BY KYLE GUNN

ST MIRREN defender Paul McGinn admits he has never seen so many players sign and leave a club in such a short period of time.

Since Oran Kearney replaced Alan Stubbs as boss in Paisley, 16 players have left since the end of August including 13 since the beginning of this month.

But McGinn reveals before that there wasn’t enough room in the changing room and he couldn’t have foreseen that when he returned to the club in the summer.

He said: "It’s been pretty surreal. At one point there were 31 players in the first-team squad and I don’t think St Mirren should ever have that amount.

READ MORE: Cole Kpekawa departs as St Mirren exodus continues

"It was just the way it worked out with different managers being at the club. At one stage there weren’t enough hooks in the dressing-room to accommodate everyone so it’ll suit us better to have a more tight-knit unit.

"It was a club that was full of momentum and I was excited to come so it’s shame the way it’s panned out. It’s just the way football goes, before you know it you’re in a dogfight, but we’re still in it and hopefully, we can get ourselves out of it."

The 28-year-old says it’s great to have experienced defender Anton Ferdinand signed up until the end of the season.

The former Sunderland player had made 14 appearances up until the winter break and last week penned a contract extension.

And the full-back insists everyone will need to be at the top of their game when they visit Celtic tonight.

He said: "It seemed to drag on a bit but he’d still been about and we were pretty hopeful he would stay.

READ MORE: Anton Ferdinand signs on for another six months in Paisley

"His experience in the run-in will be invaluable. He’s chirpy around the dressing-room and he’s a good player and person to have.

"We’ve got quite a young team so it’s good to have a few older heads – and I’m one of them.

"It’s probably the hardest place in the country to go, we’ll need to be eleven men at the top of our game to get a result but I’ve seen it done.

"We got a 0-0 earlier this season so hopefully, we can go one better."