Three years ago, J. McPake had no club. This week, he is in his first Scotland camp, which is a long way from where he stood when people had stopped coming for him.

"I wouldn't change my journey for anything," McPake said, and that line fits the way his career has turned after a spell in which he was club-less and unwanted.

The low point before the return

Twenty months ago, he was in the shop window but no-one wanted him. Simo Valakari said, "The truth is, nobody wanted him. We couldn't find him any clubs." The St Johnstone manager also said, "And, for me, that was the wake-up call for Josh. That was when he decided things had to change."

That reset did not happen in one jump. McPake went through lower-league spells and had to force his way back into view. Darren Young, who managed him at Stirling Albion, said, "He came into training and he was brilliant - he couldn't have done any more." McPake also scored on his debut for Stirling Albion.

The move back into the game kept building from there. Kelty Hearts then became part of the route back towards full-time attention, and the Scotland call-up is the clearest sign yet that the work has been noticed.

The route back through Rangers and the lower leagues

McPake's starting point makes the comeback sharper. He left Rangers on 1 September 2023, after coming through a club that finished 2nd in the 2025 Premiership and played 33 league games, winning 19 of them.

That is a very different environment from the one McPake had to fight through once he dropped down the divisions. The contrast between Rangers' level and the clubs he had to use to rebuild his career says plenty about how far he had to travel just to get another chance.

McPake is in camp now, but the more interesting part is how he got there. The Scotland selection is not a fluke of timing. It follows a spell in which he had to accept that the path back would go through places most people treat as temporary stops, then turn those stops into evidence that he was worth another look.

The job now is simple enough to state and harder to finish: keep the standard high enough that this first camp is not the last one.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →