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The Goodwin Coverage Reeks Of A Contempt All Too Familiar To Celtic Fans.

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This morning, I wrote of how the Aberdeen fans should take some comfort from the idea that at least now this is over, that the Goodwin disaster has crashed and burned and that new leadership will be coming into their club.

But I reckoned without one thing; the same thing Celtic fans had to put up with at first, even after it was long clear that Lennon could not possibly remain.

We ran into the arrogance of a media class which is always trying to save its pals, the ignorance of people without an original thought in their heads and the sheer egotism which lives in boardrooms round the country. None of this will last.

Yet that such walls of resistance even exist is proof positive that the bubble which envelops those at the top of the game and those who still believe they are its opinion makers and trend setters continues to be a problem, even in Scotland where for these people should see the writing is already on the wall in letters 100 feet high.

“I think Jim Goodwin and the chairman will have to have serious discussions. I don’t know if there’s enough good will from the chairman to allow Goodwin to stay,” Willie Miller said on Radio Scotland last night, and a lot of his panel agreed with him.

“There are big decisions to make at Aberdeen,” said another. The papers this morning say that their board wanted to “sleep on the decision” and that even today there are people inside their club who are minded to keep the manager in his job.

The word is that no decision will be made today. I’m flabbergasted.

Not one of these people, and very few in the media, even acknowledge that all the goodwill from the chairman doesn’t matter a damn, and the wishes of the directors don’t matter a damn and all Goodwin’s pals in the media don’t matter a damn because the most important people in this decided it the moment the full-time whistle went.

All that’s really happening, whatever some think that is, is we’re waiting for the so-called “power brokers” at Aberdeen and their media buddies to catch up to reality, and the reality is that the Aberdeen fans – the only people who matter in this – have had it with Goodwin and they want him out and whatever else others might think is irrelevant.

Yes, irrelevant, and that includes the board of directors. Who are they anyway? Do they really believe that when they attend games at Pittodrie that sitting in the function suite and having a nice lunch, and retiring to their panelled rooms for drinks with associates and partners means that they are the living embodiment of “their” club?

Celtic directors, some of whom have been in office for longer than they ever ought to, evidently hold the same view and frequently congratulate themselves, I’m sure, on being the Masters of the Universe as far as the Scottish game goes.

And they’re all wrong, of course, because they, like Cormack, no matter what he thinks, serve at the pleasure of the supporters. If they doubt it let them examine the financial statements.

This is not England, where the club chairmen can kid themselves on that the clubs are theirs because they are awash with money which didn’t originate with the fans but with vast TV companies.

Every penny which flows through the clubs up here comes from the fans, and it doesn’t matter what egotistical bastards like Desmond think after a fashion because it’s like when a manager loses a dressing room; when a manager up here loses the backing of the stands then it’s a done deal, it’s game over, and ultimately nobody can save him.

To be brutally honest, no-one should even bother trying.

On the back of a horrific run of results this is rock bottom, the proof that Goodwin was a terrible appointment and it’s an insult to all their supporters to keep him in that job one minute longer.

The fear of what to do next shouldn’t even come into this. For every second he stays in post Aberdeen becomes less credible as a football club.

The thing to do – as it was with Lennon on the night of the Ross County debacle, or even sooner – was to end it half an hour after the full time whistle and send a message about what would and would not be tolerated.

A club that wants to be taken seriously must have a line in the sand and following a 5-0 scudding by Hearts, being knocked out of the cup by a team six divisions down has to cross it or you have to wonder what does.

That result is basically un-survivable and so I don’t know what the so-called decision they are trying to make actually comes down to.

A decision like this boils down to how quickly you can get the press release out and who you send it to first, there is nothing else to be done and a club which the tiniest bit of respect for its fans would have done it immediately.

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  • Benjamin says:

    His time is up, but I strenuously disagree that the fans are the ones who have the power here. Cormack owns the club, and he’s the one who will have to pay off Goodwin’s contract if he’s dismissed. This notion that fans have all the power is romantic, but it’s a complete fallacy unless three things are true: (1) that the money coming into the club directly from fans is significant (interpretations may vary on what significant is), (2) that fans are both willing and able to withhold such funding by refusing to buy tickets, and (3) that such a financial shortfall is material enough and painful enough for the owners and/or directors to act when they otherwise wouldn’t. As we’ve seen with both Celtic & Rangers recently, number 2 is a very tall order for supporters. When Lennon was still in place, season tickets were sold out with a waiting list! Fans may protest, but very few will actually vote with their wallets, and we’ve seen that repeatedly across a number of clubs recently. In the case of Aberdeen, numbers 1 & 3 also likely fail. Their gate receipts were only 21% of income last year – less than £3m. If fans completely boycotted the stadium (and hypothetically that would include visiting fans as well), their income would go from ?£14m to £11m. They could easily survive that, and Cormack himself might be willing to make up the difference. Bottom line is that Cormack owns the club, and he can do with it what he likes regardless of what the fans think. If 20-30% of the fans decide to protest and boycott the club, the financial impact will be rounding error. Cormack can do what he wants and the fans are, factually speaking, powerless to do anything of substance about it.

    With all that said, it would be truly shocking if Cormack is still in his post a month from now. It may take another few bad results before Cormack is willing to pull the plug, but Goodwin’s appointment has been a disaster from day 1. Whether he gets sacked today or 3 weeks from now is not going to change the outcome of the season for them – they’re out of Europe, out of both cup competitions, and have no prayer of winning the league. The only thing left for them this season is to qualify for one of the European places. And given the state of their squad as right now, even that is of little importance as they’re unlikely to advance even a single qualifying round next summer even if they do qualify. Even with the writing on the wall, there’s no urgency to this decision as the impact of dismissing him now vs weeks (or months) from now is negligible.

  • Clachnacuddin and the Hoops says:

    A Good win for Darvel but not a Good win for Mr Goodwin !

  • John Copeland says:

    I personally do not think that the Aberdeen posse of a squad have been trying a leg since the World Cup break ! Only that bunch of six-shooters can explain why . What I don’t like is that the SMSM will have a huge hand in the next failure as Aberdeen manager ! They will draw up a list of second raters with a preface of the old ‘bookies favourite bollocks ‘.Aberdeen have to employ a coach who knows what it takes to win competitions ,someone who has experienced the art of success and that will be expensive .

  • Michael McCartney says:

    Who cares about what decision Aberdeen make. You seem to have a hatred for individuals who are the largest shareholders in football clubs. I don’t know Dermot Desmond and I’m pretty sure you don’t know him, but for you to call him an egotistical bastard is a stupid and lazy comment. Whether we like it or not Celtic FC is a Football Club and Limited Company not a Co-operative or Community club.
    I agree that professional football in Scotland is a business that relies very much on the loyalty and dedication of its customers [supporters] and I think there should be a fans representative on the board. The big question realistically is, who would appoint that person?
    As far as the Celtic boards since the takeover in 1994 is concerned, I think they have mostly run the club both financially and competitively very well without being perfect.

  • SSMPM says:

    Can’t help but be suspicious of the part the officials played in deciding that outcome and their motivation, particularly that linesman that didn’t know the difference between 2 yards onside and offside. I’m not saying it was the hand of anti Dons hunnery but can THAT really just be down to total incompetence?

  • Paul says:

    You’ve nailed it. Great piece. I’m an Aberdeen fan. He cannot stay.

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