Tavernier's taken for granted by rangers fans even if he is butt of celtic jokes

THE SKIPPER HAS JUST ENDED HIS TENTH SEASON AT IBROX AND IS ENTERING THE FINAL YEAR OF HIS CONTRACT 09:21, 22 May 2025Updated 14:47, 23 May 2025 Kris Boyd insists James Tavernier still has a

role to play at Rangers next season - regardless of who the new manager is. Tavernier, 33, has just ended a forgettable decade season at Ibrox as Gers once again ended the campaign

trophyless. The long-serving skipper is now entering the final 12 months of his contract and is due a testimonial from the club. And while another summer clearout beckons, legendary striker

Boyd is adamant Tavernier shouldn't be part of the exodus. In an exclusive interview with _RECORD SPORT_, courtesy of TopRatedBingoSites, Boyd said: "For James Tavernier, he’s been

a fantastic servant for the club but sometimes when a player has been there for so long you take them for granted. "There’s no doubt his assists have been off the scales, there is no

getting away from it. His numbers are incredible. But because Celtic have been so dominant during James Tavernier’s time in Scotland, everyone will poke fun and have a laugh at him in terms

of not being able to win things as Rangers captain but a lot of it is unfair. "James will tell you it comes with the territory and says you will get stick, but I look at James Tavernier

and think there is more to give. "The amount of games he churns out and number of games he performs in as a full back, you can’t have it both ways. I think the way he plays going

forward, you’re going to have some vulnerabilities defensively. "Trent Alexander-Arnold is exactly the same at Liverpool. I’m using him because that’s the way he plays too and there’ll

be other ones in football who are the exact same. "It’s very rare you get someone who has the numbers he’s got moving forward and is an excellent defender because if that was the case,

he wouldn’t be playing in Scotland." Boyd reckons too many players are stuck in cruise control at Rangers due to the lack of competition in the squad. And the Sky pundit believes the

Light Blues are in dire need of adding winners who know what it takes to lift silverware. He said: "Looking at it, there have been players who have underperformed for a period of time.

Whether they sometimes think it is too easy (I don’t know), but they have been able to produce in the big games, so that tells me that there are good players there, and it is about finding

consistency. "Being challenged every single day in training could help a lot of players to find that level and consistency because if you’re not performing in training then you may not

be in the team and if you’re not performing in the team, you might be out because of the level of players in training. If you look at Celtic, that is something they have. "They’ve got

two players in nearly every position that could come in and we saw that against Aberdeen. They more or less changed the whole team and destroyed Aberdeen. The competition and fear of losing

your place is something that drives people on. "I don’t think Rangers can go down the line of signing squad players, what they need to do is sign five or six experienced players that

know how to win football games and push five or six of the boys who have started the majority of the games out of the team. "Then you would expect them to be unhappy and push back to

get back into the team and create competition. "For far too long you can name the Rangers team give or take a couple of changes and if you have had a bad result on the weekend, it’s

been far too easy. "Competition for places would create a better environment for players to thrive in. There are players who still have a lot to offer like John Souttar and James

Tavernier, they have had disappointing this season but are still good players. "There are good players in the dressing room who can relight their careers at Rangers." Article

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