Goodwin, Jim

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Fullname: James Goodwin
aka: Jim Goodwin
Born: 20 November 1981
Birthplace: Waterford, Ireland
Signed: 25 Nov 1997
Left: 23 May 2002
Position: Midfielder
Debut: Celtic 2-0 Dundee Utd, League, 21 May 2000
Internationals: Ireland
International Caps:1
International Goals: 0

Biog

Waterford born Jim Goodwin made just one appearance during his brief career in the Hoops.

Signed from Tramore in 1997 the hard tackling midfielder made his debut in the last league game of season 1999/2000 on 21st May 2000 when he featured in a young Celtic side who defeated Dundee United 2-0 at Parkhead. That match also saw the return of Henrik Larsson from a career threatening leg break.

It was actually the start of a new era that really was to get underway with Martin O’Neill to come in as manager, and Jim Goodwin got the honour to play in that first match. The significance of Henrik Larsson’s return to the Celtic First Team after what both he personally and what the team had endured over the past season is difficult to summarise, and to get to play with him at that moment is a special claim (albeit for only ten minutes in his case). One report picked out Jim Goodwin for his performance:

“The Celtic youngsters opened with some neat controlled play with Fotheringham and Goodwin the pick of the bunch and displaying a good understanding down the right.” (PA Sport)

Frustratingly for Jim Goodwin, Martin O’Neill opted to bring in established players (some very expensive) to bolster the First Team, which included the likes of Neil Lennon. That made it difficult to nigh-on impossible for most youngsters to push there way to the front of the queue for First Team places. It was fellow youth player Liam Miller who would be the most successful from that group of match debutants.

As Celtic went on to win the treble and begin a new golden era, there was little argument, but young players like Jim Goodwin were thus mostly locked out of the running for First Team appearances.

A Republic of Ireland ‘B’ international In June 2008 he signed a 3-year deal with Huddersfield Town. He later won a full cap with the full Ireland national squad, but the early promise wasn’t fulfilled and this was the peak of his career.

In time he would be back in Scotland with St Mirren, and helped them to the League Cup title in 2012/13 v Hearts in the final.

He’d lost none of his combative skill reflected in the number of yellow cards he received. As a mark to show his worth as player, the St Mirren manager Danny Lennon stated on Goodwin’s consistent performances and leadership qualities:

“I always thought he was captain material and he’s really grasped that opportunity. He leads by example on the pitch and off it too. You can tell by how well he’s playing how much he’s enjoying the responsibility. He really cares about the game and is so passionate and eager to learn.

He later moved onto Alloa, and after ending his time playing he became their manager in 2016, and managed them to promotion to the second tier in Scottish football in 2017/18 via a play-off, but left in 2019 succeeded by ex-Celt Peter Grant. He moved to St Mirren in 2019 as manager. Incredibly, after his side defeated Sevco in the league cup semi-finals in December 2020 (Sevco’s first domestic defeat that season), he was given a red card for over-celebrating the victory!

At Aberdeen he ended up part of an unfortunate bit of history making when Darvel FC produced arguably the biggest upset in 149 years of Scottish Cup history. The sixth-tier outfit defeated Jim Goodwin’s top-flight Aberdeen. A week later he was dismissed after a 6-0 thumping to Hibernian in the league. He soon took on the role at Dundee Utd.

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Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

none

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