FootyChatter.com

By JOHN MCGARRY Published: 16: 00 AEST, 13 August 2025 | Updated: 16: 00 AEST, 13 August 2025 View comments In the cut-throat world of football management, it’s mighty difficult to earn a good reputation — and all too easy to lose one. As for bosses who dust themselves down following major set-backs and successfully change perceptions again? They are a rarity. Once the game has chewed them up and spat them out, it’s usually a long road back. The mood music around Jim Goodwin at this moment is a reminder of the perils of closing the book on someone’s career simply because they’ve hit a bump in the road. Ahead of this evening’s return leg against Rapid Vienna at Tannadice, there us growing concern among Dundee United supporters that their manager is a wanted man in England. Goodwin’s contract expires next summer. While talks over an extension are under way, the 43-year-old is clearly not going to be short of options. Changed days, indeed. While it would be wrong to suggest that the Irishman’s appointment two years back was met with blanket opposition, he was hardly carried across the Tay Bridge in a sedan chair. Jim Goodwin has worked wonders at Dundee United despite little fanfare upon his arrival United's battling 2-2 draw away at Rapid Vienna has given them a real chance of progression Goodwin has reshaped his Tannadice squad on a shoestring budget, to great effect One supporter seemed to speak for many after the news broke when he posted on social media: ‘I thought it was April 1, not March 1. ’ This bemusement was understandable. The word on the streets in the City of Discovery that week was that Craig Levein’s great Tannadice return was all but sealed following the dismissal of Liam Fox. If he’d not had second thoughts, the former Scotland manager would have been a popular choice with most supporters. Goodwin, frankly, was not. The man from Waterford had been out of work for just 31 days following his dismissal by Aberdeen. His brief spell at Pittodrie had seen the side plummet from seventh in the Premiership to 10th place at the end of season 2021-22, their worst finish in 18 years. The following January, the Dons lost 5-0 to Hearts, 1-0 at Darvel in a Scottish Cup shocker and 6-0 to Hibs. It was the most wretched ending. Those who saw Goodwin vault an advertising board that day at Easter Road, just 19 minutes after being sacked, wondered if they’d seen the last of him. Goodwin's time at Aberdeen came to an end shorty after a Scottish Cup defeat at Darvel  He appeared to be the most unlikely candidate for a salvage operation. And yet, one month later, there he was being unveiled at United’s St Andrews training base, tasked with overcoming a four-point gap with 12 games to play. If the appointment was questionable in the first place, handing him a two-year deal when the team finally toppled into the Championship after winning only three games seemed devoid of all logic. Things soon turned ugly. When United lost their opening League Cup group game to League Two newcomers Spartans at the start of the following term, the tempers of some supporters bubbled over. A home defeat to Partick Thistle next time out confirmed the side’s elimination from the competition. It felt like the club was in free fall. Those who’d opposed Goodwin’s arrival in the first place wanted his head on a stick, together with that of owner Mark Ogren. Now here we are, two years on, with United not only re-established as one of the country’s top sides, but with the UEFA flag flying high above the old place again. Goodwin’s reputation has soared. If his side can finish the job against the Austrians tonight to add another chapter to the club’s storied European history, then that queue of would-be suitors will grow even longer. Goodwin was a feisty combatant as a player, serving St Mirren, amongst others, with distinction If there’s a lesson to be learned from all of this, then it’s surely the need to take a wider view of a person’s career and not assume that their last job is the final word on their capabilities. As Ogren and chief executive Luigi Capuano clearly identified when going against the grain to appoint Goodwin, there’s much more to him than that ill-fated spell in the Granite City. The Irishman may have enjoyed his reputation as a hard-man in his playing days, but he was never hard of thinking. Erudite and articulate, he guided part-time Alloa to promotion to the Championship in his first posting, then kept them up. The need to support his family in those days saw him take a range of jobs in the real world. Goodwin worked for a car leasing firm, in recruitment, and as a Cadbury chocolate salesman as he juggled his responsibilities in Clackmannanshire. He was able to concentrate fully on football when St Mirren appointed him as Oran Kearney’s successor in 2019. Little did he know it at the time, but a victory over Hearts in his first season would be enough to keep the Buddies up before Covid-19 brought the curtain down. The Irishman began his managerial career at Alloa before moving on to St Mirren and Aberdeen There was marked progression the following year, a near miss for the top-six coming amid eye-catching results which included a victory at Celtic Park. With Goodwin’s eye for a player and his ability to build sides becoming evident, Saints were sitting sixth in the league and in the last eight of the Scottish Cup when Aberdeen made their move for him in February 2022 to replace Stephen Glass. Without question, one thing he got wrong in the north-east was attempting to do too much, too soon. On the back of the team sliding down the table in his first four months in charge, he moved 26 players in or out that summer. Among those leaving were Calvin Ramsay and Lewis Ferguson, raising a total of £7. 3million in moves to Liverpool and Bologna, respectively. Any manager would have felt those losses. While Goodwin’s signing record was certainly mixed — Anthony Stewart, who he immediately made captain, was a disaster — he acquired Bojan Miovski (£535, 000) and Ylber Ramadani (£100, 000), both from MTK Budapest. Miovski has since been sold to Girona for £6. 8m while Ramadani signed for Lecce for £1m. It’s safe to say, then, that his tenure was not without its compensations. ‘I think the recruitment as a whole was very, very good, ’ he reflected on his time at Pittodrie. ‘But we were never going to get all of it done in the space of one or two windows. United took the Premiership by storm last term, overhauling Aberdeen to finish fourth ‘There’s a lot of things I look back on now and wish I’d done differently, but there’s no point living in the past. I learned a lot. ’ As he set about bringing United back up at the first time of asking, the main lesson appeared to be using horses for courses. He signed just six new recruits permanently that summer, all of whom were familiar with the demands of Scottish football. To ensure the squad were tight, 13 players were moved on. After that hideous start in the Premier Sports Cup, his faith — and that of his paymasters — was rewarded. United romped to the Championship title with 75 points. There was no thought of consolidation on the club’s return to the Premiership. Having effectively built a new team around players like Sam Dalby and Vicko Sevelj, United finished fourth, equalling their best season in the past 15 years to secure a return to Europe. In Vienna last week, United produced a display which evoked memories of their numerous acts of giant killing under Jim Mc Lean. Two years after being cast in the shadows, it feels like Goodwin is bringing the good times back at Tannadice. Not bad for yesterday’s man.

Share what you think

No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts,

or debate this issue live on our message boards.

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your Mail Online comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to Mail Online as usual.   Do you want to automatically post your Mail Online comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to Mail Online as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on Mail Online. To do this we will link your Mail Online account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy. Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd