James Tavernier has long been a joke figure amongst the Celtic fans for a number of years now.
After being inducted into their Hall of Fame, Tavernier has been put up on a pedestal by the Ibrox support so much that as soon as he has a bad game, they are on him in a flash.
In a way, it is hilarious. Because ever since the Newco came into force, all the Ibrox support has done for the past 12 years is celebrate mediocrity. I mean for people like me it’s gold. The Banter Years have been truly superb and even now, they still keep rolling on.
And Tavernier seems to be the hub of it all.
Tavernier’s Rangers failings inadvertently called out
For all the time he has been at Rangers, Captain Failure has had to watch Celtic romp to a nine-in-a-row and a Quadruple Treble.
It must have been a source of great pain for him and has led him to get all sorts of criticism from his own support.
And whilst trying to defend him, Jim Duffy highlighted the exact reasons why the Celtic supporters continue to laugh at him and his bizarre induction into the Ibrox history books.
Duffy said [Superscoreboard], “I think sometimes we overlook strengths. We always look for weaknesses. We’re always looking at the negative side of players and I think Tavernier is the perfect example of that.
“Every time people mentioned him, they mention defensive frailties, if you want to call it that and there are a number of reasons why that can happen.
“If he’s struggling, he’s tracking back the way. He’s never facing opponents and rarely faces opponents because that’s the way the game is played. And most fullbacks are like that.
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“But his record, I think if he had another two titles for instance in those nine years, I don’t think he would get anywhere near the criticism.
“I think the biggest issue is that that Rangers have only ever had that one title under Steven Gerrard. I personally think that a lot of his criticism has to do with the fact that Rangers has only won one title in those nine years.”
It’s the ONLY reason he gets criticism. Well, that’s not strictly true. The fact that he’s a terrible defender who has nightmares about Daizen Maeda is another one.
Tavernier is the most overhyped footballer ever to come to Scotland. Had it not been for his penalty exploits, he would have been punted from Ibrox a long time ago but weirdly, the Scottish media laud him for it.
And now that a potential move to Saudi could happen (even though it won’t) who is going to provide us with the laughter that he gives us?
Wait, I forgot. Todd Cantwell is still at the club.
