New Alloa boss Jim Goodwin reckons learning from Tommy Craig and Nigel Adkins will help him become a success in management.
The 34-year-old moved to Alloa from St.Mirren last summer initially as a player, but was promoted to player-manager when Jack Ross departed for his former club.
But despite his lack of first-team coaching experience, Goodwin knows he can draw upon advice and guidance given to him by some of his former bosses and insists that management doesn’t faze him one bit.
Speaking exclusively to Ladbrokes News, he said: “It’s been great to be honest. It’s been something I’ve been preparing for a few years now – I’ve been taking all of the relative badges and qualifications. It probably came a year or two sooner than I thought but my intention when I was leaving St.Mirren was always to move to a club where if the manager was to move on, I’d be in a position where I could throw my name into the ring. It couldn’t have happened any better really.
“I’ve worked for some fantastic coaches and managers during 19 years of playing football, and I’ve been studying for a number of years as it’s always been my ambition to get into coaching and management once I finished playing. Management doesn’t faze me in the slightest and I’ve got some great support in the background.
“Tommy Craig during my time at St.Mirren was a fantastic coach – I only wish I’d met him 10 years before I did!
“He was a great coach and one that set the standard so high in training and he improved players year on year.
“If you weren’t living up to expectations he’d certainly let you know, but I think every player he worked with would acknowledge he improved them in some way. I’ve tried to take those kinds of standards with me into the Alloa job.
“I worked for Nigel Adkins, and we won League One together at Scunthorpe down in England.
“Nigel obviously moved on to Southampton and obviously managed in the Premier League, and had a few other clubs. I’ve been very fortunate to work with a great deal of excellent managers, but these two are who I’d probably take the most from.”
Goodwin and his Alloa squad are currently third in the Ladbrokes League One table, but the veteran knows in no uncertain terms what the objective of the campaign is.
He added: “But our intention just now is to win the league. We’re aware of how difficult that task is, with two full-time clubs in the league with much bigger budgets than ours that can work with players on a daily basis. But we are very optimistic, despite knowing how difficult the job is going to be.”
Alloa are currently priced as 15/8 second favourites to win the Ladbrokes League One title come May.