New St Johnstone manager Craig Levein has appointed Andy Kirk as his assistant with hopes of ‘replicating’ Brechin City’s style of football.
The former Scotland boss was appointed as the club’s new manager last night and signed a contract that will keep him at McDiarmid Park until May 2026.
Andy Kirk, who played under Levein during his first spell at Hearts, joins him as assistant manager after two-and-a-half years at Brechin City.
The new Saints boss has delegated responsibility for training sessions and the implementation of tactics to his assistant as he looks for the same outcome.
“What I’ve realised is, certainly in the latter spell at Hearts, trying to do two jobs at the same time is extremely difficult, that’s one thing I’ve learned,” he said. “The reason that I’ve brought Andy (Kirk) with me is to share the load, mainly the sort of day-to-day coaching stuff and give me a chance to spend what energy I have on the areas that are most important.
“His understanding of the tactics is extremely good. The way he had the team at Brechin playing, if we can replicate that, which is our aim, and I do think the players are here to do that, then this thing about improving players and improving the overall team is eminently possible.”
The former Northern Ireland international guided the Hedgemen to the Highland League championship last season and it is clear that his new boss rates him highly. Levein added:
“I’ve been working with Andy for the last two or three years and Andy has his own ideas of how the team play. The reason I’m bringing Andy with me is we’re going to play the same style. I like it, I’ve been talking to him for three years about what he’s trying to do, and tweaking things here and there, and he’s got to the position where he’s got a very clear idea of how he wants to play the game.
“I have got a huge amount of respect for him, he’s a young coach making his way in the game.
“My job will be to manage, I will be managing everything, I will be managing him doing the coaching and I want to give him that responsibility.
“We’ll try and play football, a lot of time it depends on your opponents, and we will be flexible and try, if we can, to entertain, if we can.”
