Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin to learn fate at Scottish FA appeal hearing over touchline ban

Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin will learn on Monday if he is to serve a lengthy touchline ban for accusing an opponent of cheating.

Goodwin was found to have broken Scottish FA rules when calling Hibs defender Ryan Porteous “a cheat” after a game between the sides in early October. An independent panel handed down an eight-game ban, with the Dons boss ordered to miss six games immediately, with to games suspended until the end of the season.

Aberdeen and Goodwin appealed the decision, believing it to be excessive, and a new panel will review the initial punishment on Monday.

The manager has already served one game of the initial ban, missing the game against Dundee United before the appeal was submitted, but if the original punishment is upheld then he would be sidelined until the Premiership game against St Mirren on Christmas Eve.

Goodwin had originally been called to account for his comments after Porteous won a penalty during a Hibs win over Aberdeen. He said that the defender had a reputation for trying to con match officials, and said that he had warned the referee about his behaviour before the game.

That saw the Scottish FA charge him with making offensive comments and not acting in the best interests of Scottish football.

Aberdeen said that they were “extremely disappointed at the level of sanction” and were taking it seriously, lodging an appeal after they received the written reasons for the punishment.

Goodwin has since said that the incident would mean that he was more careful in his comments to the media in future.

“There will be an appeal and then a hearing, we will just await the outcome of that.

“But my pre-match and post-match interviews might become very boring in the future. I find it very difficult not to speak my mind but maybe in the future I will need to bite my tongue.

“I take responsibility for my actions. I’m disappointed what I said has brought this negative press on myself and the club. I want to be seen as a respectable young manager but sometimes there’s a lot of emotion involved in this game and someone sticks a microphone in your face 10 minutes afterwards and you say things that, in the cold light of day, you wish you hadn’t.

“I try and give a fair, honest assessment of what I’ve seen. Maybe I could have worded it differently.

“We have got the appeal coming and we will see what the outcome is. Whatever the appeals panel decide, I will accept it and learn from it and make sure I don’t make the same mistakes in the future.”