Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels has said that he would have quit his post if placed in the same position as Hearts boss Paulo Sergio.

Sergio has been told by the Hearts hierarchy that goalkeeper Marian Kello is not available for selection after the Slovakian refused a transfer to Austria Vienna.

Shiels says that he would not have accepted interference in first team affairs and would quit Kilmarnock if given the same instruction.

“I have no sympathy for him,” Shiels said. “If you have principles in your life and your job is to select the team and that power is taken away from you then you have to leave.

“If my chairman was trying to pick my team I would walk away because he has taken my job away from me.

“I am not criticising Paulo Sergio but, in my opinion, if the chairman ever said to me that I have to pick him or him then he is compromising my position.”

The Kilmarnock manager insisted that any decision taken by the board or chairman about football matters would cause disharmony in a squad and that his job was to fully support his players.

“I have two keepers fighting for the number one slot,” he explained.

“If the chairman says to me that I have to put in Anssi Jaakkola and I feel Cammy Bell is better, how can I look Cammy Bell in the eye and try to motivate him three weeks later?

“You have to back up your players.”