City given a helping Ando out NEW KIT’S A PERFECT FIT FOR TAV .. SO GLAD TO SEE HE STILL HAS ARMBAND
VERDICT
Scottish football saviour James Anderson has ridden to the rescue again - this time digging deep to save Glasgow City’s UEFA Womens’ Champions League campaign.
The investment manager had previously donated £ 3million to the women’s game, which saw all 42 clubs qualify for vital lifelines of £50,000.
Last month, he followed up his first injection by bailing out the womens’ game with a £250,000 gift, which will be distributed to SWPL1 and SWPL2 clubs to sustain non-playing staff and off-field infrastructure.
The benefits will also filter down to other SWF member clubs, including those at grassroots level.
Now he has agreed to pay all travel and Covid-19 testing costs for City’s Champions League quarter-final against Wolfsburg next month, at a cost running well into tens of thousands of pounds.
The SWPL champions feared their hard work in reaching the last eight of the competition could have been undone by the huge financial implications brought on by the coronavirus crisis.
City, who returned to training yesterday, have had to create a biohub at their training HQ and are bound by the same twice weekly testing as their male counterparts.
The cost of travel for the clash with the Germans on August 21 has rocke ted wi th UEFA demanding they travel on a privately chartered plane.
City General Manager Laura Montgomery said: “The reality is if James hadn’t come forward, then I don’t know how we could ever have played this game.
“He is now taking care of testing and our means to travel, because Uefa want teams to go on their own plane.
“It was the most amazing news last night when he told me he would cover that. He is an incredibly generous man.
“Our players were absolutely magnificent in defeating Brondby in the previous round and it would have been a tragedy if we were unable to take our place.
“Thankfully, with the biggest act of kindness we have known in our 22 years as a club, this is something we now no longer need to worry ourselves about.”
It was Tav’s trademark during his time at Bristol City and one of the many things the former Robins boss loved about him.
In their half- season together Cotterill and Tavernier romped League One to take the club back to the English Championship.
But there was no sign of that famous smi le etched across Tavernier’s face as the Ibrox skipper modelled their new kit in official launch photos in midweek.
Instead, it was a look of serious business as he fixed a steely stare at the camera lens flanked by some of his team-mates.
As well as the new Castore design, it wouldn’t have been a huge surprise to some if there had been an alteration to Tavernier’s 2020/21 kit with the absence of the captain’s armband.
Memories have been distorted during a four-months hiatus in which the world has gone into lockdown due to Covid-19.
It’s easy to forget events around the time the football season was ended so abruptly.
But Tavernier was a man under fire back in March following a 1-0 home loss to Hamilton Accies that led to some fans questioning his leadership qualities.
And that was only made worse by the captain’s message in the official programme, when he wrote: “Whenever anybody puts a bit of pressure on us or gets in our face it seems to affect us too much.”
Manager Steven Gerrard admitted the club should have done more to protect him on that occasion.
And the sight of h im proud l y sporting the armband in those club photos dispelled any notion of a change in captaincy.
That means Tavernier will lead Gers into arguably the biggest season as they attempt to end the club’s nine-year wait for major silverware and stop Celtic’s 10-in-a-row bid in its tracks. Only two captains will know the pressure the 28-year-old is under – John Greig at Ibrox in the 1970s and Tom Boyd at Celtic.
Both captained their respective sides to historic titles and stopped previous 10-in-a-row attempts. Tavernier will be desperate to follow in their footsteps.
The full-back has proved a bargain buy for the Light Blues since Mark Warburton paid just £200,000 to sign him from Wigan Athletic five summers ago. But he has come up agonisingly short – losing the Scottish Cup f inal in 2016 and last sea son’s League Cup final – in a fruitless quest to land major silverware.
That saw him branded a “serial loser” by former Celtic striker Chris Sutton on the eve of the Old Firm Betfred Cup final loss at Hampden last season.
But despite his setbacks,
Tav has rarely shirked his responsibilities as captain and faced up to the media after devastating defeats.
In the summer he moved to Ibrox, former boss Cotterill had hoped to take him back to
Ashton Gate after his loan stint from Wigan
Athletic but couldn’t compete with Gers.
And the 55-year-old is confident he has the mental strength and character to deal with the huge season that’s ahead of him.
Cotterill said: “His character, mental strength and professional ism have all improved since I worked