Charlton boss Ben Garner to miss Fleetwood Town game after contracting Covid

Charlton Athletic manager Ben Garner will miss tomorrow’s League One match at Fleetwood Town after contracting Covid.

Addicks assistant boss Scott Marshall will take charge for this weekend’s fixture.

Garner still did the press conference ahead of the Fleetwood match via Zoom.

“I’m not [feeling] too bad – just a little bit of a cough and tired more than anything,” said Garner. “Frustrated, but we’re making the best of it as we can.

“First and foremost I trust the staff implicitly and Scott has actually had Covid as well – but he’s back. He had it the early part of the week and missed Tuesday.

“Fortunately he is back for this game and we’ve got Anthony Hayes and Glyn Shimell on the coaching staff – plus all the support staff like analysis, sports science and medical. We’re fortunate we have got a very close group and they are all really hard-working.

“We’ve prepared as normally as we can. Everyone has their clear responsibilities in terms of preparation. We have carried on with that and some of my responsibilities have gone to Anthony and Scott which they are more than capable of doing very, very well.

“I can still prepare the meetings, I’ve watched all of Fleetwood’s games and been able to analyse the opposition – put together how we’re going to play.

“I’ll have a video link to speak to the players on the day and I can watch the game and help as much as I can, from a distance.”
Charlton are without a win on the road in the league this season.

“I’m not concerned about me at all – the most important thing is the players and the group that is there,” said Garner. “I can support a fair bit from distance.

“We just want to get that win. It doesn’t matter that I won’t be there. I’ll be happier than anyone if we get that first away win tomorrow.

“We’ve broken the journey up. They are training on the way up, a club have very kindly allowed us the use of their training ground today which is fantastic.

“Any supporter travelling up to Fleetwood tomorrow I thank you and salute you because it is a huge commitment to the football club and team.”