St Mirren captain Stephen McGinn is happy to see Jim Goodwin take his time with his recruitment despite some supporters’ anxiety.
Saints crashed out of the Betfred Cup after drawing blanks against East Kilbride and Albion Rovers, and have since lost Cody Cooke for about two months with a knee injury, leaving Danny Mullen as their only experienced forward.
After the departure of Oran Kearney in late June, the Buddies have only brought in three players after losing 12 from the squad that finished last season.
But McGinn is backing his new manager’s careful approach.
“There’s no real panic in our place,” said McGinn ahead of Saturday’s Ladbrokes Premiership opener at Hibernian.
“We know we are moving in the right direction. We know the manager could go out and bring in players just to make up the numbers but that’s not what he wants. He wants to build a standard and move the club forward.
“We are bang on board with everything he has done since he came in. We know he will bring in additions to help us out and maybe turn some of those frustrating goalless performances into wins.
“We appreciate how hard they are working to bring the right players in, to make us better and hopefully avoid the scenario we were in last year with the high turnover in January.
“I have been at clubs before when there is the panic. I have been at clubs where they bring in players for the sake of it, bring in a left-sided player because he is available but might not make us better as a team.
“You want to get to the point where we have a steady team.”
McGinn has been highly impressed with Goodwin’s start on the training pitch and has found him totally different off the pitch to the tough-tackling midfielder who skippered St Mirren.
“It’s funny because as a player – my brother obviously played alongside him in midfield – and at times you saw him fire into challenges and some of the fights he was involved in,” McGinn said. “I asked John the same: ‘Is he just mad?’
“But I’m sure you have got to know him – he is really softly-spoken, a lovely guy, a very modern manager.
“There is no ranting and raving. We have had some poor results over the last couple of weeks and he has been the calmest guy in the stadium.
“He obviously has that stare in the locker: ‘Don’t cross me’ like any good manager should have.
“The days of coming in and kicking things all over the place are probably gone. I don’t think young players respond to that.”
