WHAT would Steve Clarke, the new Scotland manager who will name his first squad at Hampden tomorrow, give to have a striker with the same predatory instincts and finishing prowess of Harry Hood at his disposal just now?

The first two games of his reign– against Cyprus at home and Belgium away next month – are of huge importance if the national team are to recover from the disappointing start they have made to their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign and reach the finals next summer.

Yet, Clarke’s options up front in the absence of Oliver Burke, Leigh Griffiths and Steven Naismith are, no disrespect to Steven Fletcher, Oli McBurnie, Marc McNulty and Johnny Russell, limited to say the least.

Fletcher, McBurnie, McNulty and Russell are good honest professionals who will do a decent job for their country if selected and called upon in the Group I double header.

No member of that quartet, though, has ever been as prolific a scorer as Hood, who passed away at the age of 74 yesterday after a long battle with cancer, was in his glorious heyday with Clyde, Sunderland and Celtic.

Nor has any of them ever been a proven performer at the same high level as the man who netted no fewer than 123 goals, including against Basel, Benfica, Kokkola and Sliema Wanderers in the European Cup, in 310 appearances for the Parkhead club.

It says much about the high standard of football in this country in the 1960s and 1970s that such an outstanding talent was never once capped at international level.

Hood donned the dark blue of his country four times on an unofficial world tour in 1967 against Israel, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand while still a player at Shawfield. But full representative honours somehow eluded him. It was the only omission from his otherwise glittering curriculum vitae.

He won six Scottish titles, four Scottish Cups and two League Cups during the seven years he spent at his boyhood heroes Celtic between 1969 and 1976 and is rightly regarded as one of their all-time great goalscorers to this day.

He may not have amassed the same tallies as Stevie Chalmers, Kenny Dalglish, John Hughes or Bobby Lennox, all of whom he played alongside during his time in Jock Stein’s all-conquering side, but he achieved epic feats which have never since been equalled and may never be again.

He was on target on his debut for the Glasgow club in the League Championship, League Cup, Scottish Cup and European Cup as well as against Rangers.

The hat-trick that he scored against the Ibrox club in the League Cup semi-final at Hampden in 1973 wasn’t matched by any Celtic player until Moussa Dembele bagged three in the Ladbrokes Premiership game at Parkhead in 2016.

Hood was certainly idolised by the Celtic support of his day. They would chant his name to the tune of the Hare Krishna mantra during games.

As a boy, he had attended St Aloysius College where rugby union was the sport of choice. He played hooker, an experience which perhaps prepared him for the treatment he would receive from the defences of that era.

But his first love was always football. He started out playing for Burnbank Boys Club from where he was signed by Clyde in 1962. He scored 40 goals in 63 matches and his promising performances brought him to the attention of Celtic. But the prospect of playing for his idols spooked him at such a young age. He moved to Sunderland for £30,000 instead.

Despite becoming firm friends with Scotland and Rangers great Jim Baxter as well as the legendary Republic of Ireland centre half Charlie Hurley at Roker Park and enjoying his time on Wearside he only scored nine times in 31 appearances and returned to Clyde after just two seasons. When the chance to join Celtic arose again he made sure he took it.

A versatile footballer, Hood was comfortable in any position in the front five. He could be deployed as a striker, in a deeper role or out wide and be relied upon to excel. He was good with both feet and composed in front of goal.

The Glasgow-born played at a time when Lisbon Lions like Tommy Gemmell, Billy McNeill and Bobby Murdoch were still in their pomp and the group of kids who were known as the Quality Street Gang, George Connelly, Davie Hay and Lou Macari among them, were breaking through. But he wasn’t out of place in such exalted company.

Hood may not have been a member of the side which beat Inter Milan won the European Cup in 1967, but many supporters wonder what would have happened if he had played against Feyenoord in the final three years later.

He had a spell in the United States with San Antonio Thunder as well as with Motherwell and Queen of the South, who he briefly managed, before he retired. He went on to become a successful publican and hotelier.

But his heart was always at Parkhead. “Celtic are so much a part of me that my one aim is to be a success with them and keep them at the top as long as I can,” he once remarked during his time there.

When he helped them win their eighth consecutive Scottish title, a feat the current side have just matched, in 1973 he got, legend has it. a personalised number plate for his car which read “HH 88”.

Odsonne Edouard was the hero for Celtic on Saturday with the second-half double against Hearts that secured a William Hill Scottish Cup final triumph and the treble treble. But the French forward still has some way to go to match the exploits of his illustrious Scottish predecessor.