TRANMERE goalkeeper Tony Warner is happy to have put a nomadic phase of his career behind him as he makes a return journey to Charlton Athletic tomorrow.
The Valley was just one of several temporary stopping-off points for Liverpool-born Warner as he attempted to put down roots with a club over the last two years.
Warner had short-term spells at Charlton, Leeds United and Sc**thorpe before securing a contract with Rovers in January that runs until the end of the season.
The 36-year-old is currently enjoying his best run of first-team games in years with Tranmere, helping Les Parry’s team battle to secure a safe finish in League One.
“I am enjoying it at Tranmere,” said Warner, who made several important saves in the 1-1 draw at Exeter City on Tuesday. “This is an opportunity to get some regular games under my belt – which is something that has not come my way for a long time.
“The most difficult thing for me was not so much not playing but not being associated with any club.”
Warner boasts a total of 344 senior appearances for more than a dozen English and Scottish league clubs, with more than 200 of those games accumulated during five years at Millwall between 1999 and 2004.
But Warner has not stayed in one place for very long since.
“Moving about has become par for the course for me,” Warner said. “It would be nice to be settled with one club for the whole of your career but sometimes things are forced on you. It means you have to prove yourself to people all the time but I’m quite confident in my own ability. I set out to prove myself every day.”
Even so, Warner admits he could not have secured the contract with Tranmere without the help of his first club, Liverpool.
At the start of the season Roy Hodgson, then manager of Liverpool, invited Warner to train with the Reds to keep himself fit, sharp and ready to answer the call from another club.
Warner explained: “I signed for Sc**thorpe for a month earlier this season, before I came to Tranmere. I went straight into a game at Watford in October, which Sc**thorpe won 2-0, and I felt quite comfortable. That was down to the preparation I put in at Liverpool.
“I went in every day at Liverpool, first of all to Melwood, then training with the youth team. There was no end result for me on a Saturday but I think the fact that I’m doing as well as I am for Tranmere is down to putting all the work with Liverpool.”
Manager Les Parry will have midfielder Joss Labadie available for selection at The Valley after completing a two-match suspension. Exciting teenage prospect Dale Jennings is also back in training after recovering from a groin strain and is pushing for a return to the side. Meanwhile Lucas Akins, left out of the starting line-up at Exeter, pressed his case with a hat-trick for the reserves in a 6-0 victory against Accrington Stanley on Wednesday.
However, Parry may be reluctant to disrupt the side that worked hard to secure a point at Exeter. “I was delighted with the lads for the effort they put in,” Parry said. “After the game they were all out on their feet.
“The result was massive. We went to Exeter on the back of three defeats and if we had been beaten again we would be going to Charlton looking down the barrel of five consecutive defeats. It can be difficult to break a sequence and it normally takes a performance like the one at Exeter, where the lads dug in and worked very hard. The application on Tuesday was magnificent.”