James Tavernier reaches a decade on Rangers rollercoaster as one constant remains amid yet another clean slate

Daily Record

6 days ago

Tavernier led Russell Martin out as captain and now works for him as Champions League chance rolls around again
James Tavernier has spent a decade spinning round the Rangers rollercoaster. More often than not, he's finished up crashing into the buffers.
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But for all those repeated disappointments, the Ibrox skipper is still setting out with the hope that this year's thrill ride will be the one that stays on track right until the triumphant end.
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Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of the day the right-back arrived in Glasgow alongside Wigan team-mate Martyn Waghorn as part of a joint £200,000 swoop.
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Tavernier has certainly repaid that sum in goals down the years. But silverware has been harder to come by for a man crowned British football's highest ever scoring defender.
He picked up his solitary league winner's medal under Steven Gerrard in 2021, with a Scottish Cup coming a year later under Gio van Bronckhorst only days after his side had lost out on Europa League glory in Seville.
He completed the set under Philippe Clement with Gers' 2023 League Cup success but that's scant reward for 10 years at Ibrox.
Yet, as he begins life under Russell Martin on Tuesday tonight - his seventh full-time boss since joining the club - the excitement levels remain as high as they were the day Mark Warburton brought the 33-year-old to the club back in 2015.
'My wife sent me a picture this morning to remind me that it was my tenth anniversary at the club,' he grinned. 'So yes, it's gone quickly, really quick.
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'I've said in previous years, all the years of being here have been a rollercoaster. But throughout it all, I've always given 110% no matter what and I'll continue to do that.
'I always want to win. That's always been instilled in us as a little boy. I've always wanted to win no matter what. If it's playing PlayStation against my son or it's playing a match or in training, I always want to win.
'So I'm always going to continue to do that until even later in my career and even after I've retired and something that I'll go into afterwards, I want to win whatever I do.
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'I'm always excited for every season to begin because it's always a fresh slate.
'The philosophy that the manager wants us to play with the ball and off the ball. It's going to be intense and that's been shown in the preseason that we've been doing - lots of running and the games behind closed doors and just the implements that he wants us to play and you'll see a real big difference of how we played over the past few years to this season.
'It's obviously been a quick four weeks during pre-season. The training's been really intense. The manager's really drilled in his philosophies of how he wants to play as a team, the structure. So the boys have really taken it on board and we're really looking forward to tomorrow night.
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'I think you'll see in the way we play, with the ball and without the ball. I think that'll be evident when tomorrow unfolds and as the season unfolds, you'll certainly see a different style of play that I've probably not played since I've been here.
Back in 2018 when Martin was spending a brief stint at Ibrox on loan as a player, he was being led out by Tavernier. Now he's the man barking the orders.
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'I've had a couple of conversations with some of the younger lads, letting them know my age and that I've played with him and that I was captain!
'But, it's been really smooth and the conversations that we've been having, you can see his mindset of what he wants. And that's the bright side of it and what he's demanding from us as a team, me myself and it's really exciting.
'Could I see his managerial credentials back then? Typically not when you play. He was a really intelligent footballer, had a great career.
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'But you obviously saw what he was starting to build when he went to Swansea, and obviously Southampton.
'The way he wants his teams to play. So it's obviously different compared to what he was playing as a player, but it's nice to see.'
The heat will be on Gers tonight as they kick-off their Champions League campaign against Panathinaikos at Ibrox.
But with temperatures around the 35 degree mark expected in Athens for next week's return, Tavernier knows Gers can't afford to be caught cold.
He said: 'We want a positive result just to show everybody what we're capable of, what we're working to.
'But obviously, we want to put ourselves in a good position going over there. We know it's going to be a hot one over there in the second leg, so you obviously want to try and prioritise getting this first leg, hopefully with a clean sheet with a few goals, and then you can go over there and the other team has to chase. Our objective is to win tomorrow.'