Under-pressure manager Jim Goodwin is set to have crisis talks with his Aberdeen flops today, with his future at the Dons still hanging in the balance.
Goodwin has vowed to fight on after the Reds crashed to the worst result in the club’s proud 120-year history when losing at Darvel in the Scottish Cup on Monday night.
However, the manager’s future may be taken out of his hands. It is understood chairman Dave Cormack and the club’s board were keen to sleep on it before making any decision on whether to back or sack their boss following the defeat.
It is also understood confirmation of any decision on whether to remove Goodwin from the Reds hotseat may not come on Tuesday, and Goodwin and the Aberdeen players have reported to the Cormack Park training ground this morning.
Dons chief still to make call on Goodwin’s future after lowest moment of recent slump
United States-based chairman Cormack was at Recreation Park to witness the Dons crash to a 1-0 defeat at sixth-tier Darvel.
The embarrassment, which left Reds fans calling for Goodwin to go, came just five days after a humiliating 5-0 loss at Hearts.
Aberdeen have lost seven of their last nine games following the winter break, with just one win in that run.
The season is in freefall, but Goodwin will today hold a summit meeting with his players to in a bid to forge a rescue plan.
He is determined the outcome of the talks will be the Dons “coming out fighting” against Hibs on Saturday.
Goodwin said: “We need to do a bit of assessment.
“We’ll speak to who we need to speak to and have a meeting with the players.
“And we will try and come out fighting for Easter Road.
“We are on a poor run of form but we have to stick together, we have to keep fighting and have to work hard.
“And we have to put on a good display against Hibs on Saturday.”
‘I’m the manager, I pick the team’
The pressure was already on Goodwin ahead of the Darvel tie following a dramatic slump in form.
That will have intensified significantly after the biggest shock in 149 years of the Scottish Cup.
During the summer, the Dons outlaid more than £1.5 million in transfer fees in rebuilding the squad.
The Reds have also brought in Graeme Shinnie and Patrik Myslovic on loan deals this month.
However, Goodwin refused to slaughter his players in the aftermath of the cup shock.
Asked if the players had let him down, Goodwin said: “No, we are all in this together.
“I’m the manager, I pick the team and I thought we put a strong team on the park.
“We tried to freshen it up.
“It wasn’t to be.
“Ultimately I am the manager, they are my players and the performance wasn’t as good as it needed to be.
“It was a really poor performance that lacked any urgency and creativity.”
Goodwin apologises to supporters
Aberdeen were backed by 700 fans who had made the eight-hour, 350-mile round trip to Darvel.
The full allocation of Aberdeen’s tickets was not sold out for the fourth-round tie.
Aberdeen fans in attendance made their frustrations clear at full-time.
Goodwin said: “Having gone so far in the league cup we wanted to replicate that in the Scottish Cup but weren’t able to unfortunately.
“I apologise to all the travelling fans.”
Aberdeen left ‘clutching at straws’
During the cup loss, Aberdeen, at 1-0 down, were denied by a string of excellent saves by Darvel keeper Chris Truesdale.
The Reds also had a Bojan Miovski goal disallowed in the 75th minute for offside. Leighton Clarkson was a few yards onside as Jonny Hayes played the ball forward, with Clarkson squaring for a Miovski tap-in.
Had that goal stood, the Reds would have forced extra-time.
Goodwin said that would have been an “injustice” to Darvel.
He said: “Darvel were excellent on the night.
“They got their nose in front which summed up our defending for large spells of this season.
“A really soft goal from our point of view.
“We didn’t really work the keeper enough, although we had chances in the second half.
“I would like to see Clarkson’s one back.
“I thought it was a well-timed run from where I was, and onside.
“If the goal is a good goal and chalked off that is a major disappointment.
“It would have given us the chance to go to extra time.
“But that would have been an injustice as Darvel deserved to go through.
“I am clutching at straws to be thinking about that goal taking us to extra-time.
“We are a Premiership team against one of many tiers in the pyramid system below us.”
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