We’ve been extremely hard on James Tavernier recently, probably more than most other players aside, perhaps, the utterly hopeless Fashion Sakala.

We don’t apologise or retract any of what we said about Rangers’ captain, we meant every word, but that doesn’t mean we won’t recognise his better leadership since full time on Sunday and at the presser pre-Hearts.

Firstly he stood there on his own taking the criticism from fans, without an iota of support from his team mates all of whom avoided the situation and failed to back up their buddy (not just Fashion Sakala) showing a real lack of unity among the squad, and possibly disrespect towards the captain. But this doesn’t matter – what does is he did, like a captain, take the flack like a man and listened to what the fans said:

That no one else helped him is another matter, that he did, actually, stop, stand up and be counted by taking the heat and respecting the supporters is what we do expect from our captain. It would not have been easy listening to the anger, even though it was civilly given.

The second thing is the fact that he took the presser at all. Tavernier has come under fair pressure as a captain, as a poor captain, and as someone who just cannot lead. But he broke this pattern by taking the heat outside McDiarmid Park, then fielding the questions as the captain in the subsequent presser.

While we’re not keen on everything he’s said, and were heavily critical of his appearing to hold his team mates accountable for not fixing his error v Livi, he’s been more in the press representing the squad than anyone else at this time, and we might not sit here applauding him for doing what he should be doing, but it is at least noted he is actually being the captain for once.

An improvement? It’s not unwelcome, but we need it on the pitch as WELL as off it.