HE may not, contrary to the impression given by a few headlines since he was named as the new St Mirren manager, be hopeful of leading the Paisley club to the Scottish title any time soon.

But Oran Kearney, who was officially unveiled at the Simple Digital Arena yesterday, is hopeful of emulating the last coach to lift the Ladbrokes Premiership trophy aloft, his countryman Brendan Rodgers, in future all the same.

The 40-year-old, who led Coleraine to the Irish Cup last season, was keen to clarify the remarks he made in his native Northern Ireland last week when he met with the media after taking up his new role.

“I’m not a Mourinho by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “It wasn’t an off-the-cuff comment. If you play back that video, the question was ‘what would you like to achieve at St Mirren’.

“In my very first year when I walked in at Coleraine I got asked the same question and my answer was that I’d like to win silverware, either the league or the cup. It took me eight years to do it there, but we did it.

“I also felt that if you don’t set your aspirations high, that if you don’t have targets and reach for the stars, then you’ll never get anywhere.

“If the question was ‘do you think St Mirren can win the league this year?’ then my answer would have been different. But that’s where the quote – or the misquote – has come from.”

Kearney’s main objective is halting St Mirren’s dire run of form – the promoted club have lost three of their first four Premiership games are in second bottom spot in the top flight table – and that in itself will be far from easy.

However, the man who is leaving his job as a PE teacher at a secondary school in Ballycastle to enter full-time football for the first time is convinced it can be done.

“I think with infrastructure and finances and everything else then Rangers and Celtic are always going to have that stranglehold,” he said.

“I think we’re a way off that in this moment in time. Probably for me at the moment it’s about going in and making sure we get off to a good start and bring a good feeling back.

“I look here at the Championship win, having watched the scenes online, and yet with a couple of defeats and everything else there’s a different feel. That has to be tapped into with fans, players and everyone else to make sure we get up and running.”

The arrival of Kearney, despite the success he enjoyed during his seven-and-a half-years with Coleraine, in Paisley has come as something of a surprise, but several of his countrymen, including his father-in-law Kenny Shiels, have flourished in this country in the past.

Brendan Rodgers, who has risen from humble beginnings in Carnlough in County Antrim to manage Watford, Reading, Swansea City, Liverpool and Celtic, who he has led to successive trebles for the first time in their history, is the most notable.

The new man at the helm of St Mirren – the seventh manager they have had in little over four years – admitted the success of Neil Lennon, Stephen Robinson, Rodgers, Shiels and Tommy Wright shows what he can achieve.

“It can be done, of course,” he said. “I wouldn’t be sitting here if I didn’t think it would. It will be tough, but anything is possible in football. Brendan has been fantastic at Celtic and at Liverpool before that. He’s a fantastic manager and one we all aspire to be like.”

A lack of experience and defensive frailty are two of the problems which Kearney will need to address quickly if St Mirren are to avoid relegation, but Anton Ferdinand, the former West Ham, Sunderland and QPR player who trained with his squad yesterday, could address both issues.

“When you look at the record there’s been a few goals conceded and we’ve lost a few of the experienced centre backs from last year,” said Kearney. “It’s probably needing someone with a bit of experience there to come in and be a calming influence. Anton will train again tomorrow and we’ll see what can come from that.”