GERRARD OUTBURST WAS PERSONAL, SAYS CLARKE

Gerrard’s outburst is personal, says Clarke

STEVE CLARKE has accused Steven Gerrard of making things ‘personal’ in their ongoing war of words — and insists the Rangers boss had no right to pass judgment on his character. Gerrard claimed this week that his Kilmarnock rival ‘lacked class’ and was ‘trying to get one of my players banned’ following comments about the SFA’s disciplinary system. Although he didn’t mention Jermain Defoe by name, Clarke had appeared to refer to a penalty awarded to Rangers after the striker had gone down in the box during last weekend’s victory over St Mirren. The Kilmarnock manager claimed it was no different to an incident that saw his team’s winger, Jordan Jones, receive a two-match ban for simulation against Dundee back in October. Demanding that the SFA show consistency in their decision making, he called for compliance officer Clare Whyte to ‘do her job’. Now, after Gerrard’s stinging rebuke, Clarke has hit back ahead of this evening’s Rugby Park showdown between the clubs in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup. ‘I was very general in the point I made and I didn’t name names,’ he said. ‘If the collateral damage from that

is that I upset another manager, then that has to be the way it is because I have to do my job professionally for Kilmarnock.’ Asked if he had thought about lifting the phone to Gerrard ahead of tonight’s teatime clash, with both previously having been colleagues at Liverpool, Clarke replied: ‘No, I’d wait until the next time I saw him. ‘There was no need to make it personal with all that stuff about class or whatever. I’m 55 years old and I know how to lead my life, professionally and personally. ‘There will be someone bigger and better who will judge me at the end of my time. ‘I would imagine there will be a handshake before and after the game, there always is. I don’t see why there wouldn’t be. ‘I’m not becoming involved in personal things — but I have to answer some of the points Steven made. ‘Everybody handles situations differently. I keep using the word, but I tend to handle them consistently and not make them personal. ‘Sometimes it’s hard to sit in front of the media and try to talk common sense and offer balanced views and opinions. ‘But I’m always very conservative in any criticism I put out there. I try to fight my corner for this club. That’s what I’m paid to do.’ He was also upset by Gerrard’s comment that Clarke (below) was the only top-flight boss not to attend a recent meeting of referees and managers in Perth. ‘It wasn’t my fault,’ said the Kilmarnock boss. ‘I explained that I didn’t get the invitation until late on Tuesday and I had already made plans for the Thursday. ‘I accepted Ian Maxwell’s (SFA chief executive) reasoning for forgetting about us, which was a sad reason; he’d lost his father. ‘I asked the press for that to be the end of it and I didn’t make a big issue of it. ‘Anyway, I wasn’t the only manager who didn’t attend — Hamilton’s Martin Canning, who has unfortunately lost his job since then, wasn’t there either. ‘So for Steven to come out and try to say they had agreed at that meeting to try to show more respect to referees didn’t make any sense because I wasn’t at the meeting and wouldn’t have known about that. ‘Why would he try to isolate me? I was disappointed with that.’ Clarke, meanwhile, said it was his idea for suspended striker Kris Boyd to work as a Sky TV pundit at the Aberdeen-Rangers game on Wednesday rather than attend Killie’s 2-2 draw at Dens Park the same evening. ‘I asked him to go and do the game so we could have a look at the next opposition,’ said Clarke. ‘I couldn’t get anyone else to the game, so it was two birds with one stone. I believe some people on social media have been trying to make it an issue. ‘It isn’t an issue because he was working for me. He went there with my blessing to have half an eye on our next opponents.’