ST MIRREN manager Jim Goodwin yesterday claimed that he doesn’t want his young players to envisage spending the rest of their careers in Paisley, insisting they should be bursting a gut to earn a move to bigger and better clubs because such an outcome would, ultimately, prove beneficial to both parties.
Asked whether that template also applies to him, Goodwin – a man of refreshing candour – emphatically replied in the affirmative.
“Look, I’m a young manager,” he said. “I’m still only 39 years old and, of course, I have ambitions of my own. I want to manage at the highest level with the biggest clubs and I’d love to manage my country one day as well.
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“All those dreams are there for me as well as our young players. I’m loving my time at St Mirren and I’m not in a rush to leave here.
“I signed a three-year contract and I intend to honour it. I never asked to leave a club as a player and always stayed until my deal was up. I hope to see this one out, too.
“My aim when I came here was to leave the club in a better place than when I picked up the reins and, if we can finish in the top six, that will be a great step in the right direction.
“Hopefully, we’ll build on that next season and try to progress and take things further but I’m not going to patronise the St Mirren fans or try to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.
“I’m as ambitious as the next person out there so if the right opportunity comes up and it’s a big club and it matches my ambitions then I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
“Right now, though, my sole focus is on St Mirren and making them better, trying to have an influence over the academy and whole running of the club on a day-to-day basis to ensure we have a really good first team on the park.”
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Goodwin also expressed sympathy for Celtic manager Neil Lennon, although he will attempt to increase the latter’s problems tomorrow night.
"I feel for him: I've got a lot of time for Neil,” he said. “As a young manager starting out at Alloa, I did have a couple of conversations with Neil in games that we've played. He's always been one that's given me decent advice along the way.
"But the pressure because of the significance of what this [10-in-a-row] season means to everyone involved at Celtic, to carry that burden around with you must be extremely difficult.”
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