Welcome to part three of my series where I talk about each of Charlton’s summer signings and their history and what I think of them. This time, I’ll be talking about Ben Amos and Jonny Williams.
5. BEN AMOS
Ben started his career at Manchester United after coming through their academy. However, he first played for Crewe Alexandra and another local team as a midfielder when their keeper got injured and as the tallest, was put in goal. He did very well and coincidentally a United scout was watching the game. That’s where it started for Ben as a keeper.
After signing his first professional contract for Manchester, he was loaned out to Peterborough United, Molde FK, Hull City, Carlisle United and Bolton Wanderers. After his loan spell at Bolton, they signed him permanently on a 4-year deal.
He made 44 starting appearances the season that he signed and unfortunately, got relegated. After Bolton invested in a new keeper, Amos found himself being second choice again and went on loan to Cardiff City.
The next season, he signed a loan deal with Charlton and he was our first choice keeper over Dillon Phillips and took us to the playoffs, during which, he made a very memorable save against Shrewsbury, where he saved a shot, got back and saved the rebound with his back.
After that, Bolton loaned him out to Millwall, where fans were not very positive about him and ended up becoming their second choice keeper for the most part of the season, only making 12 appearances. After his return, Bolton released him when his contract ran out and Charlton signed him back on a free transfer.
Since then, he didn’t have the best of pre-seasons, conceding goals that some people would argue should have been easy saves. He hasn’t started or made appearances in any 5 of our league matches, but start the League Cup match against Forest Green Rovers and kept the clean sheet, but unfortunately couldn’t make any penalty saves.
My Opinion
Ben Amos is an alright keeper. He’s nothing special but has a very interesting history. Personally, I think he’s in a slump and he needs to grow his confidence a little bit. That’s all it is.
He’s a good backup keeper to have and will get the job done to an extent, but the keeper I saw against Aston Villa just isn’t one I want being my goal-stopper.
6. JONNY WILLIAMS
Jonny Williams came through the Crystal Palace academy and that’s where he started his career. Throughout his career, he’s been very injury prone, always missing out on first-team experience due to this.
When he went out on loan to Ipswich Town, he only made 20 appearances across two seasons due to injuries. He only made 13 appearances in the 2017/18 season with Sunderland on loan for the same reason.
Jonny Williams got his first senior international call up on 3 October 2011 but made his debut on 22 March 2013 after coming on as a substitute. His first start for the Welsh side came on 26 March 2013, four days later.
When Crystal Palace released Jonny, Boywer and Gallen snapped up the chance to sign him in a six-month deal and he played a huge part in getting the Addicks promoted last season. At the end of the season, he wanted to stay, but it would’ve meant a pay cut, so we couldn’t sign him until he decided he loved Charlton so much, he would take the pay cut if it meant he could stay at The Valley.
He has now appeared in all 5 games Charlton have played this season so far and has made 4 assists in 4 starts in the Championship in a Charlton shirt.
My Opinion
Jonny Williams is hands down one of my favourite players of all time. He is the nicest person, one of the best footballers, very quick with his feet and took a pay cut just to stay with us.
Injuries haven’t been a massive problem here at Charlton for the Welsh lad and, touch wood, I hope they won’t be in the future. He works as both an amazing starter and a super-sub, so losing him to an injury would be awful, but I couldn’t be happier of this signing.
Next time, I’ll be talking about Deji Oshilaja and Connor Gallagher.