BILLY BREMNER MEMORIAL JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN
Date: 27th April 2024
It was the look on his face…
Absolute contentment…
As if he had come through a terrible ordeal…
And he had…
But today, he signed, he sealed and…
He finally delivered…
Mr. Goodwin was back…
Picture the scene…
He was standing in the offices of the Tangerine Dream Shop for all your mobile needs. Mr. Goodwin knew now that his future was bright, his future was … tangerine …
The largest sale of his life had just gone through, after a trip down to Airdrie of all places.
But now, Mr. Goodwin was the top salesman in the place. At the top of his game, gazing down from his summit, his Everest and his place was assured in the pantheon of whispered legends of the Tangerine Dream. He was the leader, the manager, the chosen one.
Behind him, an expectant crowd awaited his soft Irish brogue, called whispering with menaces by some, to turn and speak to them. To deliver the wisdom of the ages, the season long valedictory announcement which would salve the feelings of some, who would be going with him into the big time, but also deliver spears to the heart of those being let go.
In amongst them were two, Mr. Moult and Mr. Watt, who had eventually turned in a stellar shift for him. Everyone thought, they needed to stay.
That included the celebrity investor, emotionally more than financially, Ms. Kelly who had been invited into the boardroom to give the day that element of razzle, dazzle. Mr. Goodwin felt that was only right – and it made his return, his rise from the ashes of an Ayrshire visit which, until now had defined his reputation, all the sweeter. Now he had been resurrected, breathed new life into his future and was the king of the mobiles in the street filled with plenty of famous memories. He was the McLean of his own future, after the legendary manager of the Tangerine Dream that had taken Europe by storm decades ago.
And so, Mr. Goodwin turned to face his audience.
Spontaneously, they broke into applause. They found themselves unable to contain their excitement and their fear of what he was about to say next.
Mr. Goodwin smiled.
That threw them.
Not many had seen that before. More used to seeing a growling and disappointed face, his sales team had followed him around the country whispering in the corridors of places they had visited that it would be a cold day in hell before Mr. Goodwin ever had a positive thing to say.
Some now cowered in a corner as they thought, oh God, he’s smiling at me.
And so, like an assassin’s bullet, Mr. Goodwin began…
“Some of you will stay, and others with whom there may have been a Clash or two will go,” he said in a room filled with silence, the fear beginning to feel palpable, even smelly.
“Most people that have been in this position will talk about relief,” Mr. Goodwin continued.
“Huge pressure, huge level of expectation on us. We know we had the biggest budget and the resources to back that up. We built a good squad, but you still have to go out there and get the job done. It hasn’t been easy.”
There were murmurs of agreement around the room. A few however, found themselves trying to avoid eye contact with Mr. Goodwin as they began to fear for their contract.
And so, they should.
Mr. Goodwin looked at each of the expectant faces in the room. He knew.
He knew who was able to take the step up and those who would be casualties. He knew the ones he could rely on and those for whom the time had come to take the walk to the Job Centre. He knew what he was doing…
Or did he…
Sometimes people flatter to deceive and Mr. Goodwin, though he had got his team of sales executives out the doldrums at the first time of asking was still being questioned in the corridors of power about strategy, tactics and the deployment of assets. There were some still to be convinced that they had the right man for the job. Some even whispered themselves – saying that all he had done was fix a mess he had created and should not be rewarded for that…
But for now, such talk was banished, and Mr. Goodwin looked at all of them and smiled again, nodding and turning away to signal his pep talk was over.
For some, it was a warning they needed to heed, and they were to leave that meeting and have had a conversation about other sales teams by the time they got to heir cars to leave the headquarters. Some had already got their exit strategy.
Mr. Goodwin, however settled down for what he thought was going to be a long term feel good relationship as the head of the Tangerine Dream…
There were some, however who began their own version of a Gunpowder Plot to have him gone…
Only time would tell who would end up at the top of the bonfire at the end of the next season to come…
Whilst the author asserts his right to this as an original piece of work there is no evidence that Jim Goodwin has ever been in charge of mobile phone company in Dundee, or that there are plotters in Dundee United to remove him, unless you know differently, so, this is clearly a piece of fiction. Though many of Jim’s words have been used here verbatim.
The fact is that Dundee United eventually won the Championship after a 0-0 draw in Airdrie afterwards Jim Goodwin commented to the BBC, “Most people that have been in this position will talk about relief. Huge pressure, huge level of expectation on us. We know we had the biggest budget and the resources to back that up. We built a good squad, but you still have to go out there
and get the job done. It hasn’t been easy.” And so, time will tell who it is that goes or stays… and who gets a contract for the Premiership and what that will look like next season for the Tangerines. They shall hope it does not turn into a nightmare. They shall want to Dream On…
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