Nothing lasts forever.
And in terms of football managers, often tenures end before they even reach the year mark.
Jim Goodwin was by far the longest serving Premiership manager at the start of last week, approaching his 1,000th day in the Paisley hot seat.
In that respect, it perhaps wasn’t that much of a surprise to see the former St Mirren boss move on to pastures new.
The fact that Aberdeen have entrusted him to lead their rebuild after their failed Stephen Glass experiment says a massive amount about the fine work he did at the SMISA Stadium.
In the midst of a global pandemic, and with one of the smallest budgets in the top flight, Goodwin continued to get the Buddies punching well above their weight and improving year-on-year.
The fact the Paisley club nearly made the top six and two national cup finals last season was not lost on the Dons board, who can see the potential Goodwin has to grow and develop with bigger financial backing behind him.
It hurt a lot of Saints fans to see him don an Aberdeen tracksuit last weekend, particularly so soon after departing, but hopefully as the dust continues to settle the affable Irishman will be given the credit he deserves for the impressive job he did at St Mirren.
After toying with the idea of a more inexperienced coach to replace him, with Scott Brown and Steven Naismith both considered, the board moved swiftly to bring in a man with arguably better top flight credentials than Goodwin has to this day.
Stephen Robinson did a stellar job initially at Premiership rivals Motherwell, doing what Goodwin couldn’t quite manage by leading the Fir Park side to two national cup finals in the same season.
Unfortunately there they faced Brendan Rodgers’ unstoppable Celtic side, who unsurprisingly toppled the Steelmen on both occasions.
I happened to be working at one of our sister papers at the time, the Wishaw Press, and was fortunate to see Robinson’s team up close and personal during that spell.
Progressive and attacking, against the odds Motherwell beat Rangers and Goodwin’s new side Aberdeen in the semi-finals of the League Cup and Scottish Cup respectively.
Their emphatic 3-0 drubbing of the Dons is one of the most one-sided cup ties I’ve ever seen at Hampden, with current St Mirren striker Curtis Main looking like a world-beater as he bagged himself an impressive brace.
Robinson also went on to guide the Steelmen to third in the Premiership, crucially bringing European football back to North Lanarkshire.
While their journey ended in the third round of the Europa League play-offs, the financial and reputational boost that campaign gave them was massive.
As always with a new appointment, it remains to be seen just how Robinson will fare in Paisley.
His spell at Motherwell didn’t end the way he wanted, with the side undoubtedly struggling before he resigned.
But on paper he’s actually achieved more in the Scottish top flight than Goodwin has.
His experience and success in the league is a huge plus and he is also in the enviable position of taking over a team with a strong squad on top form.
While most new managers - especially at St Mirren - take over when a team is in crisis, Robinson doesn’t have too many holes to plug in this ship.
It’s a shame the Dundee game was called off on Wednesday night, with the mood within the Paisley camp and with the supporters flying despite losing their former club hero Goodwin less than a week previously.
But on a positive note the postponement has given Robinson much more time with his new Buddies on the training pitch ahead of another crucial clash with out-of-sorts Hearts tomorrow afternoon.
While Goodwin will be making his home bow with Aberdeen, with Sir Alex Ferguson watching on from the stands, Robinson too will lead his new team out at home for the first time.
The life of football managers moves fast these days, and come kick-off in Paisley tomorrow the sight of Goodwin patrolling the touchline will be forgotten as the new Robinson era gets underway.
Hopefully an even more successful spell lies ahead for the Saints.
