SAFEGUARDING the future of Hampden was only half the battle. Now the really difficult bit starts. Getting sell-out crowds through the turnstiles to roar Scotland to victories and the finals of major tournaments once again.

The Glasgow venue will only be around half-full for the national team’s final Nations League match against Israel this evening despite what is at stake. Win, and Andy Robertson and his team mates will top Group C1 and secure a potential Euro 2020 play-off place. Lose or even draw and they will fail.

The poor turnout will be disappointing given how important victory is – this competition probably offers a better chance of getting to the Euros than the official qualifying campaign will due to the standard of their opponents - and how well they performed in their 4-0 win over Albania away in Shkoder at the weekend.

The scheduling of the game on a Tuesday night near the end of November has a great deal to do with the slow uptake of tickets. Many Scotland fans travel from far afield and can just not make the journey.

Yet, Alex McLeish knows that having a successful national side will generate excitement once again and bring the crowds back to the level they were at when he played and was manager previously. He appreciates, then, how important a win is.

“I’m very confident about the outcome if the players perform to the levels of the other night,” he said. “It’s not in their control who comes to the game. Does having more fans and loud fans give you a bit of extra energy? Yes, of course it does. We would love to see that Hampden because Hampden needs it. We have just won the fight to keep it and now we have to win the fight to fill it again.

“I would approach every qualification opportunity with our maximum input so I don’t think we’ve got to say this is our best chance. We have to keep promoting the evolution of the team, the evolution of the squad and the evolution of the younger players as some of them still only have five or six caps.

“Yes, the Nations League could give us a great boost, but the biggest boost of all is from good performances and positive results. We have to take it to a consistent level, that is the only way we can raise the bar in terms of FIFA rankings and getting to what we hope is a major tournament.”

McLeish added: “I don’t know if it’s the Nations League. But certainly we have given the nation a boost with the performance and result the other night. I met guys at the airport the other night and I told them ‘phone all your pals and get them to come and be the twelfth man’. If that 20,000 or 25,000 who come make the same noise the 2,000 made in Albania I will be delighted.

“It (winning the group) would be a step forward, definitely. We want to qualify for everything put before us and this is a qualification opportunity. I think it’s normal that fans would come back if we could get consistency of results and win games.”

If James Forrest maintains the form that he showed at the weekend with Scotland going forward then the fans will come back in their droves. The Celtic winger performed brilliantly and scored his first goals for his country in the 4-0 triumph as he won his 25th cap. His manager believes the best is still to come from a player who he left on the bench against both Belgium and Albania in September.

“He has a fantastic attitude,” he said. “He has been in great form over a period of time for Celtic. It is great to see him getting his first goals for Scotland. He had a great performance, but the whole team did. I am glad to see that guys have picked up the mantle and said: ‘Well, there’s some players missing, here’s a chance, an opportunity for us to make a mark, make an impression’.

“It was similar to Faddy (Scotland coach James McFadden) back in the day when he was out of the team. It only takes a minute, a second even, for things to change. That is exactly what has happened with James in that game on Saturday night.

“You have to prove yourself as a footballer every week. That was always my mantra - okay, I played well last week but it’s about the next game. You have to try and get yourself to a level of greatness in what you can achieve as an individual.

“It’s been periodic for James, yeah. But it’s at his feet now, so to speak. I was also impressed with his work rate on Saturday, in terms of helping out the defenders and his positional sense was excellent on and off the ball.”

The man on the other side of the park from Forrest – Bournemouth winger Ryan Fraser – did alright too. The former Aberdeen midfielder’s all-round showing and goal in what was only his fifth cap augurs well for the future of Scotland.

“We wanted to play the guys who were in top form, as much as possible,” he said. “That was Ryan’s first competitive game for me. But we expected the kind of performance we got.”