EXIT WOUNDS

Goodwin is sacked just 19 MINUTES after whistle is blown at Easter Road

‘SHELL-SHOCKED’ Dave Cormack last night apologised to the Aberdeen support for his role in the 6-0 humiliation at Hibs that ended with the sacking of manager Jim Goodwin.

After consecutive embarrassing losses to Hearts and Darvel, chairman Cormack handed the Irishman a reprieve heading to Easter Road, demanding an ‘immediate’ response in a loaded club statement.

Goodwin (pictured, right) failed to summon any improvement from his team and his departure was announced just 19 minutes after full-time — 343 days after his appointment last February. Due to return to his home in the US, Cormack confirmed that he will remain in Scotland to commence the process of recruiting a new management team.

Cormack said: ‘We had 1,700 fans here today, I used to be one of them. I was one of the 5,000 here when we won 5-0 to win the league back in 1980.

‘I feel for them. I feel I have let down the supporters. I met with Jim and he is a decent man as most of you know. He came, gave me a hug and said it wasn’t good enough. We really did not need to say much more

than that. He has given it everything he could give it but the simple fact is the results have not been good enough. Our away form has just been abysmal, totally and utterly unacceptable.’

Ex-Sheffield United chief Chris Wilder is a potential dark horse candidate to succeed Goodwin. Since leaving Middlesbrough in October, the 55-year-old has kept tabs on the Scottish game and would be free to start quickly.

Former Dundee United bosses Jack Ross and Tam Courts are out of work and available, while there could also be some intrigue around Livingston’s Davie Martindale.

Most recently active in Cyprus, ex-Celtic boss Neil Lennon is another option but is understood to be unavailable at the moment.

Software tycoon Cormack will convene a meeting of the club’s hierarchy today to establish the criteria for the next appointment.

‘We will gather as a group and have a conversation,’ he continued. ‘I feel for Jim and his family and for Sharpy (Lee

Sharp), his assistant. They are two guys who have lost their jobs.

‘Jim is a very honourable and decent man, honest, trustworthy, transparent and I feel for him tonight. This is a decision that both Jim and I said we immediately needed to make after the game.

I’m staying here for at least the next week.’

Goodwin’s exit comes less than a year after he was prised from St Mirren to succeed Stephen Glass.

A hand-picked Cormack appointment from his local MLS club Atlanta United, Glass had failed to deliver on the chairman’s vow of enhanced entertainment value after the end of the successful Derek McInnes era.

Although he called out the players’ role in Goodwin’s downfall, Cormack admitted that — as the main powerbroker at Pittodrie — the buck would ultimately stop with him.

Goodwin had been backed heavily in the transfer market but while he added attacking flair and goals in the shape of Bojan Miovski and Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes, the relative neglect of a defence regularly stocked with loanees and players operating out of position proved his undoing.

However, Cormack believes individuals within the squad are not beyond blame.

He added: ‘The players need to take responsibility, too. It is always the managers who get it. Our fans deserve better. I apologise to them.

‘Like the fans, I felt quite humiliated today and I’m sorry — they were brilliant today. I am quite emotional about the club. It means everything to me. It’s our home city. I am rightly taking the pelters. I deserve it but I am determined to get it right.

‘I apologise to our fans because they deserve better. It’s not a lack of investment, it’s about having a strategy and a vision and the right people in place at the right time that are able to execute.

‘I’m determined to continue to drive this forward. I want them (the fans) to know I feel that I’ve let them down.’