Steve Clarke adamant he won’t succeed Brendan Rodgers at Celtic

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Kilmarnock’s Steve Clarke has shot down any talk of him going to Celtic.

Kilmarnock boss Steve Clarke has told The Scottish Sun that he will not be the next permanent Celtic manager, stating he will be going to England instead.

Celtic have suffered a shocking couple of days, as they were beating Motherwell on Sunday but found themselves losing Brendan Rodgers on Tuesday.

Rodgers has decided to leave Celtic in order to become Leicester City boss, succeeding Claude Puel following his sacking on Sunday.

Many expected Rodgers to at least see out the season, given that Celtic are chasing a third straight domestic treble, but the Northern Irishman has gone.

Celtic moved quickly to land an interim boss, bringing former boss Neil Lennon back to the Parkhead dugout just weeks after losing his job at Hibernian.

Lennon could win the job permanently, but Celtic will also be looking at other options for a summer appointment – and Steve Clarke is one name mentioned prominently.

The Kilmarnock boss has won exactly 50% of his games in charge of the Rugby Park club, and as one of the top Scottish managers around, links to Celtic are natural.

However, Clarke claims there is no chance he’s going to Celtic, as his next move will be to an English club, writing off any speculation of a move to Parkhead as ‘pie in the sky’.

“I’ve always said I won’t leave Kilmarnock for another Scottish club and that remains the case,” said Clarke. “It’s 100 per cent certain that I’ll go back to England. That’s for sure. That’s where my family and my life is. I may be second favourite with the bookies but that’s the bookies. I’ve backed a few long shots in my time! 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.”

“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 anyway. Any speculation is pie in the sky,” he added.