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”.
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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.
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BBC Sport 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.
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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.
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“He came into training and he was brilliant – he couldn’t have done any more,” former Aberdeen midfielder Young told BBC 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.”
McPake scored the only goal against Germany for Billy Stark’s Scotland Under-19s in October 2019 [Getty Images]
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.
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“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.
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“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.”
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Resurrection & ‘wake-up call’ at Saints
The reward for knuckling down – and dropping down – was a move back to the top flight with St Johnstone – despite suffering relegation with Stirling Albion.
A two-year deal was agreed but he failed to force his way into Craig Levein’s team, and had similar struggles when Simo Valakari took over in October 2024.
His mettle was being pushed to the max yet again.
The Finn revealed last year that McPake was made available in the winter transfer window while Saints were fighting for their Premiership life, but they “couldn’t find him any clubs”.
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“We made Josh available in January and offered him to many clubs because he needed to play,” Valakari said.
“The truth is, nobody wanted him. We couldn’t find him any clubs.
“And, for me, that was the wake-up call for Josh. That was when he decided things had to change.
“If things had stayed the way they were then football was done for him. He would have had to go and get a normal life.”
McPake was St Johnstone’s standout player as they won the Championship last season [SNS]
What followed was far from normal.
McPake started his first Premiership game for St Johnstone in the first of their five post-split games and kept his place until the end of the season as he registered three assists.
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Saints were ultimately relegated but it set him up for the season of his dreams.
He set the tone for the Championship campaign he dominated with a hat-trick on the opening weekend against title rivals Partick Thistle.
In the second tier, his blistering pace, immense physicality and dancing feet were flung back into the spotlight. His eye for a goal – 16 all told in the division – was evident, too.
Such qualities caught the attention of then Premiership leaders Hearts, who agreed a pre-contract back in January.
But there was no head-turn from the winger, who remained fully focused on repaying the club who resurrected his career by ensuring they would be an opponent of his this season.
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He ended the campaign with the mantelpiece packed with trophies and, while the personal accolades were appreciated, it was all about the Championship winners’ medal for Tynecastle-bound McPake.
Back to the big time with ‘more to give’
Ensuring adversity remained an ever present in his tale, the footballing gods – seemingly – threw another curveball McPake’s way.
Though Derek McInnes was in charge when he agreed the move, the head coach had headed for Rangers by the time he got going in Gorgie.
But, despite sitting out the Champions League qualifiers against Sturm Graz and the first league game of the season under Wouter Vrancken, the Belgian has quickly found out why Hearts snapped up the Saints showman when they did.
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With eight goal involvements in 11 games – his best contribution a goal and assist in the Edinburgh derby – he has made the step back up to the Premiership a seamless one and, as such, made it nigh impossible for Pocognoli to leave him out of his plans.
“I’ve loved every part of the journey,” McPake said after answering his country’s call.
“Personally, I feel I needed those experiences to become the player I am now.
“There were a lot of setbacks but going down the levels, proving myself and working my way back up taught me a lot.
“If you want something enough and work hard for it, you can achieve it.
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“I don’t want to stop here. I feel I’ve still got more to give and I’ll continue working hard to show what I can do.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
