It’s hard to say for sure, but I suspect there is at least a minor correlation between rumours that the Ibrox hierarchy sat down with the media recently and the treatment of the club’s captain, James Tavernier, which has really not been explored as it should. If Celtic were treating a ten-year veteran like this, the hacks would be all over it, and they’d have a good point.
This should be Tavernier’s testimonial year. I don’t rate him highly as a player—he’s always been a bit of an overhyped figure. Sure, he’s scored a lot of goals, but most of them come from penalties or free kicks. That’s his bread and butter. Tavernier wasn’t brought in to score goals, though; he was signed to play right back, and in that position, he’s not been particularly reliable.
Still, he’s spent a decade with the club, scored a pile of goals, and given their fans a fair number of memorable moments. You’d think he’d be shown a bit more respect for that commitment. But this is a club that forgets loyalty fast, and ingratitude has become a core trait. They love to throw around words like “dignity” and “respect,” but their actions rarely live up to them.
The fact Tavernier was dropped from the squad isn’t the issue.
Players get older, they lose form, and eventually, they get benched; that’s normal. Look at James Forrest at Celtic—he’s now a bench player despite proving himself last season. That’s football. But there’s a big difference: James Forrest isn’t Celtic’s captain, the man with the armband. Dropping a captain carries a different weight, and it should be handled carefully. If we’d benched Scott Brown or Callum McGregor without a clear reason, it would have been a media storm.
The real issue isn’t the recent benching; it’s the colossal disrespect shown toward Tavernier since the summer, and which is now coming to a head.
We know the manager had planned to strip him of the captaincy this season, with Jack Butland lined up as his successor. This was apparently common knowledge at the club—except for Tavernier, who found out from the press. Imagine that.
Naturally, this bombshell caused quite a stir, and the club had to backtrack, suddenly claiming he’d only lose the captaincy if he left. But if that were truly the case, why didn’t they just say so from the start? Players who leave can’t be captain; there was no need to strategically leak it and they knew full well what they were doing. The idea was to force Tavernier out the door.
The original story from within the club was that Butland would be stepping up as captain and Tavernier would step down. The confusion didn’t end there: Butland himself was reportedly so stunned when he learned Tavernier was keeping the captaincy that he went straight to the chairman, no longer trusting the manager’s handling of the situation. You can see the chaos for yourself.
This whole mess is classic Ibrox dysfunction, a snapshot of how deeply rooted these issues are. And the manager, now that the dust has settled, is pressing on with his plans, thinking nobody will twig that he’s effectively cutting the captain off at the knees by dropping him and giving the armband to the guy he had decided should get it in the summer.
Does he think no one’s noticed that? Some of us have. I suspect all of them do, but maybe some of them have made promises not to criticise Clement, as per their wee meeting.
The handling of this saga sends a dreadful message to the squad: loyalty and service mean nothing, and even the captain can be casually discarded.
It’s an insult to Tavernier’s years of service and raises questions about how secure anyone’s role is in that squad. This kind of public mishandling shows an astounding lack of man-management skill. It’s exactly the sort of decision that sows unrest in a dressing room, causing division, and ultimately, it’s the manager who will pay the price.
This type of chaos is a recipe for disaster in any club. It drives wedges between teammates, damages morale, and eventually leaves the manager isolated, with no way out. It can also cost him his standing and perhaps even his career.
Football is a small world, and in a small community like Scottish football, word spreads fast. Reputation is everything, and this kind of thing can follow someone around for a long time. He torched the dressing room at Monaco; managers who get a rep for that don’t do well.
When this guy finds himself in even deeper trouble than he’s currently in —as he undoubtedly will—he’ll need every player pulling together.
But after a stunt like this, it’s not likely Tavernier will be among them, and it wouldn’t be surprising if a few other senior players feel the same.
Let’s not forget that this guy is on the ragged edge. Not long ago, rumours circulated suggesting he only got his recent contract extension because he’d heard some of the players were planning to wait him out. It was a way of re-establishing control. But it’s hard to see how that’s going to work now, given how he’s undermined himself with this latest fiasco.
At a club that’s all too familiar with managerial instability, moves like this make little sense. To treat the captain—a man who’s been loyal to them for a decade—with such disregard only highlights how dysfunctional their operation is from top to bottom. It’s an internal mess, one that’s now spilling over into the public eye.
Tavernier’s case should have been straightforward: a player reaching the later years of his career might naturally transition to a less central role. But the lack of respect shown here goes beyond that. They’ve let this saga play out messily and publicly, eroding the dressing room’s faith in the manager, shaking player confidence, and sending a clear signal that no one is immune to abrupt and disrespectful treatment. It’s shocking.
When this guy finally falters, he’ll have his handling of Tavernier’s captaincy to look back on as the beginning of his undoing. When he’s in the middle of next month, desperate for his team to rally behind him, he might well find that Tavernier—and possibly others—might prefer to watch the show rather than take part in it, especially if it might cost him his job.
The more sensible thing for them to have done in the summer would have been to explicitly (and in agreement) made Tavernier Club Captain and Butland Team Captain. This is not an uncommon thing to do (and TBF to Tavernier given his service he deserved some respect).
I don’t know but I’m guessing the captaincy comes with a bump up in salary. Maybe they couldn’t afford to do the honourable thing – although I suspect some cash was thrown at Butland in the summer to smooth over the “misunderstanding”. Hey ho – just another day in Sevcovia…
Getting paid for Captaining the Klub that John Broon and Fat Sally McMoist played for.
The players should be paying for the Honour of representing this quintessentially Braadish Institution.
Joking actually.
The fortunes of this Staunch Unionist, Monarchy loving Institution are a microcosm of the almost expired Empire they purport to serve. 21st Century and those klowns still want to doff their bunnets and bend thur knees.
A lot of the Economic, Social and Political problems this disunited Landmass face are due in no small measure
to loss of Empire since the end of the Second World War and the failure if not outright refusal to address the issues of obscene Economic Inequality and Democratic Deficits and the lack of will for Electoral Modernisation.
Unlike the US of A our future is not ‘Orange’ despite the German House of Windsor’s latest incumbents.
Agree on the “empire” point and its impact. I actually think we are seeing a similar issue play out in the USA where they have not yet grasped the consequence of development in other countries (particularly China) and what it means for the USA. As soon as the British Empire couldn’t back up its projection of power it was dead in the water. There is limited appetite in the USA for them backing up their military hardware with troops on the ground, which makes for interesting times. How the Trump administration deals with it, and what the American people will make of it, God only knows.
I’ve always quite like Tavernier to be honest, he’s not a great defender, andt I always thought he should have been pushed up into midfield. His goalscoring figures are phenomenal, penalties or not, and he has been a great servant for THEM. I have hated and severely disliked a lot of the hun past players for their attitudes, aggression, bitterness etc, but Tavernier has always been quite moderate in that respect and I have never borne him any grudges. He deserves a testimonial and he deserves due respect from the Ibrox hierarchy, their shabby treatment of him now is tasteless in the extreme. I do hope they come to their senses and appreciate the dedicated player they have had throughout their struggles.
Totally agree, I think probably for the entire time they have returned to Prem Tav is probably the player on the team sheet who I regarded as the most dangerous. any dead-ball within 25 yards of the box is going to cause problems with him taking the kick.
Him & TTA at Liverpool garner the same debate although I’d caveat that with TAA being significantly superior in all aspects of the game. They are both RBs who appear more suited to the midfield but don’t quite know how to deal with the increased intensity & focus required to play in the centre of the pitch.
I for one see them as even less threatening if Tav isn’t in the team. Long may Clemont continue with his lunacy.