Barry Ferguson confirmed that James Tavernier would remain as Rangers captain ahead of his first game in interim charge away at Kilmarnock on Wednesday night.
And the first decision Ferguson made after replacing Philippe Clement in the Ibrox dugout already feels like a good one.
While there was never really any expectation that Ferguson would tear the armband away from Rangers’ most experienced player, James Tavernier still repaid the Rangers legend’s faith as he kept his head while most of those around him were losing theirs.
Robin Propper and Clinton Nsiala started at centre-back at Rugby Park. But, when the full-time whistle blew two hours later, it was a converted right-back who appeared to be the most convincing central defender at Barry Ferguson’s disposal.
While there are obvious doubts around the interim boss’s tactical acumen – his arrival more felt like a desire from the club’s bosses to raise standards, provide a vocal presence on the touchline, and fire a proverbial rocket up backsides – but the former Alloa Athletic coach deserves immense credit for displaying bravery and decisiveness required to change a broken set-up.
Clinton Nsiala endured a nightmare afternoon as Rangers lost at home to St Mirren in Clement’s last stand. The summer signing from AC Milan would last just 31 minutes a few days later in Ayshire, Ferguson introducing Ridvan Yilmaz on the right while shifting Tavernier across into the middle.
James Tavernier backs Clinton Nsiala after Rangers beat Kilmarnock
Tavernier, Rangers’ evergreen skipper, stepped up to the challenge in exactly the way Ferguson would have expected from his skipper.
And Nsiala, while understandably disappointed by the manner in which his week has unfolded, could hardly have a better captain to lean upon for advice as the youngster looks to bounce back from the first real setback of his Gers career.
“We obviously let ourselves down in the first 30 minutes. We didn’t compete in the way we should have,” Tavernier explains, Rangers falling 2-0 down inside a quarter of an hour before Vaclav Cerny and a Cyriel Dessers brace turned the tie around either side of the break.
“Obviously, Clinton is a young lad. I was chatting to him before, these are things you’ve got to keep working on. You can’t get your head down. These are things that come with football. We will get round him.
“[Fergusom moved me to centre-half] just to get a bit of calm in there. Me and Robin did really well back there, with Jefte and Ridvan. I thought the whole team defended well today.”
Cyriel Dessers fires Rangers to victory at Rugby Park
Tavernier was also keen to pay tribute to Dessers, the striker now breaking the 20-goal barrier for the second time in two seasons in Scotland.
“It was about just calming ourselves down at half-time and getting into the game, sorting out the problems they are gonna give us,” Tavernier adds.
“We are gonna create chances and the big man produced it for us today. That’s what we need. Character to keep pushing
“Competing, thats the minimum we have to do. We have to be matching their intensity. That was important and being ruthless, I thought we were more ruthless in the second half and we defended better as a team.
“We know this is a difficult place to come and I thought the boys responded really well, especially second half. But those are the minimums at Rangers. We have to keep the standards and be consistent with it and not dropping our standard.”
