STILL TIME FOR TAV TO RIGHT HIS STORY

TAV OR TAV NOT Skipper splits opinion but is likely to be relied upon by his boss at Ibrox tomorrow

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"THIS football club won't appreciate James Tavernier until James Tavernier's not here...

Life without the Rangers skipper is certainly a lot closer now than it was when Connor Goldson first questioned the value in which the Ibrox faithful held his friend back in November 2023.

With two-and-a-half months left of not only this season's titanic title tussle but also Tavernier's Gers contract, we're fast approaching the day when eulogies will be written for the captain's career in Glasgow and judgments made.

And the brutal truth is that after 11 years, 556 games and an unprecedented 143 goals from defence, the outcome of tomorrow's crucial Old Firm clash might just end up being the deciding factor on whether the words spoken of the 34-year-old are kind or otherwise.

Tavernier may have been a fine servant to Rangers but for the most part of his time in Scotland, the Light Blues lineup he's led have been anything but vintage.

Goldson's now famous tribute to his skipper was made on the Hampden pitch just moments after he'd watched the right-back net a League Cup Final winner against Aberdeen - a goal that helped complete his haul of domestic trinkets following on from the Premiership title he lifted in 2021 and the Scottish Cup clinched 12 months later.