St Mirren chairmen Gordon Scott has given assurances that Oran Kearney will be given time as manager as he defended the decision to sack Alan Stubbs.

Stubbs left the club after 77 days after seeking clarity over his future amid reports he was facing the sack.

But Scott feels it was a lack of continuity from the manager's side that was the problem.

READ MORE: Former St Mirren ace calls for stability following Alan Stubbs departure

Stubbs oversaw a major turnover of players and sidelined some of Saints' promotion-winning team, but saw his side concede 12 goals in his last four games.

"You have really got to keep the core of the team," Scott said.

"Alan very much wanted to stamp his own authority, his own image on the team. And I don't think a lot of these players have hit the ground running.

"And I think that's a large part of the problem. If you are going to change the whole team you need to bring in guys who are going to hit the ground running rather than guys who are maybe struggling a little bit just now."

Scott added: "People have said we have maybe jumped the gun a bit quickly, but Jack Ross lost his first six games and we were bottom of the league. But you could see something was working. There was a plan there, there was a good rapport there.

"If the worst happened this season then we wouldn't automatically change things. In fact it would be very unlikely we would change things if the worst thing happened."

Scott conceded that a disconnect between Stubbs and some players had been a problem.

"If the performances had been the way they were and you could see positive signs behind the scenes, then you would probably have stuck with it," he added.

The Gazette:

St Mirren are set for their third manager in 2018, as Oran Kearney follows Stubbs (left) and Jack Ross

"And to be honest it happened very quickly. It was not something we actually intended on happening, but we were put in a position and we had to deal with it.

"Anybody that has been about the club, any journalist who knows the club, have said this is the right decision. People who haven't been at any games, people who don't know anything about the club, say it's too early and it's a mistake.

"But we put the article on the website and I think it had a record number of likes."

READ MORE: Alan Stubbs leaves St Mirren after less than three months in charge

Stubbs beat Kearney to the job when Ross left for Sunderland but Scott admitted the former's experience and reputation were the main factors in not employing the Coleraine manager the first time round.

He added: "He is very impressive, he reminds me a lot of our last successful manager. He has been in at training this morning and you can tell that things have lifted already."