Hard man Jim quietly finding right formula
SUCCESS in football management comes in several guises. If asked to vote for manager of the year in Britain, many Irish football fans would nominate Chris Hughton for his outstanding work at Brighton which seems likely to secure Premier League safety.
Others would opt for Brendan Rogers, who has led Celtic to the brink of a second successive domestic treble after last Saturday’s Scottish Cup thrashing or Rangers. After that? The options are limited. In England, Mick McCarthy has upped sticks at Ipswich, while John Sheridan and Joe Dunne are barely in the door at Fleetwood (League One) and Cambridge (League Two) respectviely.
On the north side of Hadrian’s Wall, there is much to commend in the industry of Neil Lennon at Hibernian while Peter Murphy is still finding his feet at Annan Athletic.
In terms of delivering on minimal resources, arguably no Irish manager can compete with Tramore native Jim Goodwin at Alloa Athletic.
Known in Scottish football as a serial hardman — his face once adorned a dartboard in a newspaper spread during his prime at St Mirren — Goodwin has shown a thoughtful side to management.
His teams are encouraged to play football and their disciplinary record bears little resemblance to that of Goodwin who totted up four red cards and 57 bookings in 142 games for St Mirren.
Back then, he was as unyielding as Tramore’s famous Metal Man statue.
Yet, in some ways, Goodwin’s career path has reflected that of McCarthy who belied his status as a no-nonsense stopper to become a cerebral manager, now not far off 1,000 career games as gaffer. In one of those games, as Ireland manager in August 2002, McCarthy gave Goodwin his only senior Irish cap away to Finland.
Appointed 18 months ago, initially as a playermanager, Goodwin (above) combines his day job selling chocolate for Cadbury’s while keeping Alloa’s players and fans sweet in Scottish League One.
In his first season, he led Alloa to the promotion play-offs and last weekend’s win over Forfar secured a play-off return with two games to spare.
Not many Irish football folk know of Alloa but all have heard of the town’s most famous son, John Jameson, the founder of the famous whiskey brand, who was born and raised there.
Not everything was prosperous about the wee port situated on a bend where the river Forth becomes the Firth (or estuary) of Forth.
There was no railway service from 1968 to 2008 while the local football club, 10 years older than Celtic, has never reached a Scottish Cup final and finished last in their only season in the top division in 1922-1923. Into this modest background, Goodwin has immersed himself since October 2016, losing one game in every three and stabilising Alloa’s fortunes.
Through it all, he has been a survivor. Twenty years ago, he was a warrior-like presence for Brian Kerr as Ireland’s U16s won the European Championships on Scottish soil — the first tournament success by an Irish team. Back then, he was on the books of Celtic but when released by Martin O’Neill in 2002, he chiselled out a living at Scunthorpe, Stockport and Huddersfield before heeding the call of Caledonia again.
Open and engaging, Goodwin has done enough at Alloa to suggest he deserves a bigger club, and a bigger budget. For the moment, his calling is the home town of John Jameson.
Should he plot a way through to the play-offs and earn Alloa promotion to the Sottish Championship, I’ll heartily raise a glass of malt to his achievements.