Diarmuid O’Carroll has left St Mirren to take on a new role as Newcastle United’s reserve-team boss.
The Magpies have agreed a compensation package with the Saints for O’Carroll, who will be tasked with leading the club’s Under-21s team in Premier League 2 this season.
O’Carroll worked as a coach under former Northern Ireland midfielder Stephen Robinson at both Motherwell and Morecambe and has been his number two in Paisley since February 2022.
The 37-year-old remains a key member of Michael O’Neill’s coaching panel with the Northern Ireland senior men’s set-up.
The former Republic of Ireland Under-21 international has previously coached Crusaders Strikers, Glentoran Women and Motherwell Under-18s.
Crusaders and Cliftonville title winner O’Carroll was absent from the technical area as Saints defeated Hearts 2-1 on Saturday.
“He is speaking to someone else at an Under-21 position,” said Robinson. “Obviously, we’ve shown today that we’ve got that staff in place to step up if that should happen.
“(First-team coach) Brian (Kerr) has come in and done great for me. Him and Jamie Langfield were a big part of the set-play. Credit to both of them, they’ve worked on the set-plays all week.”
Newcastle have been without a permanent Under-21s boss since the start of the summer, when Ben Dawson departed, with Jack Ross and Neil Winskill having been standing in on a temporary basis.