REJECTION from any football club can be hard to take.

But when it comes from the half of the Old Firm you have set your heart on making it with, it is enough to break any fledgling career beyond repair.

For Nicky Clark, the news he was "not good enough" to make the grade at Rangers was administered as a youth and he was forced to find the inner resolve to continue his attempt to make the grade.

Fortunately, he chose the correct path and headed to the north-east where he settled into the Aberdeen youth team before again suffering another nasty blow to his prospects and, at 17, being farmed out on loan to Peterhead.

However, bolstered by his performances for the Blue Toon, the teenager penned a permanent contract with the club in August, 2010, with an eye on the opportunity to work his way back up the leagues.

Clark's resolve to follow the old-fashioned route to success was rewarded by a move to First Division Queen of the South, in July, 2011.

Within two years, his career had ignited as the striker became the Second Division Player of the Year for the 2012–13 season, claiming the Ginger Boot Award for being the top-scorer across all four Scottish divisions with a record breaking domestic tally of 41 goals.

The quirks of fate, perhaps persuaded by Clark's hard work and refusal to have his dreams beaten out of him, paid off at last this summer when he returned to Rangers on a three-year deal.

His signing at Ibrox was the summer move that made former Rangers skipper Ally Dawson happiest over the last few months, among the seven that Light Blues gaffer Ally McCoist has made, because it was Dawson who first spotted his raw talent as a freckle-faced 14-year-old.

And, as he recalled the talents that so impressed him when the young teenager was under his charge, the Seventies Ibrox icon was clear Clark has the skill to become a favourite with the Light Blue legions.

Dawson said: "I had Nicky at Under-15s level, he had so much to offer and it was a great shame that he was allowed to leave the club.

"But the first thing you have to say is Nicky deserves enormous credit for the way he has refused to allow that blow to undermine his career.

"There have been plenty of very talented kids who have been at Rangers or Celtic and had their dreams shattered when they were deemed surplus to requirements by either club and the news broke plenty of them and really finished their careers.

"But to make matters worse, Nicky had gone to Aberdeen and tried to rebuild there, only to find himself shoved out to Peterhead and suffering the same rejection all over again.

"To still have the resolve at a young age to sign up with Peterhead and rebuild tells you an awful lot about the character of the lad.

"Ultimately he has rebuilt his career, first at Peterhead, and then at Queen of the South, doing it the old-fashioned way by coming back up the leagues to have an incredible season last time around and earning a deal with the club he loves.

"So he has really been rewarded for his determination but he has also been rewarded for his talent, because no-one should underestimate just how good Nicky Clark is."

Dawson's recollection of the early teenage Clark was of a kid with a nose for goals.

The former Rangers captain said: "Nicky always was a goalscorer, you could see that from day one.

"But there was so much more to his game than just goals – important as they are. He had the skill to drop off or come short, but he also had more than enough quality to make the play.

"Although in the box he was deadly, for me there was just so much more to his game than that."

Dawson, now development manager with the Street Soccer initiative, says Clark's tale is the ultimate encouragement to any youngster whose career is threatened with the scrapheap prematurely.

The former Scotland international said: "For any kids out there who have been told they aren't good enough, then they should have a look at Nicky Clark and how he has bounced back from rejection not once, but twice, to come good.

"Nicky is the ultimate proof of what hard work and what the refusal to give in can bring. I am sure he will grab his opportunity at Rangers with both hands."