Shareholders in the battered bank today condemned Goodwin as a "benefit scrooge" and a "cataclysmic failure".
And while Sir Philip Hampton, the new chairman of RBS, is calling for an end to the "public flogging" of its bankers to give the loss-making bank a chance to return to financial health, he is continuing to exert pressure on the former chief executive to reduce his £16.9m pension pot.
"I've asked Sir Fred if he would consider a voluntary reduction and he's told me he's thinking about that," Hampton told Sky News ahead of the AGM.
But there was no sign today that Goodwin was about to cave in to the pressure, with sources close to Goodwin indicating he still takes the view that he is entitled to the money.
Goodwin's pension pot was doubled to £16.9m on the weekend the bank was bailed out by the taxpayer in October.
In a packed annual meeting where extra seats needed to be brought in, one investor asked for a separate meeting to be convened where Goodwin's "cataclysmic failure as a chief executive" be discussed. Another described Goodwin as a "benefit scrooge on a massive scale ... the record perhaps".
Hampton dismissed the call for a new meeting but assured the shareholder that the bank was "leaving no stone unturned" in seeing if there is any way to reclaim the pension. Hampton said: "As I've said a few times now, whether the contract is water-tight is being looked at by more lawyers than you can shake a stick at".
To applause, one shareholder said "all those (board) members should be in jail" as he questioned why Gordon Pell, deputy chief executive, and finance director Guy Whittaker were still on the board. Hampton was quick to support both executives and noted 12 directors had left the board since October.
Hampton told another shareholder, who was also an employee, that he could not be sure that "all the bad news was out".
One private shareholder, John Macpherson, told the Guardian before the AGM started that Goodwin should give the money back.
"I think a man who wanted to be able to continue to live in polite society [should consider returning the pension pot]," Macpherson said.
"Can you imagine what his children are going through at school. He would get some self respect for himself."
The bank's overall pay policy will be voted down at the AGM this afternoon. This will not allow the bank to stop the payments, but it could send a message to Goodwin about the level of anger about the pension. Such no votes are rare but have led to changes in the past. For example, United Business Media boss Lord Hollick waived a £250,000 bonus after just 13% of the media group's shareholders supported its remuneration report in 2005.
The outcome of the vote is certain because UK Financial Investments (UKFI), which owns the taxpayers' 58% stake in RBS, has warned it must vote against the remuneration report because its disapproves of the way Goodwin's pension was doubled.
Hampton will use today's meeting to say: "Legal advice is being taken about whether the decision that was reached can be revisited. Whatever the outcome of that advice, it is in no one's interest, least of all RBS Group's, for this issue to go on and on. The current board are doing all that we can to bring this subject to a conclusion."
Damning Goodwin's legacy
Hampton's remarks were released ahead of the AGM in Edinburgh today. In a brutal assessment of the way Goodwin and former chairman Sir Tom McKillop ran the bank, he will say: "Would we choose formula 1 sponsorship if we were starting from here? No. Should we retain a corporate jet? Of course not and [the new chief executive] Stephen Hester put it up for sale immediately on taking up his post."
He will blame the acquisition of ABN Amro for the bank's woes and preventing RBS from being profitable in 2008. "With the benefit of hindsight, it can now be seen as the wrong price, the wrong way to pay, at the wrong time and the wrong deal," Hampton will say.
Hampton will admit that jobs cuts cannot be avoided while he and Hester scale back the group.
After one of the bank's branches was attacked during G20 protests in the City this week, Hampton will also make a plea for calm while acknowledging the public's anger. Protesters are demonstrating outside today's AGM in Edinburgh as well as at the bank's City office in Bishopsgate.
"I believe we should bring an end to the public flogging and focus on the good and enduring people and businesses of RBS and allow them to earn our way back to success," he will say.
Only a "tiny minority" of the bank's staff were responsible for the record-breaking losses and they have now left. Those who remained are not "fat cats or City slickers" but working in branches on less than £21,000 a year.
"They deserve better from their top management, and they do not deserve to share the worst of the criticisms being laid at the door of their employer and their industry," he will say.
At last year's annual meeting, Goodwin and McKillop faced shareholders angered by the record-breaking rights issue it had just announced to shore up its balance sheet.
At the time, its shares had halved from their peak to 345p. Last night, they closed at 28.2p, reflecting the drama of the intervening 12 months. The government has been forced to inject more than £20bn of taxpayers' money into the bank and promise to insure £325bn of its most troublesome assets.
The price remains below the 31.75p at which the government is converting £5bn of the preference shares it bought into ordinary shares, suggesting it will end up owning all of the ordinary shares. The share issue will also be voted on today.
Goodwin and McKillop have both lost their seats on the board on which Hester was a non-executive director until being elevated to chief executive following the £20bn taxpayer bailout in October.
Shortly before the meeting started, Hester - who is using crutches after a sports injury - could be seen shaking hands with individual shareholders. He has received 10.4m shares in the bank to buy him out of deals with his previous employer British Land in a move that caused controversy with some City investors.
