Goodwin will get on his bike to spur Saints
The pushbike has been parked up in favour of a classy club car.
Yet the spirit of Jim Goodwin’s time as a player with St Mirren will drive his management of the Paisley club.
Publicly unveiled at the Simple Digital Arena along with assistant Lee Sharp, the 37- year old Irishman was generous in his praise of his former boss, Danny Lennon.
“Danny was brilliant for me. He signed me from Hamilton in January, 2011 – and, nearly six years later, I was still on the premises,” he said as he looked ahead to today’s Betfred Cup tie at home to Dunfermline.
“What everyone remembers from that time is the success we shared together in this competition in 2013.
“It wasn’t just the Cup run, though, a s we finished eighth in the league as well. That shows you he was doing good things here.
“We played g re a t f o o t b a l l , wh i c h wa s important because I am a passionate believer in the game as entertainment.
“The fans pay a lot of money to come to watch their team, and the game has moved on from just being hard to beat, and setting a team up with 10 men behind the ball.
“T h a t ’s not the approach I want to have.
“Obviously, there will be certain times when it might happen, playing against some of the bigger teams. But my outlook is that we need to be positive, need to believe we can win every game and it was something I think Danny had as well.
“We had some really good players at the time, who were brave on the ball, and that’s the brand of football I want back.
“You need a bit of everything, a good mixture in the group.
“We need a level of quality, the likes of Tony Andreu, who we’ve just signed, but at the same time we also need boys who’ll get stuck in and do the dirty side.”
Players, in short, with the character of Goodwin, who, as a player, famously used pedal power to get to his work.
“I loved those journeys in the morning!” he said.
“I’d cycle the whole way from my Cumbernauld home to the training centre at Ralston, about 24 miles, or get the train to Queen Street and do the six miles from there.
“It was great to get the old legs going, and I met some characters.
“Like some of the white van lads chucking things at yo u , and people opening doors on you – great craic!
“But the club have given me a nice car, so I won’t be cycling.”
That’s not the only thing Jim will be avoiding.
“I probably took the Alloa job too soon,” Goodwin admitted.
“I made a lot of mistakes – tactically, with coaching and manmanagement. But now I’m ready for this step up.”