I WON’T FEEL A THING IF I DUMP OLD BOSS
BRIAN RICE says sentiment will go out the window as he looks to push his former gaffer Oran Kearney closer to relegation.
And the Hamilton boss has told his players to act like street fighters by going in for the kill in tonight’s do-or-die basement battle in Paisley.
Rice was assistant to Buddies boss Kearney just three months ago as the pair tried to keep the Paisley side in the Premiership.
But Rice left St Mirren to become his own man in Lanarkshire, pitting them against each other.
The pair now face off in the penultimate game of the season with Rice’s men needing just a point to send Kearney’s side into a nervy relegation play-off.
Rice was initially brought in as St Mirren No.2 to Alan Stubbs but worked alongside Kearney after he replaced the former Hibs boss just a BY GAVIN BERRY couple of months into the season. Rice said: “My job now is to make sure Hamilton stay in the league. Oran’s job is to make sure St Mirren do.
“I had four months with Oran and enjoyed my spell with him. We got on fine.
“But you take sentiment out of football. You can’t feel anything, you need to look after your own club.
“The writing was on the wall for the three bottom clubs long before I came here.
“It’s coincidence I’m going back in these circumstances but it’s not a great shock.
“I worked closely with the St Mirren players and they are fighting like hell. But if someone attacks you in the street, what do you do? You defend yourself and have a go.
“It’s the same on the pitch. If someone attacks, you defend and then attack. Play forward, run forward – that’s what I’ll tell them.
“They scored in the 94th minute last week and we scored in the 83rd. That tells you something about the character of the sides. Rio Ferdinand said after SpursAjax, ‘Put tactics away, heart and desire won that game’.
“He was right. You need heart and desire and a calm head. Both teams have players who can change the game and it will be open.”
Rice was assistant to John Hughes at Falkirk when they won at Inverness a decade ago to relegate the Highlanders.
He said: “Inverness went down and we stayed up. The following week we lost the Scottish Cup Final to Rangers.
“That game was pressure on the players and the staff. How do you take pressure away? Probably through my approach to the game.
“You don’t see me tense or nervous. We are all doing a job we love and we all want to play in big games.
“There will be no sitting in to get a draw. My team won’t play like that. We will be positive. I wouldn’t want to go home at night having lost 1-0 and not had a go.”