Crawley Town have added a second former Swindon Town player this summer with the permanent signing of Jojo Wollacott from Hibernian.
After earning promotion from League Two via the playoffs with Swindon alumni Dion Conroy, Ben Gladwin, Ronan Darcy, and Kellan Gordon, Scott Lindsey has now added two more Swindon players as the team builds for the third tier.
Crawley has had a tumultuous summer so far, retaining only three of their starters from the Wembley victory over Crewe Alexandra, including Will Wright joining Swindon. However, their rebuild has begun with ten new signings, including Rushian Hepburn-Murphy.
Lindsey has reached into his Swindon connections once more to bring in Wollacott on a permanent deal from Hibernian, after the pair worked together in Wiltshire when Lindsey was the assistant to Ben Garner.
Wollacott had two stints with Swindon and was the starting goalkeeper for most of the season as they made the League Two playoffs, before following Garner to Charlton Athletic the following summer.
The Ghanaian international has struggled for regular game time since leaving Swindon, not securing a starting spot at either The Valley or Easter Road. Now, he gets the chance to become the number one goalkeeper at Crawley after Corey Addai left for Stockport County.
This deal could impact Swindon’s transfer dealings, as they had been looking at Max Boruc on trial from Hibs this summer. Boruc played against Hungerford Town and Swansea City after Max Harris and Rohan Luthra got time against Swindon Supermarine.
However, Wollacott’s move to West Sussex might mean that Boruc has to stay at Hibernian as a backup option behind Josef Bursik and Jordan Smith.
Boruc was on the bench for Hibernian on Tuesday as they beat Queen’s Park in the Premier Sports Cup, although the Daily Record previously reported that the goalkeeper was being given the opportunity to find more regular football.
After signing Smith on Thursday, Hibernian boss David Gray said:
“We are excited to welcome Jordan to Hibernian FC. He is a player with good experience playing at a high level in the English Championship and has strong pedigree and high standards, having spent over 20 years at Nottingham Forest. He will provide healthy competition with Joe [Bursik] and Max [Boruc] in the goalkeeping department, and we are all excited to work with him.”