It's a speech he’s had to deliver plenty of times before. But James Tavernier breathed a weary sigh as he admitted the job of picking up Rangers’ shattered squad never gets any easier.
The Ibrox skipper was yesterday aiming to tick the final box and complete his sweep of Scottish football’s major trophies a week after having his name added to the Light Blues’ Hall of Fame. Instead, he’s been left to fling another runners-up medal on what is becoming a considerable pile of second prizes after once again coming up against a Celtic side that were simply out of reach.
His job now is lift a group of players that face going emptied handed unless they can stave off the Parkhead outfit’s treble charge by winning the Scottish Cup. As Rangers trudged back to the Hampden changing room in the immediate aftermath of yesterday’s frustrating no-show, Tavernier concluded it wasn’t the time or place for him to attempts words of encouragement. But he knows he’ll have to strike a chord soon or risk another season ending on a bum note. He said: “It’s part of football, it is part of being the captain as well, I have a strong head on me and we will go again. This one is going to hurt for a while, but we can’t put ourselves down too much.
