STEVEN GERRARD hopes Scottish football can rid itself of the abuse and misbehaviour from supporters that tarnishes the reputation of the game after two high-profile incidents of sectarianism in recent days.

Kilmarnock boss Steve Clarke was targeted by a section of the Ibrox crowd in the closing stages of the Light Blues’ 5-0 Scottish Cup win on Wednesday night.

The 55-year-old was stinging in his criticism of chants calling him a ‘Fenian b******’ and claimed supporters were ‘living in the dark ages’.

Those unsavoury scenes came on the back of striker Kris Boyd being labelled an ‘Orange b******’ and hit with a coin during Celtic’s win at Rugby Park on Sunday.

Rangers vowed to do ‘everything possible’ to eradicate this kind of behaviour and boss Gerrard has backed the club’s stance as the issue was again brought to the fore at Ibrox.

Gerrard said: “Well I think it’s happened in the last four or five days to Steve and his players.

“There was stuff said at Kilmarnock v Celtic as well at the weekend but Steve didn’t want to really speak about the abuse that Boydy got at the weekend. But obviously he’s decided to speak about it [on Wednesday] night.

“All I can say is as a club we don’t support any unacceptable behaviour from the terraces. Whatever that may be, whomever it may involve we don’t support it. We’ve made a statement on it and made that very clear.

“As a club we want to eradicate that type of stuff from the terraces. That’s all I’ve got to say on it.

“Of course I’ve been aware of it. Individuals and small minorities at certain stadiums let themselves down unfortunately.

“That’s not just in this league. I’ve had experience of it before. Of late, there’s been different kind of abuse in football matches and as a football family we should all be trying to eradicate it from the terraces because it’s unacceptable.”

Clarke made a comparison with racial abuse of football figures in a headline-grabbing post-match press conference and stated ‘they’re not allowed to call my assistant (Alex Dyer) a black B but they can call me a Fenian b******. Is that correct? What are we doing in Scotland?’

The Killie boss urged supporters to root out the ‘mindless minority’ after events at the weekend and Gerrard admits the reputation of the game has suffered.

He said: “I’ve just said any unacceptable behaviour on the terraces we want it out. That’s all I’ve got to say on it. There were no racial comments last night, not that I was aware of.

“I respect Steve’s opinion on it but all I have to say as the manager of Rangers is we don’t support it from fans on our terraces. We want it out, whatever kind of abuse it is we don’t want it. Homophobic, racial, religion, we don’t want it and we don’t support it.

“I think it tarnishes the game around the world when you see incidents of coin throwing, racism, homophobia, it tarnishes the game. The majority are doing their best to eradicate it, but I don’t think you can tar every supporter with the same brush.

“We had nearly 40,000 fans at that game on a cold Wednesday night for a cup game on the back of a poor performance against St Johnstone.

“There’s a lot of praise to go to our supporters too. I thought they got behind the team and the players treated them to a very important result.

“Unfortunately there were a minority there and we will try and eradicate that from our support.”

The storm over sectarian singing comes amid criticism of supporters for the use of flares and pitch invasions at matches.

Gerrard was the victim of repulsive chanting throughout his career but insists he was able to brush it off.

He said: “Yes, I’ve had it since I was 18. I just echo what Boydy said at the weekend, as long as it’s not physical I’m okay with it.

“I don’t want it, I don’t welcome it. But I’m not going to react to any abuse but I’ve had it quite a bit. But it’s fine, no problem. I just get on with it.”