It was shock and awe for Burke when Kilmarnock gave manager’s job to Clarke
ROSS COUNTY V KILMARNOCK
Chris Burke has recovered from the shock of Steve Clarke arriving as Kilmarnock manager to enjoy the improvement at the Rugby Park club.
The former West Brom boss alsoworkedasassistanttojose Mourinho at Chelsea, Gianfranco Zola at West Ham and Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool, among other posts, and since taking over Killie in October it has mostly been an upward curve for the Ayrshire side.
The 5-1 win over Partick Thistle on Saturday was Kilmarnock’s biggest league victory since 2006 and took the home side into eighth place in thetable,withburkeclaiming: “We knew it was going to come and what a way to do it.”
Ahead of the trip to Ross County this evening, the 34-year-old former Rangers, Cardiff and Birmingham City winger spoke glowingly of Clarke. “Trust me, when we heard he was coming, I think everybody was a little bit shocked and happy and excited to work with someone of his calibre,” explained Burke.
“He has managed in the Premier League and worked with the top managers in the world.
“He has brought his experience and bringing Alex Dyer [as his assistant] has worked very well. Since the gaffer came in you can see the performances have improved and that is shown in the results.
“Different managers bring different ideas and everyone learns until the day they retire.
“The young ones are taking it in like a sponge and the experienced players are improving as well. But you can’t just think we are doing well and take the foot off the gas, we need to capitalise on it. So we are looking to make sure it is three wins in a row.”
County defender Jason Naismith admits the Staggies’ alarm bells were ringing for tonight’s fixture even before Kilmarnock sent out that fivegoal weekend warning.
With Owen Coyle’s side sitting in 11th place in the Premiership, just four points clear of basement club Partick Thistle, Naismith said: “We need to make sure we are right up for this game on Tuesday as Kilmarnock are flying. They are the form team in the league.
“They got a great result on Saturday so that’s a warning sign.
“But there are warning signs there every day for us. We’re second bottom of the league and that’s not good enough.
“We have two massive games this week with Hamilton to come on Saturday as well and both are like cup finals even at this stage in the season. We need to get the points and get fired up the table.”
Killie have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the long trip to Dingwall, while Coyle is expecting to have a fully fit squad available.