Jim Goodwin has emerged as the leading contender for the vacant Aberdeen manager’s job and it is not hard to see why the St Mirren boss has caught the Dons’ board’s eye.
At 40, Goodwin is a young, dynamic coach with a track record of steady improvement.
Despite being five years younger than Stephen Glass, the rookie head coach who was in the Pittodrie dugout until Sunday, Goodwin has six years of management experience behind him.
The Buddies boss is one of several candidates in the frame to replace Glass, with the Dons having been rebuffed in their initial approach for permission to speak to him.
St Mirren want compensation agreed before they will let Goodwin, who is thought to be keen on the move, talk.
But a look at the progress he has made as a manager shows why the £250,000 compensation the Dons would have to pay to prise him away from Saints could be money well spent.
Goodwin’s managerial career path has seen him follow in the wake of Jack Ross, another man who wants the role at Aberdeen.
While Ross has encountered a couple of bumps in his recent dugout endeavours, the current Saints boss’ stock is only rising.
Goodwin cut his managerial teeth at Alloa
Goodwin’s first foray into management came thanks to Ross’ departure from Alloa after being lured away by St Mirren in October 2016.
Ross had been in charge at Alloa less than a year before Saints came calling for his services.
His departure led to Goodwin being offered the role of player-manager by the Wasps, who were in League One at the time of his appointment.
Alloa finished the season runners-up in the third tier. The club missed out on promotion to the Championship after losing 5-4 in a dramatic penalty shoot-out against Brechin City in the play-off final, after a thrilling two-legged final had finished 4-4 on aggregate.
Undeterred, Goodwin regrouped, leading Alloa to the play-offs again in 2018 by virtue of finishing third in the league behind runners-up Raith.
The Wasps would not be denied this time as they beat Rovers home and away in the play-off semi-final before edging Dumbarton 2-1 in the final to win promotion to the Championship.
Goodwin’s penchant for late drama continued into the 2018-19 season as his part-time side secured a 1-1 draw at Ayr on the final day of the season.
The point was enough to move above Queen of the South and secure their status in the Championship in what would be his final game in charge of the club.
St Mirren offered a chance at top-flight management
His achievement in leading the unfancied Wasps to promotion and then keeping them in the Championship did not go unnoticed at St Mirren, who by the summer of 2019 were looking for a new manager.
Ross had long since departed for Sunderland, with his successor Alan Stubbs lasting all of four months.
Stubbs was replaced by Oran Kearney, who kept Saints in the Premiership thanks to a play-off win against Dundee United before returning to Ireland after 10 months in Scottish football.
Saints wanted stability and they saw a man who could deliver it in their former captain Goodwin.
Goodwin’s first campaign was the ill-fated 2019-20 season which was cut short due to the Covid outbreak. A 1-0 win against Hearts in what would be the Buddies final game of the season ended up securing the club a ninth-place finish.
With more experience has come further progress
For Goodwin, the campaign had been a testing introduction to top-flight management, but he showed how much he has learned last season as he continued to make progress with his side.
Saints missed out on a top six place after conceding a last-minute equaliser to Hamilton Accies in the final pre-split game.
Goodwin spoke of the draw as being a shattering experience for his players, but they recovered to finish best of the rest in seventh place.
His leadership in moving St Mirren forward seems to be continuing this season with his side in sixth place, two points ahead of the club which is keen to speak to him about a move to the Granite City.
With a game in hand on their rivals above them, Goodwin has Saints a point off Motherwell in fourth – a position which will bring European football to whichever team can grab it.
Saints have as good as shot at it as any in a fiercely competitive mid-table.
Despite operating on a fraction of the budget Aberdeen have, Goodwin is outperforming them and his own personal trajectory continues to head in the right direction as his time at Saints shows.
He is on course to better his season-on-season win percentage and his points-per-game average:
Bargain-hunting qualities also an attraction
Goodwin’s eye for a bargain has been very good, too, and he has tapped into the Irish market on several occasions.
One player, Jamie McGrath, was a target of both Aberdeen and Hibernian this season before earning a move to England with Wigan Athletic on deadline day.
Connor Ronan, meanwhile, has been a thorn in the Dons’ side this season as well.
While Ross has the experience of managing in England and pipping the Dons to third place last season with Hibernian, he has two dismissals on his CV to date.
Goodwin has none. He is carving out his own path, and it is not hard to see why he has emerged as an appealing option for Aberdeen.