Wellington Phoenix head coach Ricki Herbert ticked off another box today when he confirmed the signing of goalkeeper Tony Warner.
Wellington Phoenix head coach Ricki Herbert ticked off another box today when he confirmed the signing of goalkeeper Tony Warner.
The Liverpool-born custodian comes to New Zealand with a wealth of experience under his belt and will provide competition for incumbent Mark Paston.
The 1.93m Warner joined Liverpool as a 16-year-old and spent nine years at the club but never made a first team appearance.
While with Liverpool Warner, 37, had loan spells at Swindon, Glasgow Celtic and Aberdeen before signing for Millwall in 1999 and making 200 first team appearances for the club.
Since leaving Millwall in 2004 Warner has played at Cardiff City and Fulham as well as having loan spells at Leeds United, Norwich City and Barnsley.
Last season he made 25 appearances for Tranmere Rovers.
Herbert said he was delighted to sign such an experienced goalkeeper and looked forward to him keeping Paston on his toes.
“One of the key ingredients that makes a club successful is competition for places,” Herbert said.
“This season we are going to have some healthy battles for first team spots throughout the team.
“It will be good for Mark (Paston) to have someone so experienced to work with in training as well as keeping him on his toes.
“Mark is going really well now that he is over that bad run of injuries and the competition from Tony will do him no harm.”
