Jim Goodwin wants to make sell-out Saturday a regular event at Aberdeen.
The new Dons boss will take his bow in front of a packed Pittodrie tomorrow as a full house welcomes former manager Sir Alex Ferguson back to the club.
Ferguson’s statue was unveiled at Pittodrie on Friday and with the legendary manager guest of honour for the visit of Dundee United today the stadium will host its first sell-out since the Boxing Day match against Celtic in 2018.
Goodwin is eager to sample the atmosphere of a full house and would love to make it a regular occurrence for the club.
He said: “It really does show the magnitude of the club.
“For the people of Aberdeen to come out in such great numbers to show their respect to such a great man is credit to the football club but also credit to the city.
“They obviously appreciate everything Sir Alex did for them throughout his time here.
“I just think it’s a great way for everybody to show their appreciation. But it does open your eyes to what the club is capable of being.
“If we work hard here at Cormack Park, and do things properly, and the team is successful then the supporters are there.
“We just need to give them a reason to come and get behind the team because a full house on Saturday is everything we want moving forward.”
Change will take time
The new Dons boss will look to change the team’s approach to games from his predecessor Stephen Glass but he has warned not to expect an overnight transformation.
The aim is to end the season with a European place but Goodwin insists it will take time to implement his ideas.
He said: “We’ve only had three training sessions with the players.
“Short term, we’re assessing everybody really. We’re trying to evaluate staff, evaluate players to see what energy levels are like and all that kind of stuff.
“Listen, when I look at the squad when it’s fully fit, they’ve got some decent players there.
“I don’t think the recruitment has been terrible, there has been some good signings made in the last year to 18 months.
“I don’t think they’ve carried a great amount of luck with the amount of injuries that they’ve had.
“But hopefully in the next two to three weeks, we’ll start to see a couple of them coming back and adding a bit more strength in depth to the squad.
“Obviously I will do things differently to the previous regime.
“I hate when managers come on to these types of press conferences and start slagging off the previous regime.
“That won’t happen.
“I know Stephen Glass did a lot of good work behind the scenes and worked closely with (director of football) Steven Gunn and the chairman (Dave Cormack) to make some good changes around the place.
“No doubt, I will have a different way of doing things, a different style of managing and that will take time for the players to get used to.”
Dons chasing first league win of 2022
The Dons are still searching for the first league win of 2022 with the Scottish Cup fourth round victory over Edinburgh City the only time the club has celebrated a win so far this year.
Goodwin hopes to deliver it but he knows visitors Dundee United will not rollover at Pittodrie.
He said: “Dundee United have come into a good bit of form.
“They have only lost one game in their last six.
“They had a really good performance against Rangers as well, recently, and Tam Courts seems to have them playing some decent football.”
