Jim Goodwin 'agrees three-year deal for St Mirren return'

Goodwin will now return to the club he skippered to 2014 League Cup glory in time to lead the Saints squad to Northern Ireland for Friday night's friendly with Belfast amateurs Rosario Juniors.

Kearney left the club on Wednesday despite coming to their rescue last term, saving them from the mess left by Alan Stubbs.

His departure followed a row with Buddies chief Gordon Scott over his plans to commute daily from Northern Ireland, where his family still reside.

Last season the 40-year-old had been allowed to travel back to his base in Ballymoney twice a week but Kearney had indicated he would prefer to make the Irish Sea crossing more regular in order to spend more time with his wife and children.

Chairman Scott felt that was an unrealistic proposition and agreed to part ways by "mutual consent".

The split has frustrated the Paisley faithful, who felt Kearney was the man to bring stability to a club that has had nine managers in 10 years.

But while Goodwin is now primed to become boss number 10, Kearney says he has no regrets about his time in Scotland.

Kearney – who is set to take up his old post at Coleraine – told the Paisley Daily Express: "You can't have any regrets in life and I have no regrets with how I carried out the job.

"My conscience is clear and I believe I carried out the job to the best of my ability.

"My only regret is that I never got to lead the club into next season and put the plans that I had in place.

"I'm gutted but I believe I can leave with my head held high. I have to personally thank the supporters for being the rock behind me since the day that I arrived.

"They could have turned at any point during those early days and I don't think anybody could have blamed them.

"I will be eternally grateful for the backing that they provided myself and the team during what was a difficult time.

"I'm really proud of everything that we achieved as a team."

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