Steve Clarke: Rangers tried to sign me as a player

Steve Clarke in action for Scotland U21s in 1985. Picture: SNS

Graeme Souness attempted to sign him just before the St Mirren full-back moved to Chelsea in 1987 but Clarke was advised not to join Rangers.

“There were no Catholic players at Ibrox back then – they didn’t sign them,” he said. “Now they do; it’s not an issue.

“I remember at the time my manager, Alex Smith, said: ‘No, you couldn’t do that, son’ – and it wasn’t because there was any racism or sectarianism from Alex, he was just protecting me as a person. Not long afterwards Maurice Johnston went there as the first headline Catholic to sign for Rangers, so there have been massive advances.”

Impressed by the way he had improved Kilmarnock, Rangers spoke with Clarke about replacing Pedro Caixinha last year. “When the club approached me to [see] if would be interested in the job, they assured me that, for Rangers as a club, sectarianism was no longer an issue,” said Clarke.

“But obviously the other night, showed to me that there is still something there. There is still that undercurrent that, unfortunately, blights the west coast of Scotland, or the country as a whole… I don’t know.

“That wasn’t why I didn’t go there. We didn’t go beyond that and it never got close to anything. I came back here and I said very quickly that it’s not my intention to leave Kilmarnock for any other Scottish club. At the time, it [the speculation] was going on and on and on and on.

“The story was just going to build and build.

“I chose to tell some small lies to make the story go away because I didn’t need it and the club didn’t need it at that time. The only way I could think to achieve that was to say there was nothing in it and that was the end of the story.”