CELTIC manager Brendan Rodgers last night voiced his public support for Steve Clarke in the wake of the sickening abuse his Kilmarnock counterpart suffered from Rangers fans at Ibrox and warned that sectarianism could drive managers out of Scottish football.

Rodgers admitted he had felt for Clarke, who he worked alongside during his time as a youth coach at Chelsea early in his career, after learning his friend had chants of “Fenian b******” directed at him during the William Hill Scottish Cup fifth round replay on Wednesday night.

And the Northern Irishman expressed his concern that leading managers could decide not to work in this country in future due to the treatment they receive from some supporters and urged both clubs and the football authorities to take action to eradicate it.

READ MORE: Kilmarnock boss Steve Clarke can't believe being a Catholic is still an issue in Scottish society

“I’ve obviously seen the comments (from Clarke),” he said. “It’s hard because as managers you are going through a lot anyway. There’s a lot of stress, pressure and anxiety. Your family get lots of issues and anxieties around it. He mentioned his kids.

“To add that on top, it’s not very pleasant especially for someone who is highly respected. I feel sad for Stevie. I’ve worked with him at Chelsea and he’s a really good guy and a really good coach. To have to go down that route and feel that, it’s tough for him.

“Because he is not that way. He gets on with his work. It is society. But we need to try and find a way to resolve it. It is a challenge, but we have to keep trying.”

Asked if he thought managers would think twice about working in Scotland because of the abuse they suffer in some grounds, Rodgers said: “There is every possibility. It is that on top of the other stuff, in terms of pitches and quality of refereeing, the standards. Then you throw this into everything. You start to question it and say: ‘Well what is the attraction?’

“But, listen, it is education. It is trying to put sanctions in place to stop all of this. It is a challenge. Things have moved on in Northern Ireland, but what you have in Glasgow is this big showpiece once a week, Celtic or Rangers playing at home. You maybe can’t keep it all in. You have a wee bit from Northern Ireland who come over to it and that can build.

“But it is education and it is persistence and it is trying to drive home the message that it is not acceptable. There has to be zero tolerance.

READ MORE: Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke admits he was told not to join Rangers because he was a catholic

“From a manager’s perspective, there is getting a little bit of stick in grounds, lots of stuff you have to let go. If you listen to the words too much you can suffer. But I tend not to. But there are certainly cases when it can just come out. That was Stevie’s moment on Wednesday night.”

Meanwhile, Rodgers has reiterated his view that bringing foreign referees into Scottish football could help to improve the standard of officiating after the SFA released a statement saying they had never considered that option.

“My opinion is, if we can make the pool of referees bigger than it will help,” he said. “That’s nothing against Scottish referees - it’s just where we are at in terms of our league and the size of the country.

“So if there’s a possibility of bringing in refs from elsewhere then I think it’s worth exploring. People may say: ‘We’ve just got to go with Scottish referees,’ but this is not a slight on Scottish referees.

"I think it’s just about giving us a bigger pool of refs that may allow greater learning. My take on it is I think it is something that’s worth looking at because I think it could benefit the game.”

Rodgers stressed he has no worries about Celtic suffering from a European hangover when they return to Ladbrokes Premiership action against a Motherwell team who have won their last six league matches at Parkhead tomorrow.

‘It’s not something that we do,” he said. “Our job is always to pick the players up. We got back late and had we’ll have a nice session on Saturday then it’s a nice game to go into on Sunday at home against a team that’s been doing very well.

"They’ve won six games in a row and have picked themselves up really well. Our culture is always about forward thinking and learning and using that as a lever to move on.”

Kieran Tierney, who has been sidelined since the Europa League group game against Salzburg in December, is expected to come back in at left back and Nir Bitton, the Israeli midfielder who has just returned from a long-term injury, may also start.

"Kieran and Nir have had good sessions with the young guys so it’s worked very well," said Rodgers.

Rodgers felt the immaculate playing surface at the Mestalla had enabled Celtic to play at their best and is hopeful the Parkhead pitch, which he revealed had "a slight disease" on it last month, has improved.

"We played really well, played proper football on a proper football pitch," he said. "The first performance back at Celtic Park wasn't good enough, but then again you look at the difference of the pitches.

"Their pitch was incredible and we knocked the ball about really well. Celtic Park is not so good just now.

"Hopefully our pitch gets better and we go on a good run in the league now. We spent a lot of money on the park and it is not up to the standard that we want it to be.

"We don't want AstroTurf pitches, we want proper pitches. But we need to make sure we're looking after the pitches and have the best quality pitches for the SPFL so there's good football and it's not just kick and hope."