HOLD THE BACK PAGE FOR SCOTS

STEVE CLARKE wants his Scotland stars to blow the Old Firm off the back pages by putting on a headline show at Hampden tonight.

- BY BLAIR ESSON

The buildup to this week's World Cup qualification doubleheader has been overshadowed by Rangers' hunt for a new manager following the sacking of Russell Martin and Celtic's civil war.

The Scottish national team have been largely flying under the radar as they prepare to host Greece this evening and Belarus on Sunday in back-to-back Group C games that could fire the national side tantalisingly close a first World Cup finals since 1998.

And even Clarke, above, has noticed that these potentially history-making qualifiers appear to have crept up with less fanfare than usual.

The manager said: "I do glance through the headlines sometimes and it's been strange in the buildup to such big game that the national team has not been the main headline. But that's the nature of football in Scotland.