Jim Goodwin admits to a sense of embarrassment that his name is associated with an eight-game dugout ban that will be the centre of an appeal this week.
The Aberdeen manager and his club believe the SFA punishment, meted out in the wake of Goodwin labelling Hibs defender Ryan Porteous a cheat after last month’s match at Easter Road, is far too harsh and will attempt to have it reduced after reading the governing body’s written reasons for the decision.
Goodwin has already served one match of the ban and is likely to be in the stand for Sunday’s visit of Hearts. And while he chose his words carefully yesterday, there’s no doubt the severity of the suspension has hit him hard. He said: “I don’t like my name being out there under these circumstances, I don’t like bringing this type of thing on the club either. So there is a little bit of embarrassment there from my own personal point of view. In hindsight could I have said things differently, I probably could. Would my thoughts of the situation been any different, I’m not so sure.
“I tried to give an honest assessment. You want to speak your mind but unfortunately sometimes we are not allowed – and I need to learn that. I like to be honest and I think it is far more interesting when you give an honest opinion, although not everyone will agree with it. “But there are so many rules and regulations that I wasn’t aware of in the SFA handbook – there are hundreds of pages so maybe I should spend a bit of time reading that and then I will know what I can and cannot say in the future.
“My interviews are going to be extremely boring from now on because quite clearly you can’t speak your mind anymore. I don’t know what I can say. I am very disappointed and we will see what comes from the appeal.”
Aberdeen are in the process of formulating Goodwin’s appeal and the Dons boss added: “I haven’t actually been given a date for the hearing. We need to go through the written stuff the SFA have sent us then we will lodge our appeal at some point. I think we have five days to do so. Depending on when we receive the information from the SFA five days after that is normally the length of time you get to put the appeal in.”
Meanwhile, Goodwin has welcomed the imminent introduction of VAR in Scotland, with next Friday night’s match between Hibs and St Johnstone looking like the first fixture to implement it.
He said: ““I think we are all looking forward to that.
“The referees and the officials are all doing the best they can and all the big leagues are offering their referees this assistance. It is difficult when you only see an incident in real time and it is hard to get it right all of the time. Hopefully VAR will enable us to get the big decisions right more often than not. I know it then does become a matter of opinion but I am pretty sure it will help us get more right than wrong.
“I was at a meeting last week when the SFA invited the managers and club along and it is a great set-up. It is impressive what they have done. It is signed off and it is great to see we are doing things properly and there has been a significant level of investment.
“The players are excited about it. When you have had decisions go against you that you think VAR might have had a different outcome I think that makes you more pro-VAR. As a club we are looking forward to it being implemented.”
