The 55-year-old was branded a “sad Fenian b*****d” as the Light Blues defeated their Ayrshire opponents 5-0 in the William Hill Scottish Cup replay earlier this week.

In a statement on Friday, King apologised to the Rugby Park boss, adding: “Myself and every single person at the Rangers Football Club abhors the sectarian element that continues to be so prevalent in Scottish football.

“We will continue to do everything we can at our club to root sectarianism out and to deal in the strongest manner possible with any individuals that are found to have engaged in such practices.

Dave King apologised for the abuse. File picture: John Devlin

“We are also deeply distressed that Steve Clarke has been subjected to this unwarranted abuse and, on behalf of myself and the club, I offer our most sincere apology and hope that it does not deflect from the wonderful job he has done at Kilmarnock.

“He is a top manager and it would be a great loss to Scottish football if incidents like this forced him away from our game.”

Clarke gave a press conference on Friday morning, in which he addressed the reaction to his post-match comments at Ibrox. The former Reading and West Brom boss insisted that was relieved his children had grown up south of the Border rather than in the west of Scotland.

He said on Friday: “I’ve had a fantastic reaction to what I said. Great support from everybody, a lot of good people, a lot of good messages, all very supportive.

“A good message from Rangers, a good message from the SFA, a good message from the Scottish Government, so everybody is speaking well.

“I think things can be done. ‘Will be done’ is probably much more difficult to address. I’m not a politician, I’m not a policeman, I’m a football manager.”

Rangers ‘deeply distressed’ by Steve Clarke sectarian abuse, says Ibrox chairman Dave King