This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Charlton Athletic's new era kicks off this weekend when they make the long trip up to Lancashire to face Accrington Stanley at the Wham Stadium.
The Addicks were expected to be bang in the promotion mix last season under Nigel Adkins, but he was sacked a few months into the campaign after a poor start and replaced by former midfielder Johnnie Jackson.
But not even Jackson, despite being a fan favourite, could avoid the axe at the end of the 2021-22 season, with Charlton finishing in 13th position - 24 points behind sixth-placed Wycombe Wanderers.
Ben Garner has been head-hunted from Swindon Town, and his first task is to take on Accrington, who finished one spot ahead of Charlton in the League One table last season.
Whilst he is by no means extremely confident of his side getting a result this weekend against a tough side to overcome, FLW's Charlton fan pundit Ben Fleming thinks that the Addicks may sneak a narrow victory.
"Accrington away I think is a really good gage for what this Charlton team is going to look like and what we can expect from this Charlton team," Ben said
"Accrington are known for their dogged ways, and away from home it's always a tough place to go, so it'll be a really good barometer of how this Charlton team is going to work with their attacking intent and if they can do well against a very solid Accrington team who are good at the level and especially at home.
"So, I'm hoping for a win and I think it will be interesting to see how much the principles that Ben Garner has talked about have been put into practice over pre-season, so it will be interesting to see how the style of play goes.
"Obviously Accrington are going to be looking to disrupt it so for a prediction I'd hope for maybe a 1-0 or a 2-1 win, but it's a tough but interesting opener certainly."
The Verdict
Charlton certainly don't have an easy task on paper against Accy - but not many games in League One could be classed as easy.
They are coming up a team who finished above them in the third tier standings last season, but Charlton are much-changed since then in terms of in the dugout and on the pitch.
The Addicks are perhaps lacking in certain areas going into the new season - namely up-front - but that can be sorted within the next few weeks.
Going to the Wham Stadium and coming out with three points will be a tough ask though for Garner on his Charlton debut, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility.