On Wednesday night, during his first game in interim charge of Rangers, Barry Ferguson made a switch which just about saved his team’s bacon.
Ferguson hooked Clinton Nsiala with 31 minutes on the clock and Rangers 2-0 down in Kilmarnock.
In the meantime, he introduced Ridvan Yilmaz at right-back while shifting James Tavernier over to centre-half. To quote Ferguson himself, such a switch ‘worked out pretty well’.
Yilmaz delivered a sublime assist for Cyriel Dessers as the Rangers number nine turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead. Meanwhile, James Tavernier was ‘exceptional’ in the centre of a makeshift backline which looked anything in a much-improved final 60 minutes in Ayrshire.
Interestingly, before being occasionally moved into a central defensive role by Philippe Clement during the Belgian’s final few weeks in charge, Tavernier had not played in that position since his formative days at Rotherham United a decade prior.
Steve Evans was at the helm back then, guiding The Millers to promotion out of England’s third tier in 2014 via the play-offs.
And, speaking to the Scottish Sun, the Glasgow-born boss is far from shocked to see Tavernier carve out a pretty exceptional career for himself north of the border a decade on.
James Tavernier’s former boss raves about ‘sensational’ Rangers captain
“I signed James here as a young man, on loan initially from Newcastle,” Evans recalls. “He’s a very lively boy, very confident. He was just sensational for us here.
“It’s not a surprise to me he’s had the career he’s had. Talented, technically magnificent…”
The Celtic-supporting Evans could not resist aiming a little jab into Rangers’ ribs. Tavernier, he quips, ‘would be good at Celtic’. In fact, the former Leeds United coach claims to have told the Gers skipper that himself.
Fortunately, the highest scoring defender in British football history has remained loyal to the club on the other side of the Glasgow divide in an era where so many of his teammates have moved on.
Rangers thrashed Celtic 3-0 in their most recent Old Firm clash early in the year. Evans, however, feels that Tavernier is the only member of Ferguson’s roster who would be capable of forcing his way into Brendan Rodgers’ XI based on pure talent.
And even that is pretty close, considering the performances of Alistair Johnston this season.
“If you picked the best of the Celtic team and the best of the Rangers team, for me there’s only one player in the Rangers team who gets into the Celtic team,” Evans adds.
“Johnston’s terrific but James Tavernier would be sensational in that Celtic team! He’s phenomenal, although defensively he can improve.”
Barry Ferguson says Tavernier was ‘exceptional’ at Kilmarnock
They say you cannot teach old dogs new tricks. But, at the age of 33, it appears that Tavernier is adding another string to his bow as he enters the autumn days of a fine career.
Philippe Clement felt that the veteran full-back could actually boost his own longevity by adapting full-time to a less physically exerting central defensive role.
Whether such a shift becomes permanent remains to be seen. But, on a night in which Nsiala and Robin Propper were again found wanting, Tavernier’s stand-out performance gives Ferguson food for thought ahead of Saturday’s clash with Motherwell.
“I thought he was exceptional when he went into centre-back,” Ferguson said of Tavernier, Rangers eventually winning 4-2 at Kilmarnock thanks to a Dessers brace and strikes from Vaclav Cerny and Nedim Bajrami.
“At times, during the game when things aren’t going well, you have to make tough decisions. Clinton is young. He will recover from it. But I just felt we had to make the change and obviously it worked out pretty well.
