Rangers have offered an indirect ‘popularity contest’ among Rangers players, and the winner is both surprising and not.

Yes, captain James Tavernier is absolutely the number one most popular player at Ibrox, and this comes as the club continues its ‘auction’ scheme whereby shirts get auctioned after matches, worn shirts, and the entire squad who played in a particular 90, in the most recent case Servette, see their garments on auction, ending tomorrow.

And in the recent match v the Swiss side, Tavernier tops the lot with his shirt marginally the most sought after.

In second? Raskin, his shirt is not far behind the captain, and thirdly? Danilo. Despite his horror miss his shirt is up there among the most popular.

The results in full:

1: Tavernier

2: Raskin

3: Danilo

4: Cifuentes

5: Cantwell

6: Barisic

7: Goldson

8: Souttar

9: Dowell

10: Lammers

11: Jack

12: Sima

If it was purely based on performances, Tavernier would be very low, and Danilo too, but this is quite simply the most popular players among fans.

It’s very interesting, because this is based on money – ‘it matters more when there’s money on it’, and people put their money where their mouths are, so clearly the top three most popular Rangers players are Tavernier, Raskin and Danilo at the moment.

From what we see in general, sensing the mood, while Tavernier’s abilities on the pitch these days are not exactly overly admired, he is absolutely the number one most popular Rangers player among fans.

Which is why criticism of his performances becomes very tribal and controversial, he’s a loved player by so many – no such issues with the generally outstanding Raskin, who is loved by fans but equally admired for his displays.

Danilo… with that miss v the Swiss and his generally substandard performances, those aren’t reflected in the bids, and Rangers fans really want his shirt.

The least popular shirt? Sima. Not overly surprising. He needs to find some improvement…