James Tavernier was named Skipper before the previous season and despite questions about his fit in the position, he earned it and then some.
Making James Tavernier the captain for Rangers was not a huge shock once Steven Gerrard arrived at Ibrox. Tavernier was one of the few long-tenured players that wasn’t a consistent disappointment that Gerrard would feel comfortable giving the band. If not Tavernier the options were either a brand new player or a player who wasn’t likely to play regularly or even survive the season with the team.
Despite this, there were serious questions around making Tavernier the captain. He was more experienced than many others on the team, but he had yet to be part of a truly winning team other than the lower levels of the league. What’s more, you want your captain to be the sort that leads by example, and while Tavernier has always clearly been talented, his defensive issues have always been front and center for him as a right back. Could a defender who didn’t consistently defend make a good captain?
Perhaps Tavernier simply has gotten over the hump and into his prime, perhaps the captain’s armband gave him extra motivation. Whatever the reason, we never got to learn whether a defender who doesn’t defend can be an effective captain. Tavernier not only continued his brilliant attacking play, but stiffened up his defense to the levels that Rangers needed.
Trusty from the penalty spot and delivering brilliant balls into the box in the attacking third are things that Rangers have come to expect from Tavernier and he continued to provide that all season long in a big way, but his defense took a huge step forward.
Tavernier doesn’t have the natural size to be a high-level defender, but his effort and positioning on the back-end was so much better that he was rarely the weak link in the chain on defense.
The transformation endured Tavernier to Rangers fans in a way that few players have since the horror. Another successful season for Tavernier as the skipper this coming season could cement him as a true Ranger great.