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 the club, having a rejected a move from an English club in the past week. A week later, on 22 May 2012, Shiels signed a two-year contract extension. At the start of the 2012–13 season, Shiels was given two-match touchline ban by the SFA in June, having served one suspension on the last game of the season and miss one match at the opening game of the season. His touchline ban was given over commenting made about a referee's decisions made in a match between Celtic and St Johnstone. Following a controversial penalty in a 2-0 defeat against Hibernian on