We stayed up...but we feel down

St Mirren took five days to prepare the statement that we all knew was coming.

Silence is sometimes golden. This time it led to an abyss of speculation, rumour and rubbish.

The truth, like the arrival of a new St Mirren boss, may take some time to come to the fore.

But a lack of clarity from the club this week has led to nothing by frustration and alienation among the support.

The ‘is it on, is it off’ saga of the Coleraine friendly could have been sorted days before the Irish outfit took to Twitter to force the Buddies’ hand.

The communication when so much money was at stake for some fans was poor to say the least.

In a time that is meant to be exciting for fans, with new kits, new signings and the rest, the uncertainty has only led to discontent.

Regardless, it is new manager time, rightly or wrongly.

There is no doubt of a breakdown in the relationship between the chairman and the gaffer, and the issue of commuting has never been too far away.

But Kearney never had any intention of flying back and forward every single day as has been stated in some quarters. He simply wanted a continuation of the arrangement of last season which saw him fly back twice a week.

In the fickle world of football, you can understand his fear of uprooting his young family and moving them to Scotland when the chance of being shown the door at any given moment after a poor run of results could send his and their lives into a tailspin.

Ultimately, he was a success in the role, doing it his way, despite the travelling back and forth to the family home in Ballymoney.

A lack of commitment isn’t an accusation that you can throw his way. Sitting with Kearney twice a week, as well talking after every game the team played, this was a man who was always on the training ground whenever I was there and I would be surprised if he ever missed a session.

St Mirren knew what they were getting – Kearney never hid his intentions of travelling.

That throws up its own questions of who is in the wrong. No one knows the exact details of these meetings apart from the two involved. If any of that comes out then the tables could be turned, but regardless it could only descend into a whosaid-what scenario.

It is understandable however, that the news of Kearney’s departure has shocked and saddened the crux of the St Mirren support.

After the shambles of Alan Stubbs, the arrival of the Northern Irishman was a welcome return to a manager in the dugout who actually wanted to be there.

It was a slow start, of that there is no doubt, but he got there in the end with a run of form that saw them almost avoid the drop without playoffs.

He carried out the remit of avoiding the drop and everything seemed to be on the up.

Deals had been thrashed out for

Mihai Popescu, Gary MacKenzie and Dean Lyness before his departure, while he was working on other signings.

What happens now is anyone’s guess, but Jim Goodwin will be top of whatever shortlist the board draw up... if they bother to draw one up at all.

That wouldn’t be the end of the world for supporters, but it doesn’t mask over the fact that St Mirren still seem to be rushing through managers at a great rate of knots.