Kenny Shiels in May 2007, as their head of youth. He left Tranmere in June 2010 to become assistant manager at Kilmarnock, following his three-year stint at the club. After Mixu Paatelainen left Kilmarnock to become manager of the Finland national football team, Shiels became caretaker manager. His first game in charge was a goalless draw with St Johnstone on 2 April 2011. On 15 June 2011, he became manager of Kilmarnock on a permanent basis and upon being manager, he soon added Jimmy Nicholl as his assistant manager, who just quit Cowdenbeath. He helped Kilmarnock achieve their first home win against
Kenny Shiels embarrassed by the result and extremely disappointed with the performance. The scoreline was criticized by Dundee's manager Paul Hartley, whose team was promoted to the Scottish Premiership, comparing the scoreline to that of matches played in a pub league, while the chief executive, Scot Gardiner, would described the score line as "laughable" and "ridiculous". After a spell managing BEC Tero Sasana in Thailand, Shiels was appointed manager of League of Ireland club Derry City in November 2015. Shiels is the father of Northern Ireland international player Dean Shiels. Shiels is also the father-in-law of St Mirren manager Oran Kearney. His