St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin has said that Scottish football must wise up to the fact it isn’t immune to the affects of the global pandemic.
This week has witnessed Scottish football teeter very close to another shutdown. Eight Aberdeen players broke COVID-19 protocols by going out to a bar whilst Celtic defender Boli Bolingoli failed to isolate for 14 days following an obscure trip to Spain.
The Celtic full-back went to Spain (Photo by JEFF PACHOUD/AFP via Getty Images)
Aberdeen and Celtic were forced to postpone their games this week, St Mirren subsequently affected by that as their game with Celtic has had to be rescheduled. Goodwin says Scottish football has to realise it isn’t ‘bulletproof.’
“It’s not an ideal situation but we had to prepare as if the game was going ahead,” Goodwin said of the postponed Celtic match. “At the end of the day it’s a global pandemic and football is not bulletproof from it either.
“It’s extremely disappointing that we are talking about this kind of thing again. As a club, and as a group of staff and players, we just need to prepare for the games as best we can. As a club we have done absolutely everything we could have done.
St Mirren are doing as much as they can. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
“Right from the beginning we followed the guidelines and the protocols that the club put in place. We have adhered to them as best we can. We had a situation with ourselves a few weeks ago which was completely outwith our control.
“It was brought into one of the staff member’s houses by a partner from their workplace which can happen. Our players are well aware of their roles and responsibilities, as are the staff. We are in a position of privilege in terms of footballers being role models for society and we are going to try and live up to that as best we can. We need to.”
Spending wisely
Goodwin has also spoken of the Buddies’ transfer business. So far they have been quite busy, bringing in Jak Alnwick, Richard Tait, Joe Shaughnessy, Marcus Fraser, Nathan Sheron and Ísak Snaer Thorvaldsson.
Tait is one new face. (Photo by Willie Vass/Pool via Getty Images)
With salary caps introduced in the EFL, things might be a bit easier for St Mirren now. Goodwin says it may allow them to compete more competitively for players as he continues to aim for a new striker.
“We’ve always been looking at talent down in England, but we were always looking at the National League and the bottom end of League Two because financially down the road some of the budgets would scare you,” he said.
“They’re on a level with the likes of Hibs and Aberdeen in our league, so that gives you some idea of what they were on last year. The English Football League have now introduced salary caps and budgetary caps this year which all of a sudden makes it competitive for us now.
Salary caps down south. (Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
“We can now look up towards League One players, which is what we’re looking at at the moment. I think we’re a little light up front but we knew that was going to be the case. We are working hard on it.
“We are missing our main revenue stream which is fans coming through the door on a weekend. But in fairness, the board have been extremely supportive. It was well documented a few weeks ago about us losing a player to another club in Scotland.
“It was nothing to do with finances. It was that my valuation of the player was completely different to the club that signed him. That’s what it comes down to, I have to make the right decisions for the team. There are finances there, it just has to be spent wisely by me.”