Charlton boss confirms Joe Wollacott will start season as number one goalkeeper
Ben Garner has confirmed that Joe Wollacott will start in goal for Charlton Athletic at Accrington Stanley tomorrow.
The Addicks snapped up the Ghana international on a free transfer from Swindon Town this summer.
Craig MacGillivray had been first choice last season for the South Londoners but Wollacott has been handed the number one squad number.
“Jojo will start tomorrow,” Garner told the South London Press. “He will have the shirt for the first game of the season. And then, like any position, it is game on. That’s competition. Just because a goalkeeper is number one for the first game of the season doesn’t mean he keeps it for the entire year.
“He has the opportunity to go in and perform, as he did against Swansea last weekend – he had an outstanding game. But it’s the same in every position, like the player that is going to start at centre-back or centre-forward, there is competition and he has to perform to keep the shirt.
“The team I pick for one game could be different to what is needed, for example, against Derby next Saturday.
“Yeah, it’s a case of Jojo having the shirt initially but we’ve got good competition with Craig and Nathan [Harness] to push him and try to get the shirt off of him.”
Charlton announced their squad numbers earlier this week.
Asked how much input he or his management team had in the process, Garner replied: “Minimal from me. It was left to our kit manager and the players, predominantly. I think there was only one incidence where two players wanted the same number and one player wanted to change his number from last season. Apart from that it was pretty straightforward.
“It isn’t really something I pay much attention to. It’s a bit of a cliche but it’s the badge on the front I’m concerned with, and the team performance.”
PICTURES: KYLE ANDREWS
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