At the end of January Hibernian entertained Aberdeen in the cinch SPFL Premiership. A fixture between two of Scotland’s biggest clubs is usually keenly anticipated but there was an extra edge to this particular game that had social media in a frenzy.
The nature of the game these days is that a run of defeats instigates
a ‘crisis’ with calls for the manager’s head and, occasionally, the collective
heads of the board of directors. Hibs and Aberdeen both went into this fixture
on a run of form for which the phrase downward spiral had been invented. Intriguingly,
both sides had won just twice in their preceding ten games, losing seven of
them.
A pall of gloom had descended on Easter Road the previous week
following their elimination from this season’s Scottish Cup after a chastening
3-0 defeat from city rivals Hearts. Hibs manager Lee Johnson was under fire
from an increasingly angry support.
However, if the disappointment at Easter Road was palpable
it was nothing compared to what was happening 130 miles north in the Granite
City. Aberdeen’s form since the cinch Premiership resumed after the Qatar World
Cup had fallen quicker than the temperature in my house when I upset my wife (a fairly regular occurrence) Their record away from Pittodrie was abysmal
although surely they would put things right when they visited West of Scotland
league side Darvel in the Scottish Cup? After all, there were five divisions
separating the two teams with most of the Ayrshire lads having worked in their
days jobs in the hours leading up to the game.
What happened, of course, was the biggest shock in the long
history of the Scottish Cup. Darvel deservedly won 1-0 and the Dons were out on
a night of humiliation, the worst result in their history. The press and the
supporters, as is the way of these scenarios, waited for what surely had to be
the announcement of the sacking of Dons manager Jim Goodwin the following day. But
what they got, 48 hours later, was a statement from the club saying Goodwin was
staying but an immediate improvement was required.
That improvement had to occur at Easter Road where the Dons
met fellow ‘crisis’ club Hibernian. The media lapped it up of course and the
game was dubbed ‘El Sackio’ which, in my view, reflects rather sadly on society.
Social media went into overdrive, the press were circulating Easter Road like
vultures round a carcass and all prying eyes were fixed on the two managers.
Hibernian’s 6-0 hammering of the Dons meant there was no way
back for Jim Goodwin and the sight of him walking forlornly across the Easter
Road pitch minutes after the game had ended, stepping over an advertising
hoarding en route to a waiting car to whisk him away meant one could only have
sympathy for the amiable Irishman. Granted, some Aberdeen fans, particularly those
who held up a banner at Easter Road proclaiming ‘Goodwin Out’ may have had little
sympathy but this is a man’s livelihood we’re talking about, a young man with a
young family enduring, like the rest of us, very difficult economic times. He
may well have been paid the rest of his contract which had around 18 months to
run but the diatribe fired towards him was akin to a baying mob after a
murderous villain.
Goodwin’s ignominious exit brought to mind the fate of
another former Aberdeen manager, Steve Paterson, who was sacked by the
Pittodrie board of directors in the summer of 2004 and smuggled out of the
ground in the boot of a Mercedes car to avoid the attentions of the baying
press. Paterson had well-documented problems with alcohol but it says much about
our society that he had to be smuggled out like someone having been given a
life sentence for a heinous crime.
On the other side of the coin, Livingston manager David
Martindale has been lauded for producing a team which is in the top half of the
league and is challenging for a place in European competition next season.
Given the size of the club and the budget being a fraction of other more fashionable
clubs, it’s a remarkable achievement. But even Martindale is wary of the
pitfalls of football management. He spoke about Jim Goodwin’s dismissal to Sky
Sports News saying it is the way football is nowadays – you get a job, you lose
a job.
Aberdeen’s last two managers have both been fired before a
year was out on their respective contracts. Football has changed so much in the
last few years and the advent of social media has given more power to the
supporters who demand immediate success. As in any profession, failure or
perceived failure can see the incumbent pay the ultimate price. But dignity and
respect is the least anyone deserves. As we strive for an equal, inclusive and
fair society that’s something the football world in particular should consider.
Twitter @Mike1874
