course we talked to Michael. We’ve also been a little more ambitious than that, in terms of the level of managers we’ve been reaching for.” – Sandgaard after talks with Villa’s Beale. #cafc pic.twitter.com/3eYjmWmLf9
— Josh Rogers (@JoshtheRog) May 25, 2022
— spencer66 (@spennjy66) May 25, 2022
— TheRedSquidhead (@Squidhead76) May 25, 2022
— Lennie Monk (@Len1monk) May 25, 2022
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