James is captain fantastic
David Weir has praised James Tavernier for battling through the barren years and brickbats of his rol lercoaster Rangers career.
Tavernier has led the charge towards the title and into the last 32 of the Europa League as captain and 17-goal hero of Steven Gerrard’s squad.
Weir, the last Ibrox skipper to lift the title trophy in 2011, believes the full-back’s mental strength to ride out the tough times in the unforgiving Old Firm spotlight has been outstanding.
Weir, Mark Warburton’s No. 2 when Tavernier signed from Wigan in July 2015, said: “I am genuinely really pleased for James as he has been through it all.
“There’s been a real range of emotions there.
“Glasgow isn’t an easy life. You can be judged
harshly sometimes – and d it can be very quick.
“James has ridden that t out and people like him are e successful because they y can manage it and go out t and do it on the pitch – where it needs to be done. .
“He has not over-reacted d to things, he has just done e his job and hopefully he e gets the rewards for it all l soon and goes on to win n the league.”
A storming first season saw Tavernier score 15 times from right-back and now he’s clear favourite for Player Of The Year honours.
But in between there were many heavy defeats to Celtic as Rangers fell short in challenging at the top and there have been calls for the Yorkshireman to lose the captaincy.
Weir said: “James has consistently been very good for a while but he’s playing in a stronger team now and the levels of consistency he brings is really impressive, especially in the final third. He’s doing a huge amount to help the team win games.”