Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke has said that he will not be the long-term successor to Brendan Rodgers as manager of Celtic.
Rodgers yesterday departed the club midway through his third season as manager to take over at Leicester City. Celtic have appointed one of their former bosses, Neil Lennon, on an interim basis until the end of the season.
Clarke, who has impressed during 18 months as manager of Kilmarnock, was immediately mentioned as a candidate to permanently replace Rodgers.
However, the 55-year-old has said that if takes a job other than at Kilmarnock, it will be in England where his family currently reside.
"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," Clarke is quoted as saying by the Scotsman.
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.
"It’s 100 per cent certain that I’ll go back to England," continued Clarke.
"That’s where my family and my life is. 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."
