Jim Goodwin insists his new-look Dons have no fear about a repeat of last season’s disasters.
The Aberdeen manager replaced Stephen Glass in February after the club were knocked out of the Scottish Cup at Motherwell. By then they had already lost to Sunday's opponents Raith Rovers in the League Cup and were struggling in the Premiership.
Goodwin’s arrival couldn’t stop the slump as just two wins in 12 games meant a 10th-place finish. That was Aberdeen’s lowest in the league since Steve Paterson was in charge back in 2004. It also left them out of European football for the first time in nine years in the 40th anniversary season of Cup Winners’ Cup success over Real Madrid. Goodwin has spent the last five months rebuilding the club both off and on the park. Now he’s in a much better position to be judged and is confident the influx of seven new players will help them rise to the challenge.
He said: “I feel I’m starting to put my own stamp on it now and the players we are bringing in haven’t been scarred by what went on last season. It’s irrelevant what happened last season to the group who are here now because the new guys don’t feel that.
“They are excited about being a part of such a big club with such a great history and are just as optimistic as our supporters are at the moment. Back in February we came into a difficult situation – there’s no getting away from that.
“We’ve made numerous changes to the playing staff but also to the backroom team. Those changes I believe were for the better and in the best interests of the club. Without being disrespectful to the boys who have left, I think we are in a far better place now than when I first came in back in February.”
Goodwin couldn’t have asked for a tougher test than a visit to face defending champions Celtic in next Sunday’s league opener. It’s a sign of the changes that Ross McCrorie, Jonny Hayes and Christian Ramirez are the only likely survivors from the starters in the opening day defeat of Dundee United a year ago.
Not that Goodwin has stopped spending some of the £7.5million brought in from Calvin Ramsey’s move to Liverpool and Lewis Ferguson joining Bologna. They were part of a mass exodus during the summer and the Dons boss is already planning more immediate and longer-term additions.
He added: “We are still looking out for some fresh talent and would like two or three others but it’s just the start for us. I’ve always believed it takes two or three windows to get the squad to where you really want it to be.
“We had 15 players who left over the summer and 13 or those were released. I only want to bring in nine or 10 though because we have a couple of young guys who will step up like Connor Barron has already done.”
Goodwin knows that he will be under closer scrutiny in his first full season in charge at Pittodrie. After all, St Johnstone won as many trophies in 2021 as Aberdeen have in the last 30 years. But the former Alloa Athletic and St Mirren gaffer is relishing the challenge that lies ahead as he seeks overdue success for the club.
He said: “I know Aberdeen are a huge club and that brings added pressure and an added level of expectation from the club’s backers and supporters. That’s where we all want to be and if we didn’t fancy challenging ourselves at the top level then we wouldn’t bother doing the job. You are in the firing line as you need to get results week in, week out – but that’s exactly where I want to be.”
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