Former Charlton Athletic boss Ben Garner speaks out over Valley exit

Ben Garner has claimed that the conversation leading to his Charlton Athletic departure was just 30 seconds long.

The former Crystal Palace first-team coach was sacked by Addicks owner Thomas Sandgaard in December.

Garner was appointed as Colchester United’s new manager at the start of this month.

Sandgaard paid compensation to Swindon Town so that he could bring in Garner during the summer transfer window and also his assistant Scott Marshall.

The Addicks also signed three players who had featured heavily under Garner in the previous campaign – goalkeeper Jojo Wollacott, full-back Mandela Egbo and attacking midfielder Jack Payne.

Charlton were 17th in League One at the time of his departure.

Garner told The Times: “I was confident of doing well there but the initial outline of what the job was going to be didn’t turn out to be the case. There wasn’t much in terms of resources when I went in, so you need more time and unfortunately I didn’t get that.”

Talking about his dismissal, Garner said: “Thomas was on a video call. He told me I no longer had a job and didn’t give me a reason. The call took 30 seconds. Martin (Sandgaard, director of analysis, who was in the room) didn’t say anything.

“I just wished them (the Charlton players) the best. The majority were shocked. They were more shocked than I was. I’d sensed for a couple of months there was a relucatance to enter into any conversations about the January window.

“The owner put a lot of money in previous to me coming in and obviously wanted to curb that and become more sustainable. He’s a character. He liked the publicity and the limelight, but then it became more apparent that it was costing him a lot of money and he wasn’t getting too much [back].

“[I was] the fifth manager since this ownership took over in two years. You’ll get little lifts, little peaks, but then things revert. The club needs cultural change, hopefully they will get that now. The club needs some stability.”

PICTURE: PAUL EDWARDS