Zola and Clarke were the management team at West Ham

By Chick Young

Former Chelsea and West Ham assistant Steve Clarke and Scotland Under-21 coach Billy Stark are both in the running to be Hibernian's new manager.

And the two could even form a partnership to lead the Edinburgh club, who have been without a manager since John Hughes was dismissed on 4 October.

Former Scotland defender Clarke was assistant to Ruud Gullit at Newcastle and had a spell as caretaker.

He assisted Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and Gianfranco Zola at West Ham.

Following Mourinho's departure from Stamford Bridge after leading the London club to two Premier League titles, the 47-year-old Scot remained as an assistant to Avram Grant.

However, after Grant exited the club, Clarke decided to head for West Ham to join former Chelsea striker Zola.

I would imagine something would happen probably over the next few days Hibernian caretaker manager Alistair Stevenson

Clarke, who played for St Mirren and Chelsea, left Upton Park in June by mutual consent after the dismissal of Zola following the Italian's second season with the London club ended in a struggle to avoid relegation.

Stark's young Scots this week missed out on reaching the European Championship finals after a two-leg play-off defeat by Iceland.

The 53-year-old former St Mirren, Aberdeen, Celtic, Kilmarnock, Hamilton Academical and Kilmarnock midfielder has been in the position since 2008, having previously managed Morton, St Johnstone and Queen's Park.

Hibs were led into Saturday's 2-1 win at home to Kilmarnock by Alistair Stevenson, the club's under-19 coach, who has been handed temporary control along with coach Gareth Evans.

Stark has been in charge of Scotland Under-21s

Stevenson had no idea when a permanent replacement would be found for Hughes, who left the club earlier this month after a poor run of results, or if he would be in charge for another game.

He told BBC Scotland: "I haven't a clue if it's required, if things don't progress and we're needed to carry on as we have done then I'm quite sure we'll be happy to do that and the players again will be motivated and ready to go again.

"Whoever gets this job is a lucky man as he has a very good group of players to work with."

Stevenson, who recalled captain Chris Hogg and was rewarded as the defender scored both goals, is relishing his time in the spotlight.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed it, I've thoroughly enjoyed my time, but that was what my job was to do," he said.

"Gareth and I were to prepare them for this game, get them here, get a result and we feel very pleased that we've managed to do that.

"I don't really know what to expect. I've tried not to think about anything, but I would imagine something would happen probably over the next few days and I'll be looking forward to it, one way or another."

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