BRENDAN Rodgers' hasty departure from Celtic this week should at least confirm one other thing: Steve Clarke will have no serious challenger in the Manager of the Year stakes this season.

The fear now, however, is he might soon be tempted to join Rodgers in scurrying back across the border. And, should that come to pass, Scottish football would undoubtedly be considerably worse off as a consequence.

It is not a surprise, of course, that English clubs are said to be closely following the work Clarke is doing at Kilmarnock. Yes, they have lost their way a bit of late – the departure of striker Greg Stewart in January clearly disrupted their momentum – but, during his first 14 months or so in charge, no Scottish manager could touch Clarke for his unerring ability to produce so much from so little.

He was the Scottish football writers’ choice as manager of the year last season – the PFA Scotland vote went to Jack Ross – and would have been the leading contender again this year even if Rodgers hadn’t taken his leave for Leicester City.

Results are obviously a significant contributory factor when assessing the merits of any candidate, but there has to also be a forensic examination that looks beyond the league table. Good players, after all, can magnify an average manager’s capabilities.

Judging their impact is difficult when so much of what they do goes unseen on the training ground or in the dressing room. Clarke, though, has taken a group of under-performing players and turned a team threatened by relegation into one that ascended to the summit of the league. The manner in which Clarke has transformed Kilmarnock is clear for all to see.

He has done so in the most prudent of fashions. There have been no lavish signings, just a range of carefully-chosen free agents and loan signings to augment his squad. Most significant has been Clarke’s ability to raise the standards of those already at the club and knit them all into a cohesive, efficient unit.

Rodgers, in contrast, had the luxury of being able to work within a considerably more generous player budget. The Northern Irishman may have felt he lacked financial support in the transfer market but was still able to sign Odsonne Edouard for £9m while adding Oliver Burke and Timothy Weah on loan.

Clarke has had access to no such riches but was still able to ensure Kilmarnock concluded 2018 with the most points of any Ladbrokes Premiership team for the calendar year, a remarkable achievement even taking into consideration the fact Celtic had played two fewer games by that point.

It is not just on the field, however, that Clarke has made a notable contribution to the Scottish set-up. Quietly-spoken but feisty with it, his comments recently on sectarian abuse have re-opened the debate on what ought to be acceptable within our game. If this proves to be the “watershed moment” he hoped it would be and leads to significant change, then Clarke would deserve enormous credit for getting the ball rolling.

He has been similarly forthright on the Scottish FA’s disciplinary procedures and other perceived injustices. Having a manager of substance willing to take on thorny issues is key to ensuring the game in this country continues to evolve and that standards improve.

Celtic will survive without Rodgers and will probably thrive under Neil Lennon’s stewardship. It is hard to make a similar case for Kilmarnock should Clarke decide he is finally ready for a fresh challenge having previously turned down Rangers’ advances and ruled himself out of contention for the Celtic job this summer.

Fulham are thought to be looking at him as a possible replacement for Claudio Ranieri, while there is no doubt Clarke’s ability to work wonders on a limited budget will prove appealing to other chairmen, too. His family are based down south and, with Jordan Jones set to leave for Rangers and a chance a few others might move on too, it remains to be seen whether he has the heart for a summer rebuild on such a small budget.

Should he end up being enticed by an offer to return to England, Clarke should at least move on with the Manager of the Year award in his luggage once again. That, though, won’t provide much consolation for Kilmarnock or for Scottish football as a whole.

Meanwhile, the chances of either Steven Gerrard or Derek McInnes joining Clarke on the shortlist will likely hang on the outcome of today’s Scottish Cup clash at Pittodrie.

It has the feel of a season-defining match for both sides. Rangers will almost certainly finish second in the table behind Celtic now, a decent return for Gerrard in his first season as a manager. His side have belatedly found a streak of consistency that eluded them earlier in the campaign but it is a first major trophy in eight years that the club’s support most craves. Victory today will keep those hopes alive.

Aberdeen’s need is perhaps even greater. Their form has been up and down like a portly child on a trampoline, winning seven matches on the spin away from home but dropping points at Pittodrie in recent weeks to relegation-threatened Hamilton Accies and St Mirren. With their chances all but gone of finishing runners-up for a fifth year in a row, a defeat this afternoon effectively ends their season.