A bit is being made by the press over Ally McCoist omitting Rangers captain James Tavernier from his all-time Ibrox XI, as if the current RB was actually a contender.
Not a single post-2012 player is even remotely in contention, and indeed Ally went with players from before 1997 in the first place.
It’s hard to disagree with a single player in his list, and of course he’s gone with a three at the back which left no space for Tavernier – Sandy Jardine didn’t even make it, nor did Mark Hateley up front.
Let’s be clear – only the most ardent and raging Tavernier fans would demand he’s in that all-time Rangers best XI – that Steven Davis, Allan McGregor and the Hendersons, Caldows, Johnstones, Johnstons and even Ally himself don’t make it shows just how strong the options are and Tavernier isn’t a consideration either.
The whole Tav thing has become so tribal – his big backers just spew the notion he’s the greatest player we’ve ever had, mainly due to his astonishing goal haul, when in reality he does give a great deal to the club, offers a lot of those strikes, but falls a wee bit short of being a great.
Of course we’re probably going to get abuse, be told we’re tims, the usual, for daring to suggest Tav arguably isn’t as good a RB as Nathan Patterson (£12M) or Allan Hutton (£9M). The day someone bids £10M for him and he ends up in the Premier League we’ll happily concede we were being harsh.
But that Ally excluded him from an all-time XI and the attention that has gotten shows just what level of attention the debate seems to get.
That all these other world class former Rangers players didn’t get in, no Gio, no Arthur Numan (yeah, the best LB we’ve ever had and nary a word on his absence) is ignored and instead the press latch onto Tav’s omission as if that just matters more than anything else shows the sheer level of nonsense that surrounds his reputation.
End of the day, this club is blessed with a conveyer belt of staggering players, and a fantastic history.
That matters a lot more than whether player x or y is in an all-time best list.