Willie Garner has assured Aberdeen supporters he’s seen the evidence Jim Goodwin can deliver success for the club – and he thinks silverware and Europe should be the targets this season.
Garner, 67, was recently appointed as a non-executive director on the Dons board, which has given the former Reds player and assistant to Alex Ferguson, a unique position from which to observe boss Goodwin’s scorched earth summer squad overhaul.
Aberdeen’s Premiership campaign got under way with a 2-0 defeat against Celtic at Parkhead on Sunday, with St Mirren visiting Pittodrie on Saturday for the first home league match of the season.
During a transfer window which has seen Goodwin sign nine players so far, Garner has been “impressed” by the “incredible” amount of work done by not just the manager, but director of football Steven Gunn, head of recruitment Darren Mowbray and a host of others.
Staff have impressed Garner
He said: “Before I came on the board, I was a supporter. I was doing RedTV, and you don’t get a full understanding of what’s going on behind the scenes at the football club.
“You go in and do your job, then you come away. People ask you about things, but you’re limited in what you can tell them because you don’t know what’s going on.
“Since I’ve been in as a director, and been in meeting Jim, Steven Gunn, all the sports science guys, the physios – everybody on the football side – I’ve been so impressed with the amount of work these people do.
“That amount of work is now showing in the players who’ve been signed over the summer, because that’s not an easy job to do – going and identifying the right player, then speaking to him and convincing him Aberdeen’s the right place to be and bringing him in with the whole financial package which goes round about that as well.
“I’ve been in management myself, and, in the summer, every player’s agent is waiting for Real Madrid to come in with a bid for them.
“The work behind the scenes Jim has done, Steven has done and Darren Mowbray has done has been incredible. To entice players to come to the football club.
“I’ve been impressed with them all.
“Jim knows exactly what he wants and those guys go out and find that particular link to the chain.”
Return to Europe and a cup win
Garner thinks Goodwin will, like the Dons supporters, be expecting Aberdeen to achieve “some kind of success” this term in return for the work he and his staff have carried out revamping the Reds squad during the break.
And Garner reckons a European berth and getting a cup win “over the line” will be the ambition, saying: “We’ve got to do a lot better in the cup competitions than we did last year.
“We’ve been known in years gone-by for doing really, really well in the cup competitions, in terms of getting to semi-finals and finals.
“We’ve got to get over that line in terms of winning trophies sooner rather than later – we’ve not won a trophy since the League Cup at Celtic Park eight years ago.
“So we’ve got to get back competing for those.
“I feel it’s also a realistic target to get into Europe – so you’ve got to get into the top-three or four (in the league).
“I hate saying it, but challenging those two (Celtic and Rangers) in the league is going to be difficult – very difficult.
“I’m pretty sure, if you’re the manager, you think you can go and challenge them.
“It would be great if we could, but realistically. If we’re up in that top-three or four, that’s where Jim will be aiming for himself.
“I’m not speaking out of turn here given the work that’s gone on behind the scenes – Jim will be expecting some kind of success this season.
“Getting back into Europe would be success – as there’s a handful of other clubs expecting the same thing.”
Aberdeen attitude will be right as they try to further silverware ambitions at Annan
Before their Premiership-curtain-raising defeat at Celtic, the Reds started the 2022/23 term by cruising through to the knock-out stages of the Premier Sports Cup by topping Group A, earning a last-16 trip to Annan Athletic later in the month.
Most onlookers would say Aberdeen already have one foot in the quarter-finals, having drawn the part-time League Two outfit.
But Garner thinks Goodwin has already proved there will be no Dons complacency as he bids to take the club as far as possible in the competition as a priority.
Garner said: “The manager has already come out and said how important this trophy is – because it’s a trophy.
“Rightly so, he’s not taken it lightly.
“We are where we are. We’d have loved to have been in Europe, but we’re not, so you take what’s put in front of you and you get the job done. They’ve done that very professionally.
“Annan did well. They were in the group with St Johnstone and have qualified from a group with Premiership club in it.
“Annan will be delighted they’ve got Aberdeen Football Club coming down to their ground. It’s a long, long distance, on a Tuesday night – the other end of the world for Aberdeen fans – but they’ll turn up. It’s a great payday for Annan.
“But Jim will be preparing for that game as well as he prepares for Premiership games, there’s no doubt about that.
“It is a long journey, but Aberdeen are used to long journeys and we’ll go down there to win the game. That will be the attitude.”
Ex-defender Garner thinks new Reds’ CB pairing are a good fit
Goodwin has built an entirely-changed defensive five for this season, including goalkeeper Kelle Roos.
As a former centre-back, Garner has taken a particular interest in Celtic loanee Liam Scales – who couldn’t play at Parkhead against his parent club – and his centre-half partner, new club captain Anthony Stewart.
Although Garner thinks it’s difficult to say whether it will be “five weeks or five months” before all of Aberdeen’s new signings bed in to their new surroundings, he thinks it’s been clear Stewart and Scales are a strong fit as a centre-half pairing.
He said: “I think they’ve formed a very, very good partnership.
“What Jim was looking for was a certain type of centre-back who could do certain things.
“It’s back to him speaking to Gunner and Darren Mowbray and saying: ‘these are the types of guys I need to play in there’, because for the modern game they need to be able to do X, Y and Z.
“Watching the two of them, who have played together in most of games until Celtic, it looks like they’ve got the gig for now (as the first-choice centre-half pairing).
“I’ve been impressed by both of them. Both of them are different, totally different as players.
“Stewart has got a lot of experience, and young Scales is certainly a very promising-looking centre-back.”
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