Ex-Rangers starlet opens up on life after Ibrox and why family comes first
10/08/2024 11:05 AM
James Graham understood that leaving Rangers could be an earth-shattering experience.
The young striker had always been plotting his route into the Ibrox first-team before David McCallum told him it was time up. It came as a blow to the teen who’d been settling for loan minutes with the likes of Dumbarton and Annan Athletic but it was not the be-all and end-all.
No, Graham – now 20-years-old – discovered that when he received a phone call back in 2023 when he learned his dad Billy had taken a turn while on the road working his day job. The 57-year-old had a debilitating stroke behind the wheel of his van as he did the rounds and it had the Graham family struggling for a while.
A difficult period for the family, yes, but a moment to allow the ex-Gers kid to take stock of what’s most important in life and his departure from the Light Blues paled in comparison.
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Ex Rangers kid finds perspective from Dad’s stroke
“For my age I think I’m quite experienced off the pitch,” Graham told Rangers News. “At 15 I moved away from home and have had family issues over the last year or so. I just say I’ve developed my mentality, it’s the way I was brought up as well. It’s not all doom and gloom.
“Last year my Dad had an accident and he was lucky to live so from that point onwards I’ve had a different outlook. At the same time, that gave me the extra push to go and make him proud. My Dad is a delivery driver and he had a really big stroke when he was driving one day, crashing the van. He was flown down to Glasgow for a few weeks. He’s on the mend, not what he was before, but there’s major improvement from a year ago.
“There’s a lot of stuff bigger than football, but you do it for family and that’s what it comes down to.”
The dreaded Rangers release
When McCallum, his then coach at Gers, called Graham into his office, the mature youngster knew what was coming.
But, again, it was Dad Billy whose advice was ringing in his ears.
“At the time you might think you’re gutted leaving but it’s football and you’re going to have these setbacks,” the Ross County academy graduate explained.
“It’s about how you react to them. You can go down two roads and feel sorry for yourself and never really reach the level you were meant to, or you can use it as extra motivation, prove people wrong and show people you were good enough by having a good career.”
