End of only an excuse with a Good cast

JIM GOODWIN has been more than backed and now it is up to him to show he can deliver a bright new Don at Aberdeen.

There can be no excuses after he has been given the tools to completely revamp his squad. He has wiped out the majority of the old guard and spent decent money on some new summer recruits.

The ambitious board sold Calvin Ramsay to Liverpool for big money and have put a lot of that into their manager’s recruitment drive.

The Premier Sports Cup will be the first hurdle for his new-look squad but the real acid test will be the league and trying to get Aberdeen challenging for the European places again.

It is uncharted territory for Goodwin to lead a team into the top six but that has to be the minimum aim for Dons.

The major investment in transfer fees for North Macedonian striker Bojan Miovski and his former MTK Budapest team-mate Ylber Ramadani proves the board mean business.

Jayden Richardson has come in from Nottingham Forest, while Anthony Stewart and Kelle Roos won’t have come cheap – in terms of wages – from Wycombe and Derby respectively.

Liam Scales has also arrived on loan from Celtic and the indication is that more activity is in the offing.

Goodwin is performing major surgery on his side and has to hope he can have a good pre-season and his new-look side will hit the ground running.

It is a big ask with the turnaround in the squad and most of the players coming into Scottish football for the first time, the obvious exception being Scales.

Goodwin has certainly cast his transfer net far and wide and hasn’t hung about.

He’s tried for a number of targets and if he hasn’t got them, he’s moved on.

He’s still looking to add some faces he knows like Connor Ronan and Jamie McGrath, who were successful for him at St Mirren. But key will be getting goals and shoring up last season’s leaky defence.

If Goodwin has got Christian Ramirez back onside and can keep him there, then he will deliver double figures for goals, although Miovski is unlikely to play second fiddle with his price tag.

Last season was a disaster for Aberdeen but Goodwin took his share of responsibility and made an early call on a lot of his squad.

Now he has built his squad and put his name to it. There can be no excuses.

Goodwin’s minimum aim for Dons must be to lead the team into the top six