Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin was sacked after he failed to deliver an “immediate response” to a horrific crash in form.
Goodwin was given a stay of execution by Dons chairman Dave Cormack and the board after the embarrassing Scottish Cup exit to sixth-tier Darvel.
The axe fell straight after the 6-0 humiliation to Hibs at Easter Road.
It took just 25 minutes from the final whistle of an embarrassing loss for Cormack and the board to pull the trigger.
Following an unacceptable run of results since the World Cup break, the Club confirms it has parted company with Jim Goodwin and first team assistant manager Lee Sharp with immediate effect.
More to follow. pic.twitter.com/a6iUK2EGgL
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) January 28, 2023
After just 11 month in the job, Goodwin was sacked with immediate effect, with No.2 Lee Sharp also following him out of Pittodrie.
Goodwin had to go. There was no other option after a third straight humiliation.
Humbled by Hibs, they suffered the worst defeat in the club’s 120-year history when losing at sixth-tier Darvel.
Just days before that, they were thrashed 5-0 by Hearts.
The Hibs defeat will inevitably raise the question of why Goodwin wasn’t sacked after Darvel when many supporters demanded it.
Aberdeen have now won just once in 10 games and this defeat saw Goodwin’s flops crash into the bottom six.
Goodwin was defiant in the build-up to a match of huge significance for both managers, as Hibs’ Lee Johnson was also under intense pressure.
Ahead of the Easter Road showdown, Goodwin said he had “never shirked a challenge in his life”.
If only his team had that attitude. They capitulated meekly in a game where their manager’s future was on the line.
After Josh Campbell netted twice in the opening 15 minutes before Elie Youan made it 3-0 at the break, Kevin Nisbet, Campbell and Will Fish goals piled on the misery for Goodwin.
Talking points
Failure to deliver on challenge of ‘immediate response’
Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack could not have been clearer in his statement when sticking with under-fire boss Jim Goodwin.
He demanded an “immediate response” from Goodwin and the players… or else.
So there could only be one outcome when they failed so badly to deliver.
Easter Road offered Goodwin and his woefully underperforming players an escape route from the worst defeat in the club’s history at Darvel.
They didn’t take it.
Many expected the 41-year-old to be gone before Easter Road.
The sword of Damocles had been hanging over Goodwin since Darvel.
It dropped at Easter Road.
This was an opportunity for the Dons to fight for their manager’s future. They didn’t.
They let him down and the club’s fans – a scenario all too frequent.
The bottom line is many of these Aberdeen players are simply not good enough.
There is now the concern that Aberdeen could be viewed as a toxic club, having sacked Goodwin, who had 18 months left on his contract.
The Dons have already had three managers in the last two years.
Stephen Glass, who Goodwin replaced, was also sacked after 11 months.
Aberdeen’s shambolic defending exposed yet again
Why has it taken so long to address the defensive frailty that was glaringly obvious well before before the January transfer window opened?
That is a question only chairman Dave Cormack, director of football Steven Gunn and Goodwin can answer.
Perhaps it is a question for the “Football Monitoring Board” to ponder…
Aberdeen’s damaging defending has been their Achilles heel for months – and so it proved again at Easter Road.
An inability to defend at corners, no cohesion. This defence played like strangers.
It was comprised of a winger at left-back (Jonny Hayes) and a midfielder at right-back (Ross McCrorie)
Yet only now, in the final days of the window, when the season is petering out, that defensive reinforcements are set to be made.
It is understood Watford’s Mattie Pollock has agreed to join the Dons on loan.
The 21-year-old right-sided defender has featured four times for the Championship outfit this season.
Pollock was on the bench on Saturday in Watford’s Championship trip to Middlesbrough.
Aberdeen have also offered a pre-contact to Go Ahead Eagles defender Jay Idzes, 22, and have also held talks with Tranmere full-back Josh Dacres-Cogley.
However, both Idzes and Dacres-Cogley are understood to have delayed decisions while there remains uncertainty about Goodwin’s future.
That uncertainty is now over following Goodwin’s sacking straight after the Hibs horror show.
It took just 10 minutes for Hibs to breach Aberdeen’s vulnerable defence. A cross from Youan was meekly parried out by keeper Joe Lewis.
Campbell pounced on the loose ball to shoot home from six yards.
It set the tone for the game, with Campbell heading in from 12 yards in 15th minute.
Five minutes later, the Dons were 2-0 down when they failed to clear the box and Campbell brilliantly headed in from 12 yards.
A third followed just before time when Elie Youan was left unchallenged at a corner to head home.
Aberdeen’s toothless attack lacking creativity and goals
Aberdeen’s toothless attack have been posted missing in the recent horrific run of results.
Having failed to score against sixth-tier Darvel, the Reds were completely devoid of any attacking creativity, threat or tempo at Easter Road.
Players who should be capable of turning games with a moment of magic were anonymous.
So often a creative outlet, Duk was left far too isolated on the left flank against Hibs.
The drive was there, but there was no support when Duk embarked on rampaging runs.
Leading scorer Bojan Miovski was well marshalled by the Hibs defence and continually had to drop deep in search of the ball.
Aberdeen offered no threat from set-pieces either.
Corners were crossed into the box, but too often keeper David Marshall was allowed to pick them out of the air unchallenged.
When the defence is so vulnerable, the attack has to fire to have a slim chance of scrambling a result.
The defence and attack were both anonymous in a team that looks broken.
Talking tactics
Goodwin made three changes to the starting XI that suffered the humiliating Scottish Cup exit.
As expected, influential midfielder Graeme Shinnie and leading scorer Bojan Mioviski returned having both been on the bench at Darvel.
Jonny Hayes also returned with Patrik Myslovic, Ryan Duncan and Hayden Coulson dropping to the bench.
Hayes moved into the left-back position as Goodwin set up with a four-man back-line in a 4-2-3-1.
Referee watch
Craig Napier: Aberdeen’s previous visit to Easter Road was dominated by a controversial decision when Liam Scales was wrongly dismissed for a challenge on Ryan Porteous in September.
A penalty was also awarded for that incident with the Dons 1-0 up. They would lose 3-1 and Jim Goodwin received a hefty ban for post-match comments about Porteous.
There was no contentious decisions from Napier in a game Hibs dominated, although Scales was sent off – again – on 86 minutes.
Player ratings
ABERDEEN (4-2-3-1): Lewis 3; McCrorie 2, Stewart 2, Scales 2, Hayes 2 (Myslovic 83) ; Ramadani 4; Shinnie 4 (Barron 83); Kennedy 3 (Roberts 60), Clarkson 3 (Coulson 60), Duk4 ; Miovski 3 (Duncan 83)
Subs not used: Ritchie, Barron, Myslovic, Watkins, Polvara, Marshall.
HIBS (4-3-3): Marshall 6; Cadden 7, Hanlon 6, Fish 6, Stevenson 6; Newell 7, Jeggo 6, Campbell 7; Youan 7, McKirdy 6 (Miller 68), McGeady 6 (Nisbet 68)
Subs not used: Johnson, Cabraja, Tavares, Henderson, MacIntyre, O’Connor, Laidlaw.
Star man
Josh Campbell (Hibs): Netted a hat-trick. Two goals inside the first 15 minutes to take the pressure off Hibs in a high stakes game for both clubs.
Was a constant threat throughout and then topped his performance with a late converted penalty.
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