I’d play an Old Firm game every week if I could!
OLD FIRM matches have been known to reduce even some of the biggest name players to the status of a gibbering wreck. Not James Tavernier. The Rangers captain would love to be facing Celtic every week after claiming that nothing beats the buzz of world football’s oldest derby match.
Rather than fearing facing Celtic, Tavernier relishes the prospect of locking horns with Rangers’ greatest rivals.
He will do so again this afternoon for the 11th time since signing for the then Championship club in 2015 when the teams contest the second of the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final ties at Hampden Park.
One leading bookmaker chain has Celtic as short as 8/11 while also offering Rangers at odds of 4/1 to deny Brendan Rodgers a second successive clean sweep of the domestic honours.
But the full-back is not interested in the thoughts of the odds layers or the views of the pundits.
His competitive juices are flowing and he is ready to savour a fresh adrenalin rush as Rangers bid to avenge their most recent Old Firm defeat a month ago when ten-man Celtic twice came from behind to win 3-2 at Ibrox.
Rangers have recent cup history on their side, having prevailed by dint of a penalty shoot-out when the teams met at the same juncture two years ago. But, invariably, past results and current form mean little when these titans of the Scottish game collide.
There is, however, one constant — Old Firm matches were seemingly created to test the nerve and mindset of even the most mentally tough individual.
According to the majority of those who have sampled the competitive nature and intense rivalry close up and personal, there is no other game like it.
‘It’s one of the reasons I came here,’ said Tavernier. ‘This will be my 11th Old Firm game and I always look forward to them.
‘They are massive games and you always prepare to do your best against them. It’s straightforward in the sense that it’s just like when you are preparing for any other team, you have to do it right and then make sure you also get it right on the day.
‘I’m okay with the nerves. There’s obviously a little bit of that, maybe the night before, but nothing massive, nothing that keeps me up. It’s just excitement to get on that pitch.
‘That’s what I’m in football for — to play in these big games and if I could, I’d play an Old Firm game every week. I’d love that.’
While some players may fear the prospect of failure, Tavernier insists that he has never been haunted by such thoughts.
‘I have never gone into a game thinking we’re going to lose,’ he
said. ‘That’s not my mentality and I don’t believe it’s there with any of the other boys, otherwise they wouldn’t be at Rangers.
‘We need to have that winning mentality and go into the game believing we’re going to win.
‘It comes down to small details on the day, like avoiding mistakes, being right at it and being focused.’
The best Rangers have managed this season was a 0-0 draw at Celtic Park in December.
But Tavernier believes the Ibrox men have shown enough to feel capable of upsetting the odds.
He said: ‘We put in a great display in the last Old Firm match and the one before that, too.
‘In the home game, it was down to mistakes costing us goals and if we nullify these mistakes, keep it tight and don’t concede, we are going to create chances.
‘Brendan Rodgers has come in and he’s had some time to improve their team, while we have gone through different managers.
‘But Graeme Murty has laid a good foundation for us to play. He’s also made great additions to the squad and we’ve become stronger. That gap is very, very close now.
‘I think there’s maybe only a handful of players from the 2016 win that are still here but you have to take the positives from the wins we get.
‘Even when we win, there are still aspects that we have to improve, but as long as we are learning, I think we are on the right path.
‘We feel mentally tough. We have a great group of lads, who can bounce back and I know they are all raring to go.
‘It’s a semi-final and we want to win this game. But we want to win every Old Firm game and nothing will change.’
While Tavernier was keen to highlight the importance of a victory for Murty in terms of enhancing the manager’s chances of being handed the job on a more permanent basis, he is also desperate to satisfy the demands of the Rangers fans.
‘I would love to do it for the fans, as well, because I know they’ve been waiting for a win for a while now,’ he pointed out.
‘Everyone has been waiting for a win but we want to do it for the fans and the gaffer, and also for those players who are not in the squad, because we are all one team trying to help each other to get to the place where we want to be.
‘I am honoured to have been made captain and if I have the captaincy again this weekend and lead the team out at Hampden, it will be another huge honour.
‘I’ve had a great relationship with the gaffer since he came in. He’s a fellow full-back and he and (assistant manager) Jimmy Nicholl have worked with me, passing on advice.’
If Rangers do succeed in making it to a second final in three years, Tavernier senses that it will mean even more, given Celtic’s remarkable run of success under Rodgers.
He added: ‘We were in the Championship when we won in 2016. It was the Mark Warburton season and the first time we had played Celtic for a while.
‘It was a big occasion and it would be a big achievement to do it again — you could say maybe even bigger because it’s Brendan Rodgers.’
I have never gone into a game thinking we are going to lose. That’s not my mentality