Scotland fever tells Steve Clarke the naked truth behind keeping camp here as he taps into Tartan Army excitement

Steve Clarke is not going to get his knickers in a twist over a couple of bits of bad news ahead of the Euros.

The Scotland boss would rather tap into the Tartan Army fever that even had a half-naked punter watching training in his pants. Clarke is refusing to let any negativity creep into his camp despite a boot in the delicates with the loss of Lyndon Dykes at the end of last week.

The striker joined Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson and Lewis Ferguson on the Euro agony list and others such as Scott McTominay, Stuart Armstrong and John Souttar have niggles that will keep them out of tonight’s tune up against Gibraltar, while young gun Ben Doak is still being gradually nursed back to fitness following his long lay off. Some supporters might in danger of ruining their underwear with the big tournament on the horizon. But Clarke isn’t getting that feeling.

Unlike the last Euros, when the Scotland squad set up camp in Spain before the competition, this time the gaffer has made Glasgow his HQ. The manager doesn’t want his players to be shielded from the building excitement – he wants them to embrace it.

Even the more bizarre backing, like one fans hanging out his window over the Lesser Hampden training ground in his birthday suit. Clarke said: “The only thing different to last time is that we are in Glasgow, so we are around and can feel the excitement building, even just from the people watching from the hill behind Lesser Hampden.

“There was a guy half naked hanging out his window watching from one of the flats the other day! Not such a pretty sight, but everybody is watching, everybody wants a little bit of it. You can feel that.

“Some of the coaching staff walk from the hotel down to Hampden in the morning to get a bit and