Jim Goodwin feels his patience has been rewarded in the perfect way after taking on the St Mirren job 12 months after opting not to pursue a return to Paisley.
The club’s 2013 League Cup winning captain was back at the Simple Digital Arena on Monday after his first week in the job saw him oversee a training camp in Spain.
Goodwin decided to stay at Alloa rather than hold talks before Saints appointed Alan Stubbs last summer and he has earned the chance to replace Oran Kearney after another successful season with the Wasps.
The Irishman, who spoke to Dundee earlier this summer, said: “During my time at Alloa I had interest from a number of full-time clubs, but I never felt any one of them was right at that particular time.
“I felt it was right for me to learn at Alloa and I’m very grateful for the chairman there, Mr (Mike) Mulraney, for the opportunity initially but also the backing he gave me to be a success there.
“I have seen far too many young managers through the years that have jumped in at the first opportunity to get back into full-time football.
“I have tried to be a little more calculated than that. I felt if I had stayed at Alloa for the length of time I did, it would stand me in good stead.
“I am ready now for full-time football and I’m absolutely delighted I’m coming back into this club. It couldn’t have worked out any better.”
The 37-year-old added: “I had three years at Alloa where I’ve been able to learn. I had a bit of success there in terms of promotion from League One and being able to keep the team in the Championship.
“I feel as if I am ready for this opportunity. I was delighted to get the phone call.
“I spoke with the club 12 months ago about entering the process. I didn’t feel that was the right time for me and I gave my reasons to the club. I never knocked them back, I was never offered the job. I just felt another year at Alloa was right for me.
“I just felt the timing of the whole interview process was too close to the season starting. I didn’t feel it would leave me enough time to get the right quality of player that would have been required for the start of the campaign.
“Obviously Jack Ross left and I think the club were probably caught by surprise. There wasn’t enough time on the recruitment side of things and that was it.
“This time is completely different, I feel there is a good core in the group and have identified players we want to bring to the club.”
However, Goodwin still has plenty of work to do in the transfer market.
“The numbers are light, there is no getting away from that, we have 13 or 14 signed players,” he said.”We certainly need to add another four or five bits of quality.
“We added Tony Andreu last Monday and we have identified other players we are working on.
“It’s great to have the backing of (chief executive) Tony Fitzpatrick and (technical director) Gus MacPherson behind the scenes. For me as a manager to have that support will be invaluable.”
