Mcleish, Hughton, Pearce & Co all pale in the shadow of Clarke says Burke

Kilmarnock winger Chris Burke has told his younger team-mates to wring as much knowledge out of Steve Clarke’s spell at Rugby Park as they can.

The former Scotland, Rangers, Cardiff and Birmingham winger, pictured, rates Clarke as highly as any of his previous managers, who include Walter Smith, Alex Mcleish, Dave Jones, Chris Hughton and Stuart Pearce.

Killie have only lost to Aberdeen and Hibernian since Clarke took over five months ago and it took penalty kicks for the Dons to succeed at Rugby Park again in Tuesday’s William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final replay.

Burke helped kick off the impressive reign with a bang withastoppage-timeequaliser at Ibrox in Clarke’s first game, but even he has been surprised by how long the new-manager bounce has lasted.

Speaking ahead of another trip to face Rangers, Burke said: “You always see a reaction from players when a new manager steps in and picks things up and then it might tail off. But it shows how good the manager has been that it has sustained for a long period. We are consistent and I don’t think we will change. I can see us playing the way we play and getting results until the end of the season. I am very confident in the team. “I have been fortunate enough to have had a good career where I have worked under different managers, and this manager is up there with the best I have worked with. What he has done here is a magnificent achievement.

“What you look at as a manager is, has he improved the players? He has, hasn’t he? He has maximised the team, experienced and young.

“I have said to the young players before you have to take it all in like a sponge when the manager is talking to you, because you never know when it’s going to come again.

“It’s fantastic to see the young players improving every day in training and on the pitch, and the experienced ones as well.”