PREPARE FOR THE NEW NORMAL

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS Goodwin accepts clubs have to adapt to players’ positive tests

AS if the job was not tough enough already, Jim Goodwin believes Premiership managers are going to have to get used to players missing matches due to Covid-19.

The St Mirren boss was speaking from grim personal experience, having seen his entire goalkeeping department wiped out 24 hours before Saturday’s 3-0 home loss to Hibernian.

Yesterday’s news from Hamilton Accies, that three positive tests had been recorded at the Lanarkshire club, adds further credence to fears that coronavirus will join injuries and suspensions in wreaking havoc on a manager’s best laid plans.

For his part, Goodwin believes the current campaign will be as much about mental toughness as it will be about technical ability and well-drilled formations.

‘These are really testing times but we don’t want to bleat on about it too much because we know there are far more serious things going on in the world,’ the Saints boss said. ‘But there are going to be a lot of stop-start situations. A lot of positive tests, and false positive tests.

‘Whether any club experiences what we just experienced with the whole goalkeeping department missing remains to be seen.

‘But I’ve no doubt that clubs will have two or three players test positive and they will have to get on with it.

‘I feel the group of players and staff that can handle these situations the best and not let it affect them and drag them down are the teams that will be the most successful this year.

‘The players who can handle that the best, who are mentally capable of coping with it, will go on to be the best teams in the league because this is not going to be an easy ride for anyone.

‘I’d be very surprised if every club was not affected at one time or another.

‘As managers, we need to show leadership around the club and to the rest of the group and try to stay as focused as we possibly can in these really difficult times.’

After first-choice Saints keeper Jak Alnwick and deputy Dean Lyness tested positive for Covid-19, third-choice Peter Urminsky was quarantined as a precaution with Bobby Zlamal brought in on an emergency loan from Hearts after a dramatic 11th-hour scramble.

Goodwin admits to a sense of foreboding that the virus may have spread further through his squad as he waited for Sunday’s test results to come back.

‘We were all really anxious and nervous,’ he said. ‘I was texting my doctor every half hour and I think I was doing her head in on her day off.

‘Thankfully, everything came back as we would have wanted it to but it was a really stressful time.’

The fact there were no new positives mean Urminsky returns to the squad for tonight’s visit of Celtic but Zlamal is set to start against the Scottish champions.

Goodwin believes the SPFL would have treated Celtic and Rangers differently to St Mirren had either of the Old Firm clubs been left without a goalkeeper due to Covid-19.

However, he warned that the authorities have set a precedent by refusing to postpone his side’s league match with Hibs.

He said: ‘I don’t think there’s any point in us continuing to chase the SPFL for an explanation. We’d be wasting our time.

‘I don’t think we are a big enough club where enough noise would be made out of it.

‘If something like this had happened to Celtic or Rangers then it’s a completely different story.

‘Obviously the size of those clubs, their fan base, stuff all over social media would have dwarfed the kind of response we’ve had.

‘That’s the way of the world. We can’t dwell on it.

‘But our game against Hibs should not have gone ahead because of the extreme circumstances. We would not have asked for the game to be postponed if it wasn’t for the fact we didn’t have a goalkeeper.

‘We were fortunate we got Bobby Zlamal done at 11.30 on the morning of the game and we didn’t embarrass the league by putting an outfield player in goals.

‘They (the SPFL) have set a precedent now. This is the way that things need to be handled going forward.

‘But I hope no other teams in the league find themselves in that position because I would not wish it on anyone.’

Tonight’s visit of Neil Lennon’s men to Greenhill Road was initially postponed after Parkhead defender Boli Bolingoli made a trip to Spain and played against Kilmarnock while he should have been in quarantine.

The irony for Goodwin is Saints would have approached that match with Alnwick, arguably his best player so far this season, fit and available while Celtic have since strengthened their squad in the transfer market.

‘Of course we’d love to have our strongest XI available but that’s not the case,’ said the Saints boss.

‘I think we are probably weaker because we are missing our first-choice goalkeeper.

‘And yes, Celtic have definitely improved since the last time we were supposed to play, because they have added Shane Duffy, the goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas and Albian Ajeti and one or two others (David Turnbull).

‘But the Celtic team we would have faced without the new recruits would have been extremely difficult for us anyway. So we have to accept the situation we are in.

‘It is going to be a very difficult game. But my players will go into it with the belief that we can cause an upset. We have to start getting back to picking up positive results.’

That last remark was, of course, meant in a footballing context. But Goodwin is in no doubt that positive results of the coronavirus kind are going to impact hugely on matches in these most uncertain of times.