New Reading goalkeeper coach Tony Warner has tried to put supporters worries at ease, believing that "come first day of the season, you’ll have the bodies."
48-year-old Warner joined the Royals last week from Bristol Rovers and is to assist the likes of Joe Lumley and Luke Southwood between the posts during the 2022/23 Championship campaign.
A former teammate of manager Paul Ince at Liverpool, the former shot stopper arrives having been a big part of the Gas' League Two promotion- ensuring an immediate return to the third tier.
Despite pre-season training already starting, and only five days until the first warm-up match against Colchester United, there are less than 21 first team players, nine of which have started fewer than 10 matches.
ℹ️ Tony Warner has left Rovers to take up the position of goalkeeping coach at @ReadingFC.#BristolRovers
— Bristol Rovers (@Official_BRFC) June 21, 2022
Speaking to the media for the first time since his arrival, the former Millwall stalwart was confident that the team would be in a good position in time for the late July league start.
"It is really nice coming to this training ground, it’s an amazing place, getting to know the keepers but my job is to get them up to speed and recognise things that I can adjust. I’m in the process of doing that at the moment, nobody is perfect, you just try to fine-tune things" he started.
"It’s challenging as every manager in every league wants to get the best for themselves within the parameters of what they’ve got. Three days into pre-season, for everyone to have their ducks lined up, it’s not going to happen, so you want to make sure across pre-season you get the best you possibly can within your budget. It’s very early days, we’ve got restrictions on us, so it’ll be tough, but the manager is working very hard to get the right people in.
We are pleased to announce two new appointments to our first team coaching staff 🖊
— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) June 21, 2022
Tony Warner joins Paul Ince's team from @bristolrovers as our new Goalkeeping Coach while James Oliver-Pearce joins us as First Team Coach from @AFCWimbledon 👏
Welcome to @ReadingFC 🤝
"It happens in football. You’ve got to be very lucky to have all your ducks in a row at this stage. Sometimes it takes longer than others but at the end of the day when it comes to the first day of the season, you’ll have bodies in place. Whether they’ve been here as long as you’d like, maybe maybe not, but come first day of the season you’ll have the bodies."
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