The standard of football in Scotland has again been subject to debate in recent weeks and to that end the former West Brom manager was impressed by Aberdeen’s performance against Premier League Burnley in their Europa League tie, with the Dons going out 4-2 on aggregate following their 3-1 extra-time defeat at Turf Moor on Thursday night.

Burnley collected £120 million for finishing seventh in their league last season with the Dons picking up £2.3 million for finishing runners-up to Celtic.

However, ahead of the home match against St Johnstone on Saturday, Clarke, who took over at Killie last October, is looking for an end to comparisons with English football and for the authorities north of the border to maximise the game’s value.

Steve Clarke with Kilmarnock striker Kris Boyd. Picture: SNS Group

“We should stop looking too far down south and just concentrate on ourselves,” he said.

“I said when I came up here last year that the product up here is quite good.

“We maybe don’t sell it well enough and hopefully the people that run the game start to sell it better.

“If they do that then you get a little bit more money into the game and the product can only improve.

“Get us a better TV deal, get more money into the game. That’s the job for the people at the top of the tree, they have to do a good job for us.”

Clarke was pleased to see Celtic, Rangers and Hibernian all progress in their respective European qualifiers this week.

“It is more positive,” he said. “It is good to see three clubs going through.

“I felt a little bit for Aberdeen last night, I thought they were involved in a really good game.

“If Aberdeen had got the breaks at the right time, they would have been the team to go through.

“Although they went out they certainly did themselves proud and did a good job for Scottish football.

“The other teams have gone through and hopefully they can go even further in the competition, right into the group stages.”

Steve Clarke: Let's sell the Scottish game better, says Kilmarnock boss