At 8am this morning Aberdeen announced Jim Goodwin as their new manager.Â
It is a repeat of the decision in 1978 that took Alex Ferguson from Paisley to the north east although that move was triggered by a sacking from St Mirren for reasons that were never quite defined.Â
Following last Saturday’s Scottish Cup defeat from Motherwell Stephen Glass lost his job, today the Dons return to Fir Park on SPFL duty with a new man in the dug-out.Â
We are very pleased to this morning confirm Jim Goodwin as our new manager.
? Welcome to Aberdeen, Jim!
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) February 19, 2022
Goodwin had been in charge of St Mirren since the summer of 2019, last season he took the club to two semi-finals but they were unable to make the final step.Â
As a teenager from Waterford Goodie was in the Ireland squad that won the 1998 u-16 European Championships, joining Celtic at the same time as Liam Miller.Â
Playing under Willie McStay in the youth side he started the final league match of the 1999/2000 season alongside John Kennedy, Mark Fotheringham, Brian McColligan and Ryan McCann with Henrik Larsson coming off the bench to mark his comeback from a leg break.Â
Rather than stay around under Martin O’Neill he headed to England before returning to Hamilton then St Mirren.Â
His management career started with Alloa in October 2016, now he has the immediate task of getting Aberdeen into the top six then a serious rebuilding job in the summer with Glass lasting less than a year as successor to Derek McInnes.Â
Scott Brown has been linked with the newly vacant manager’s job at St Mirren.Â