St Mirren manager Oran Kearney claims there are no surprises in football despite seeing his number two become one of his main rivals.

Brian Rice left his post as Buddies assistant manager to take over as head coach of Hamilton, who are two places and two points above the Paisley side in the bottom three of the Ladbrokes Premiership.

But Kearney said: "I wouldn't call it strange. Nothing shocks you in football and nothing surprises me in football.

"Brian's a good guy and I had a good chat with him. He leaves on good terms."

Kearney still has plenty of coaching help having recently brought in Jimmy Nicholl and with former Saints boss Gus MacPherson as technical director.

The former Coleraine boss, whose team face Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday, said: "I kept Brian on board here when I arrived and built a good relationship with him. He was fundamental to the start when I arrived in relation to knowing the league and the personnel within the league.

"I am indebted to Brian for that and I thanked him very much for that.

"He's a good guy but that's football, we all understand how football works. With players and staff it can change in the blink of an eye and we just have to move forward."