Less than eight days after revealing that he had met Rangers officials last year to discuss the possibility of taking charge at the Ibrox club in the months following the sacking of Portuguese coach Pedro Caixinha and the installation of interim boss Graeme Murty, Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke stressed that he would not consider succeeding Brendan Rodgers at Parkhead.

The Ibrox talks stalled, paving the way for the appointment of Steven Gerrard, and yesterday Clarke became the first manager of a Scottish club ever to make it clear that he had no interest in managing either Celtic or Rangers when he ruled himself out of the running for the vacancy with the champions.

His inclusion on most pundits’ short lists is perfectly understandable. The 55-year-old enjoyed a successful coaching career in England, working under some of the biggest names in the game; Ruud Gullit, Sir Bobby Robson, Jose Mourinho, Gianfranco Zola and Kenny Dalglish.

READ MORE: The Bulletin: Rodgers 'I'd taken Celtic as far as I could' | Clarke rules out Celtic job

As a manager in his own right, he led West Bromwich Albion to their highest-ever placing and points total in the Premier League before being dismissed the following season. He then led Reading to their first FA Cup semi-final for 88 years before once again being removed within months. The fortunes of both clubs have declined since his departure.

Kilmarnock were bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership when he was appointed 16 months ago. He steered them to a fifth-place finish, beating Rangers home and away. He also posted two wins and two draws against Rodgers’ Celtic last year and, in spite of a seven-game winless sequence, they go into tonight’s home game against Motherwell in fourth place.

He stated last week that he would not leave Kilmarnock to work for any other Scottish club. Asked whether that was still the case in the wake of the vacancy at Parkhead, he replied: “Yes.”

Clarke was also unimpressed by the short odds on offer against him landing that job or the claim that bookmakers usually get these calls correct.

“Oh, I don’t know; I’ve backed a few long shots in my time,” he replied. “No, listen, you’ll always have that speculation – I’ve come back to Scotland and done a pretty decent job with Kilmarnock.

“When that happens you’re always going to be linked with other jobs. I hadn’t been in the building here for eight weeks before I was being touted for the Scotland job. Four weeks after that it was Rangers.

“So if I’m doing well and the team’s doing well there will always be speculation. When I came to Kilmarnock it was for my own personal reasons – it fitted well into where I saw myself next and that’s still the case.

“The speculation is a distraction you don’t need, especially when you’re clear about what you’re going to do anyway.”

Clarke’s wife elected to remain in England when he succeeded Lee McCulloch at Rugby Park, preferring to be close to the couple’s children and grandchildren, and Clarke plans to rejoin her sooner rather than later “It’s 100 per cent certain that I’ll go back to England,” he said. “That’s where my family and my life is; that’s for sure. But right now I’m concentrating on Kilmarnock and, while we’ve already achieved our primary objective, we haven’t achieved our secondary one, which is to finish in the top six.

“We have Motherwell, St Mirren and Rangers coming up before the international break so we’ll be looking to pick up the points from those games which I believe would put that secondary objective in the bag. If we could get that done before the break then that would be good for everybody here.”

The timing of Rodgers’ departure – with Celtic on the verge of claiming a third successive Treble – took many observers by surprise and Clarke counts himself among their number, although it does highlight the skewed financial pull of the Premier League.

READ MORE: Steven Gerrard pleased with Rangers' progress on and off the park thanks to Ibrox board 

“It probably does; it’s a huge league and most people would want to be involved in it if they possibly could,” he said. “I’m a little surprised that Brendan has gone during the season but maybe there are other reasons behind the scenes which nobody knows about.

“But it is a big attraction and I’m sure that if you asked most people working in the game if they would like to go there then the answer would be yes. Brendan has been there already and knows what it’s all about and it looks as though he’s going to take the big step of leaving Celtic.”

Clarke was branded a “sad Fenian b*****d” by an unsavoury section of the Rangers support during his team’s Scottish Cup defeat at Ibrox last week, abuse which would surely only worsen if he were to have been open to joining Celtic.

“That’s only pie in the sky,” he said. “Like I said, I’m here to be the Kilmarnock manager.”

During Rangers’ 5-0 victory at Hamilton on Sunday, a section of the travelling support also unfurled a banner during Rangers’ 5-0 victory at Hamilton on Sunday with the message: “Get well soon, Steve Clarke.”

His response epitomised the dry humour with which regulars at his press conferences have come to enjoy.

“I appreciate their concern but I can assure them that I’m not the one who’s sick,” he said.