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NEW Alloa Athletic boss Jim Goodwin has revealed he has been working towards his move into management for over a decade.
The former Celtic and St Mirren midfielder was yesterday named as successor to Jack Ross at the Indodrill Stadium and revealed he will continue as a player at the League One side.
With Paddy Connolly staying on as assistant and Lee Sharp as first-team coach, Goodwin is convinced he has the squad and backroom staff to lead the Wasps to promotion back to the Championship this season.
The traditional scarf shots of the new manager. #Alloa #Wasps #SPFL pic.twitter.com/EST7qMgE98
— Capital City Press (@CCP_sport) October 11, 2016
And the 34-year-old has cited former Southampton and Reading boss Nigel Adkins, who he worked under at Scunthorpe United, as someone whose methods he will lean on heavily as he bids to make a success of his new role.
The Irishman said: “I’ve been working on getting into management for a number of years. I started on my coaching badges when I was down in England at 20 years old.
“It was always my ambition to step into coaching and management. It’s something I’m very passionate about and it doesn’t faze me.
“I study the game and I’ve been very fortunate throughout my career to have worked with a number of really good people who I respect and who I’ve picked up a lot of knowledge from.
“One in particular is Nigel Adkins, who I worked closely with at Scunthorpe, where we were fortunate enough to win the league. He’s an obvious choice to look at, in terms of training sessions and how he conducted himself.”
And Goodwin has confessed that his move to Alloa as a player in the summer was made with the expectation that Ross was likely to move on at some point.
He added: “We knew as well as Jack was doing and as well as the club was doing that he was probably going to be top of the list for the first club that required a manager up the divisions.
AMBITIONS
“When I spoke to Jack back in the summer we kind of discussed this scenario.
“I had a decision to make, that the club I joined had to match my ambitions, in terms of getting out of this league and being successful.
“But also, from my own point of view, I wanted to be at a club where if the manager did move on I was in a position to put my name into the hat.
“Thankfully that’s happened as I hoped and it’s a great way to get my first manager’s job because our manager has moved on and not been sacked.
“If I’m being honest I didn’t think it would happen quite as quickly, but it’s a very proud moment.”
Alloa chairman Mike Mulraney can boast of a decent track record in managerial appointments, having given Paul Hartley and Ross their big breaks, as well as attracting Barry Smith and Danny Lennon to the club in recent seasons.
And the Wasps chief insists he was in no doubt where to look when Ross was spirited away to St Mirren last week.
He said: “Things move very fast in football and we wish Jack Ross every success, but we’re absolutely delighted that we feel we’ve got a ready-made replacement in Jim, who I’m quite sure will be his own man.
“We anticipate a bright future and it was a very easy decision for the club to make. He was our preferred candidate and we believe we’ve got the man to move our club forward.”
