Rangers winger Josh McPake has been tipped for big things in the future as he works towards forcing his way into Steven Gerrard’s first-team plans at Ibrox – and his former boss at Harrogate Town Simon Weaver thinks that “there’s no reason why anything should hold Josh back.”
After impressing on loan with Harrogate last season, McPake was handed a new deal at Rangers before heading back out on loan with Morecambe.
The Scotland youth international will link up with former Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson at Morecambe at Weaver is confident that McPake has the talent to impress again this season afer stepping up a division.
“Josh has got a lot of ability,” Weaver told Lanarkshire Live. “When the penny dropped here, he knew his off the ball work had to match his obvious talent and when it was matched, he was too hot to handle at times in League Two.
“Sometimes the really talented lads need reminders that the harder you work, the better you get and the more frequently you’ll have the ball.
“League Two is a far cry from under-23 football and he wasn’t allowed to just stay high up the pitch when we didn’t have the ball.
“We drilled it into him every day that his work ethic would make or break him.
“It wasn’t something that happened overnight, but in the games when he was fully charged up and raring to go, they were the games where he was excellent for us.
“He’s very capable of taking himself to the next level and playing even higher than League One, where he is now with Morecambe.
“We hope he does well there because it would be a success story for us as well, that we’ve had him on loan, he’s had a good time in terms of the number of games he’s played and he’s gone back to Rangers a better player.
“He’s from good stock is Steven Gerrard, so he’ll know there’s no reason why anything should hold Josh back.
“There’s no doubt Josh is blessed with ability and we wish him well.”
Penny seems to have dropped for Rangers youngster
Before heading to Harrogate last January, McPake had spent time on loan at Dundee and Morton with little success as his promising Rangers career appeared to have stalled.
However, after his time in England, the Rangers youngster seems to have grasped the nettle and really started to kick in.
Another season on loan in England should really help the talented forward make his mark and take another big step towards establishing himself at Rangers.
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