JIM GOODWIN returns to Hampden Park this weekend for the first time since lifting the League Cup as St Mirren captain – and revealed he hopes to one day become their manager. The midfielder spent five years with the Paisley club before moving on to Alloa Athletic in the summer and will line up at the national stadium tomorrow for their League One clash away to Queen’s Park. Goodwin, a fans favourite following his role in their 2013 cup triumph, admits he hadn’t wanted to leave St Mirren at the end of last season but hopes he can return to the club in the future as manager.

He said: “I’ve got a great game coming up this weekend, going back to Hampden for the first time since lifting the cup with St Mirren. So I’m looking forward to that as I’ve obviously got great memories of that day three years ago.

“I hope this doesn’t get taken up the wrong way but I wish I was still at St Mirren in some respects as I love the club and still have great feelings for the place. I left behind a lot of really good friends as well – that was the longest I’d ever been at a club, almost six years. I loved the set-up, the way the club was run with some great people behind the scenes. I’m sure any Alloa fan out there won’t begrudge me saying I do miss the place but at the same time I’m delighted to be an Alloa player now and their fans have taken to me which is great, too.

“I’m still enjoying playing but going into management is in my thoughts for further down the line. I’ll be finished my Pro License in December. I’ve been doing that with the SFA and they’ve been great putting us through all that. And that had been the intention – get all the badges, play at St Mirren for as long as I could, and then one day, in the right circumstances, go on to manage the club.

“So I won’t give up on that dream just yet. I’d love to go back there and I don’t mind saying that. You don’t want to go back with someone losing their job or whatever but I do have every intention of going back there one day, hopefully as a coach and preferably as manager.”

Goodwin reveals it wasn’t his decision to move on from St Mirren in the summer but hopes the club can get themselves away from the foot of the Championship after opening their first five games without a win.

The Irishman added: “I wish St Mirren all the luck in the world. Sometimes in football other people make decisions for you. It was never my intention to leave but that’s just the way it goes sometimes. St Mirren is still one of the first results I look for at the weekend as I’ve still got good friends there. And they are too big a club to be in the position that they are in. They have a great infrastructure, and a great set of supporters, and it’s not too late to turn it around. I know Alex Rae and Davy Farrell will be working tirelessly behind the scenes to do that as they’ve got a great squad on paper who shouldn’t be down at the bottom.”