Beale’s Saudi move sparks laughable Tavernier speculation… again

The news that Michael Beale has wound up in Saudi Arabia has launched another round of blindingly funny speculation about James Tavernier joining him in January.

According to the fantasy, this would not only let the Ibrox club remove their most expensive player from the wage bill but also bring in some much-needed cash.

Some are still clinging to this fantasy, even now. Amazing.

The rumour mill churned through the summer with the idea that somewhere out there was a club flush with cash eager to sign players in their 30s who had flopped in the SPL. Players who can’t handle pressure, lack motivation, and are visibly on the decline.

The Saudis have signed players in their 30s, yes—but elite-level players, individuals with proven track records at the very top of the sport.

Neither Goldson nor Tavernier were ever in that bracket. And yet, all summer, the speculation linking both of them with moves to Saudi Arabia—particularly to Gerrard’s club—persisted. Tavernier eventually moved to Cyprus for a nominal fee, with reports suggesting that his new salary is modest and that the Ibrox club is still footing a substantial part of the bill.

So, they couldn’t even properly get him off the wage bill. Meanwhile, the Saudi clubs? They stood by and did nothing to bring him in.

Goldson’s move to a footballing backwater should have shattered this myth once and for all. If he didn’t end up in Saudi Arabia, there was no way Tavernier was going to either.

Yet some people cling to this idea as if the whole fantasy wasn’t already debunked. It’s a lot like the speculation that surrounded Gerrard when he was at Villa—that he’d use Villa’s spending power to plunder Ibrox for its supposed “stars.”

He didn’t sign a single one. He didn’t even make an attempt, and you could argue that when he arrived at Villa, some of these players were at their peak. If there was a time to take Tavernier or others, it was then. The idea that Gerrard would want him now is laughable.

This entire supposition is built on the odd idea that when a manager leaves a club, he somehow owes it a favour. That if the club is struggling financially and his new team has deep pockets, he’ll spend some of that money to help out.

The theory is that managers take their best players with them—the ones they relied on most. But this almost never happens, and it’s absurd to think it should.

Nobody is seriously arguing that Tavernier or Goldson are elite players who belong in a top league and have simply been overlooked.

The whole thing seems to rest on the notion that Gerrard has been at clubs with massive resources, and some of that cash should be funnelled towards Ibrox. There’s no rationale for it. It’s just a recycled version of the same fantasy that some big spender will bail them out.

What’s overlooked, of course, is that managers answer to those above them. They don’t sign players to help their old clubs; they sign players who they think will enhance their current teams. Gerrard, in particular, is under severe pressure in Saudi Arabia. His backroom team was recently axed, and he’s turned to Beale in a desperate attempt to shore up his crumbling credibility.

But there is no way his board will allow him to waste money on former players, especially now. There’s no way they’ll entertain the idea of signing a failed SPL right-back who’s 33 and can barely hold down a place in a poor Rangers team.

What could Gerrard possibly say to convince them that’s a good idea?

And while that’s a valid question, here’s another: how could anyone convince Gerrard that signing Tavernier is a good idea? That such a move would help him survive in his current role? Tavernier’s time at Ibrox has been defined by disappointment, by setbacks.

It might spark the imaginations of hacks in the media, and it might give Ibrox fans a glimmer of hope. But decisions like these have to make sense to the people making them—the people writing the cheques. And this idea doesn’t make sense. It didn’t in the summer, and it doesn’t now.

Yet the media clings to it. These are the things they’ve been reduced to, hoping against hope that Saudi gold will somehow fill Ibrox’s pockets. It’s a pipe dream, and everyone knows it.

In the meantime, Tavernier will remain at Ibrox with 18 months left on his deal, growing less relevant, less important, and less able to handle the demands of the game.

And all the while, he’ll continue pocketing £40,000 a week.