Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin has declared himself back to full health and ready to return to the dugout after a recent hospital scare that requires what he described as “a simple procedure”.
Goodwin, 44, is set to be back on the sidelines on Saturday when Dundee United visit his former club St Mirren. It will mark his return after a three-game absence, during which assistant Lee Sharp took the team. In that spell, United won 4-0 away to Kilmarnock, suffered a defeat at Motherwell and drew at home with Falkirk. Goodwin had been admitted to hospital at the end of August.
Speaking on media duty on Friday, Goodwin did not go into detail about the scare, but said: “It was something pretty straightforward in the end. It was a simple procedure required and once that is done and all tidied up then it will be nothing that I need to worry about going forward.”
He added that the episode had come as a shock. “It was a huge surprise to me and my wife and to my children. I am not one that gets coughs or colds, I am not one that misses days at work and I am not a great patient because it is not something I have ever been used to,” he said.
Goodwin also said he had been “absolutely overwhelmed” by messages of support since he was admitted to hospital. He thanked people from the football world and beyond, as well as Dundee United, the club’s supporters, his wife and children, and NHS staff at the Royal Hospital in Glasgow and at Stobhill in Bishopbriggs. He noted a display put on by supporters last week against Falkirk, and repeated that he was “pleased to say I am back to full health and raring to go”.
Reflecting on his time away, Goodwin described it as a strange period for his children because in 20 years they had never been used to him being at home. He praised the Dundee United staff and players, saying he had maintained daily dialogue, watched games and communicated with the bench. He said it would be “brilliant” to return to the sidelines at a familiar spot in Paisley against St Mirren.
Goodwin will return to hospital in six weeks for an operation.