Buddies boss has to split squad for training

St Mirren manager Oran Kearney admits his bloated squad is so big he has been forced to split it in two just to make training more manageable.

The Buddies boss has moved to trim his numbers this week, sending loanees Nicolai Brock-Madsen and Hayden Coulson back to their parent clubs.

But that still leaves the Northern Irishman with an unruly firstteam of 29 players and a headache laying on training sessions.

“At its peak, the squad had 31 players,” said Kearney. “You can only put out 11 on a Saturday so that I suppose leaves some people frustrated.

“There is probably an optimum number to have in a squad – something around the 22 mark.

“But a squad of 29-30 is too big, even just for the functioning of the training ground and the training pitch.

“We’ve even had to split the training squads just to get manageable numbers, which isn’t ideal.

“It possibly can lead to friction but that’s football and I have to concern myself with the 18 playing on a Saturday.”

Meanwhile, Kearney is set to be boosted by the return of Adam Hammill ahead of Saturday’s Kilmarnock clash.

It was feared the former Liverpool, Dunfermline and Barnsley winger had dislocated his shoulder against Aberdeen a fortnight ago and could miss up to three months.

But Kearney said of his recovery: “Adam has trained this week and we will call it closer to Saturday’s game.

“Compared to the initial prognosis, when we were horrified by the thought of signing somebody for three months and him only playing 26 minutes.”