Ibrox Noise
·28 September 2024
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Yahoo sportsIbrox Noise
·28 September 2024
Rangers captain James Tavernier has insisted the toxic confrontation with an irate fan outside Ibrox is ‘in the past’ and he’s ‘over it’, as he prepared to face Hibernian this weekend.
Rangers’ captain was challenged by an angry supporter following the abysmal 3-0 reverse at Parkhead, who in no uncertain terms called him a loser, and told him to eff off to good measure as well.
But Rangers’ right back claimed it was part and parcel of football and he had moved on.
He said:
“It is part of the parcel with football. You see it up and down the country. As fans they want to display their frustration, you can understand the frustration that people have and obviously, us as players are frustrated as well. We never go out there wanting to lose a game, or even draw a game – especially playing for Rangers we always want to win. We will always give our 100 per cent effort to that cause. On certain days it can go too far but it is something in the past, it is not something I dwell on. I always keep looking forward and obviously, it motivates me more to do better.”
We must admit some disquiet with ‘want to win’.
The fan called Tavernier a ‘loser’ and the statement above pretty sums ‘a loser’ up. At Rangers, we don’t ‘want’ to win, we ‘must’ win, and Tavernier epitomises the second-place mentality that is in too many Rangers players, and if that’s the nonsense coming down from the captain, that we ‘want to win’ and don’t ‘need’ to win, then no wonder the squad isn’t filled with winners.
Tavernier has been mocked by many supporters for a long time for simply not getting the will to win, the need to win, the ‘must win’ that is Rangers.
And statements like ‘want to win’ basically symbolise that mentality, and reduce us to being any other club in the world who ‘would like to win’.
That’s definitely not good enough, and even though Tavernier attests to being ‘over’ the confrontation, we at Ibrox Noise sure aren’t and can’t agree with that fan any more than we do.