It should not really come as a surprise that Todd Cantwell is still finding himself at the heart of Rangers stories six months after leaving the club.
The Englishman attracted controversy and split opinion all the way throughout his year-and-a-half at Ibrox and that has continued since his departure to Blackburn Rovers.
Cantwell took a veiled swipe at Philippe Clement soon after leaving, after it was common knowledge the two didn’t see eye-to-eye, with the Belgian breaking the news of the midfielder’s transfer request in a press conference.
That came after the former Norwich star defended himself over his conduct after being made to train away from the first-team and with the B squad.
Despite his differences with the ex-manager, Cantwell has continued to make clear his Rangers love since leaving and celebrated the win over Celtic on Instagram.
He as continued to keep an eye on all things Gers and fans were convinced he knew about Clement’s sacking in advance after a social media post.
Now yet another Insta post from the 26-year-old is causing a stir.
Rangers fans jump on Tavernier after Cantwell post
That previously mentioned post came before Rangers’ sacking announcement, as an apparent premonitions.
His first post since the Belgian was binned came yesterday and involved James Tavernier.
He tagged his old teammate and wrote: “Suns out and so is our tune @jamestavernier2.”
The upbeat nature of the post has been taken by supporters to be a celebration of his old nemesis’ fate and caused a bit of outrage, especially with the current club captain being tagged.
One said: “The Cantwell dig on instagram pretty much backs up Tav leading the player revolt against Clement and the form nosedive for a bunch of players.
“Those type of players should never be at Rangers, let alone club captain. You play for the badge, not for the manager. Time to go.”
Another wrote: “Cantwell has thrown his old captain under the bus because of his sheer hatred of a manager that knows he was a problem player just like multiple other clubs did. Clement was right about Cantwell and he’s now showing his true colours and in future when he says good luck to the team don’t fall for his s— and be like ‘he loves us’ if he loved us he would of powered through with a manager that he didn’t like.”
This fan said: “Totally get that Tav didn’t post this but the fact our captain has engaged in some sort of inside joke about the manager f—– stinks. Manager’s got f—— no chance with him as captain.”
Another added: “Cantwell posting that, along with tagging Tavernier, shows you what we all probably knew this season, the players weren’t behind Clement when the season started. Especially that leadership group.”
However, not everyone was of the same view and some leapt to the defence of the skipper.
One fan said: “Cantwell tagged Tav in a random Instagram post which he didn’t reply to and somehow this is ammo to attack Tav, I don’t get it. Cantwell is and always will be an attention seeker.”
Another asked: “Why the f— are people jumping on tav simply because he was tagged by Cantwell. tav didn’t react he didn’t do anything, he can’t control Cantwell.”
This supporter added: “He tagged him in some Instagram post, and some of our fanbase are just trying to put 2 and 2 together to make up some b——- story not as if Tav has come out and said anything, Cantwell can’t help involve himself in something that has nothing to do with him.”
Ferguson on Tavernier
As it happens, new interim boss Barry Ferguson may have already hinted that he isn’t the biggest fan of Tavernier as captain.
On three separate occasions, Fergie has been critical of the 32-year-old, including highlighting a lack of leadership and insisting Tavernier isn’t “bombproof”.
It will be interesting to see how things now play out.
