Steve Clarke insists no drama in defeat for Kilmarnock

The sore one taken by Kilmarnock at Celtic Park yesterday won't douse title talk at the Ayrshire club because it didn't exist, according to Steve Clarke. The Rugby Park manager stuck by that contention after watching the champions win 5-1 to replace Killie at the summit.

Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke. Pic: SNS/Craig Williamson

Even in light of a newspaper interview with Kilmarnock major shareholder Billy Bowie which quoted him as saying it would be “nice to try to a do” a Leicester City, Clarke has been reluctant to entertain the notion.

“We didn’t speak about titles, nobody at Kilmarnock spoke about titles,” said Clarke on the back of the heaviest defeat of his 14-month tenure. “There was a million questions from you guys and people talking out their backsides, if I may say, but it is not that important for us.

“We know where we are and where we’re trying to get to and we are doing all right. A lot better than last December, we’ve got many more points than we had last year. We still have four games to go [until the winter break] and I’ve said to the boys if we can pick up as many points as possible from that then we can go into the winter break satisfied. Congratulations to Celtic but no drama for Kilmarnock.

“Billy’s the owner. He can say what he wants, he pays my wages. He was asked the question by you guys. I know what you are like, you try to put words into people’s mouths. Billy actually said very similar to what I’ve just said that we are very happy with the progress the club’s made and everybody can dream. I said supporters can dream, as well as being the major shareholder, Billy’s a supporter of the club. He’s allowed to dream.

“Six points from three games is still a good week. Everyone will look at the next four fixtures we’ve got and say good games on paper but we don’t play on paper – we don’t even play on grass. Can I leave you with that one?”