McPake's 'colourful' journey from club-less to Scotland call-up in three years

Three years ago, Josh McPake was without a club. Twenty months ago, he was in the shop window but "no-one wanted him". This week, he's involved in his first Scotland camp following a heroic start to life at Hearts, where, to the tune of Abba's Dancing Queen, the supporters sing he is "having the time of his life". His call-up to Sebastien Poconogli's squad for the upcoming Nations League games caps an eventful few years for the 25-year-old winger. From Rangers academy's next big thing, to dropping into Scottish League 1 with Stirling Albion, to being shelved at St Johnstone, it's been a colourful - and at times chaotic - career so far. But, "I wouldn't change my journey for anything," McPake insists. He now appears at home in Gorgie and many have hopes he will be just as comfortable when he gets the opportunity to represent his country. His story is one of resilience and patience. And it's paying off. sources Scotland charts the fall and rise of McPake as "he can pass, he can score, having the time of his life, Josh McPake, watch him play on a Saturday". Academy starlet - football nomad - League 1 outlier His story starts like many others, in the Ibrox academy from a young age, where he was awarded player of the year in 2019 by working up through the reserves to the fringes of the first team. A matter of months after collecting the gong, he was given his first - and only - run-out for Steven Gerrard's side. His appearance off the bench in Rangers' rout against Gibraltar's St Joseph's in Europa League qualifying was not a sign of things to come, as he was sent out on his first of six loan moves just one month later. Dundee, Greenock Morton, Harrogate Town, Morecambe, Tranmere Rovers and Queen's Park all had a taste of McPake but nothing permanent was made. He swiftly became a bit of a football nomad. While on Tayside, he scored the winner for Scotland Under-19s against Germany, but still he was flung from pillar to post. On 1 September 2023, he left Rangers and, though he trained with a number of clubs - where he endured some "knocks and setbacks" - he didn't find a home for another near-six months, until Stirling signed him on a short-term deal. A dunt down to earth, no doubt, but McPake didn't allow any ego to get in his way, as then-Binos boss Darren Young recalled. "He came into training and he was brilliant - he couldn't have done any more," former Aberdeen midfielder Young told broadcaster Scotland. "He worked very, very hard. He helped put balls away after training, he was always doing extra bits of shooting and finishing - I joked to him once or twice, 'if you don't get your finger out then you'll end up back here part-time' but it was one of those where you could see his ability, he was head and shoulders above the guys. "It was just a case of him then doing it and getting into the kind of situation where a club - and the right club - would come and get him." He scored on his debut for the League 1 side - though that was little surprise to Young who was left "wondering why he had not been signed up" when he got the move in motion. "We had an eye on him as he was free but it looked like he was going to sign at a higher level but another player got injured and then the move wasn't going to happen," he explained. "He sort of found himself in limbo but I think there's a lot of positives that can be learned from that. "He kind of said, 'well, I don't want to be in this position and I don't want to be back down there again' and the only way to do that is by working hard and working on weaknesses, which he did." It'll be of no surprise McPake didn't lack anything in the attacking sense. A wee bit of fine tuning on his tracking back was all that was required during his time at Forthbank to fire him back to where he wanted to be. "I didn't need to tell him how to go by a player and put it in the top corner - he had all that," Young said. "I was just trying to say if he could fit into the structure here, work as hard at going back as he did forward, then he'd get, hopefully, an opportunity to kick on again. "Some players don't, some players kind of have that attitude of, 'I can do it going forward, I don't need to do it going back,' but the penny dropped and he realised to improve and progress, that's what he had to add. "He worked hard for it and he's got what he deserved." Resurrection & ‘wake-up call’ at Saints The reward for knuckling down - and dropping down - was a move back to the top fli