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 feel like one of the more unpredictable teams ahead of the League One season, with the squad and style of play undergoing a serious shake-up this summer.
Ben Garner is an unproven manager at League One level, and new signings Joe Wollacott and Mandela Egbo are far from established in the third tier.
The Addicks underwhelmed significantly and finished 13th last season, and supporters will be demanding an improvement as they prepare for their third season since relegation from the Championship.
FLW's Charlton fan pundit Ben Fleming was quietly optimistic about the club's promotion chances in 2022/23.
Speaking to Football League World, Fleming said: "A difficult one to say at this stage.
"From what we've heard from him (Ben Garner), his press conferences he's done with the club I think have been very promising.
"The early signings have been good, it's been nice to see some consistency in terms of the type of player we're bringing in.
"I think it's clear that there has been an acknowledgement from the board that we need to bring in signings to fit a system.
"Garner is very keen to play a certain type of way, we've brought in players to play that type of way.
"With that being said, we were a long way off last year, so it's going to be quite some turnaround, but I think we've seen that with the general discourse around the club and the signings, that the foundations are being slowly laid, and we'll have to see how the season starts but I'm positive that we can certainly kick on, start well, and you never know.
"I think it's probably too early to say at this stage (if promotion will be achieved), but I'm certainly more positive heading into pre-season than I have been at any point in the last couple of years and that's certainly a good thing.
"That's in some way down to Garner."