STEVE Clarke today admitted that he couldn’t believe being brought up as Catholic was still an issue within Scottish football and society in general. 

The Kilmarnock manager was measured in his observations at Rugby Park, in what was a special press conference, when he spoke about what he has been through this week. 

On Wednesday night, the 55-year-old was close to tears following Kilmarnock’s game against Rangers at Ibrox when a section of the crowd called him a “sad fenian *******.” 

Kris Boyd was sitting beside his manager and he spoke of his experiences of growing up and living in the west of Scotland where sectarianism remains a problem. 

READ MORE: Rangers chairman Dave King apologises to Steve Clarke

Clarke broached several subjects including why he didn’t speak about Boyd’s being hit by a coin during last Sunday’s match with Celtic when Celtic fans called the former Rangers player an “orange *******”. 

Clarke said: “It (sectarianism) is definitely a society issue, the same way racism is a society issue.  It rears its head in football because it's a popular sport and the majority of people watch it and take interest in what happens in the sport, especially in this country. 

“Maybe Old Firm players, people who have been connected with the Old Firm, accept it a little bit more or understand it a little bit more. 

“I know that Neil Lennon touched on the subject earlier in the season and maybe it disappeared quite quickly because it was Neil.  I have no connection with Celtic or Rangers.  The only part I can see is that I was brought up as a Catholic on the west coast of Scotland. 

“That shouldn't be an issue in this day and age.  Why is that an issue?  I'm definitely not a Fenian.” 

READ MORE: Are the authorities serious about tackling sectarian singing in Scottish football? 

Steven Gerrard, on Thursday, brought up the subject of Clarke not mentioning what happened to Boyd after the match. 

Clarke said: “When I did the press, and there’s people in here that will back me up on this, I didn’t know that Kris had been hit by a coin, I didn’t know that there had been chanting against him, when I did the press, I spoke about the majority, have to speak up and shout down the minority, so I think that’s addressing it.” 

Clarke, who grew up in Ayrshire, moved away from Scotland in 1987 to join Chelsea. 

But there was a chance he could have joined Rangers before he left when Graeme Souness was determined to sign a Catholic for the Ibrox club. 

Clarke said: “I think there's been advances.  If you take the issue of racism, there's been advances but you see in recent times there are still instances it comes out.  In the society in Scotland there have been advances. 

READ MORE: Alex Smith advised Steve Clarke not to join Rangers to protect him from sectarian abuse

“When I was a player going back to 1984, 85, 86, Rangers didn't sign Catholic players.  When I was at St Mirren there was an enquiry when Graeme Souness took over about me going to Rangers.  I remember at the time the manager Alex Smith said: 'No, you couldn't do that son.' 

“And it wasn't because there was any racism or sectarianism from Alex, he was just protecting me as a person.  Not long afterwards Maurice Johnston went there as the first headline Catholic to sign for Rangers, so there's been massive advances.” 

And Clarke added: “I mentioned the other night about the approach; it was an approach from Rangers (to be their manager) and it was one of the issues that we discussed was me being from the west coast, I sensed that, that would be one of the issues and they assured me that, they as a club had addressed it and were trying to address it and it wasn’t an issue anymore. 

“But you will see what’s happened to myself the other night, what happened to Kris (Boyd) on Sunday, it’s still an issue. 

“Everybody has to take some responsibility, and everybody has to work together to change it, it won’t change overnight, but the fact that it’s back in the headlines, we’re back talking about it, it’s sad in one way but it’s positive in another way.”