James Tavernier will play his final Glasgow Derby at Celtic Park. Let’s make it one he never forgets…

The media is awash with tributes to departing Ibrox skipper, James Tavernier.

The words club legend, Hall of famer, and phenomenal are being thrown around like confetti since he made his announcement yesterday.

I’m not sure that even the Ibrox fans see him in that light, but nonetheless, his numbers for their team are pretty impressive.

However, its the context in which those numbers were achieved that really matters.

They were achieved amidst a decade of serial failures.

With the single anomaly of the Covid season thrown in there to buck the trend in as abnormal a way as Covid-19 interrupted our everyday lives for over a year.

When James Tavernier is really remembered at Ibrox, his name will be synonymous with failure.

Tavernier has now been handed the ignominious task of ensuring his side win the Scottish Premiership.

Well, his legacy at Ibrox is going to be measured by whether he achieves that.

Lose the title to Celtic or Hearts, and he will be remembered as the captain who couldn’t even get it over the line when it mattered most to him.

But let’s be fair to Tavernier, when he has been subjected to real pressure, he tends to wilt.

The pressure to win this season’s title will be the climax to all of the pressure he’s faced throughout his time at Ibrox.

This will define him.

All that stands between the serial loser Tavernier has been – and the ultimate glorious finish to his Ibrox career – are serial winners Celtic, and a Hearts team punching above it’s weight.

Don’t get me wrong, Hearts are there entirely on merit, but at the business end of the season, we’re going to see who’s really cut out for this, and who isn’t.

Celtic have been over this course many times before, and bad and all as this season has been, that experience will come to bear at some point.

James Tavernier will pay his final visit to Celtic Park on Sunday the 10th of May.

We will get to see how much the pressure that has been laid squarely upon his shoulders is in evidence on that day.

To a degree, James Tavernier has taken a huge gamble on his legacy by announcing his departure before the end of this campaign.

He could have waited until the end of the season and said it then.

Then he wouldn’t have been under any pressure, win or lose.

Ultimately, instead he’s decided to go all in in the hopes that they pull it off, and that he can go off into the sunset as the first captain to win a title under normal circumstances at Ibrox since their inception in 2012.

Now that really would be the crowning glory on a career where newly promoted St. Johnstone have matched his side in trophy wins during that same time period.

There’s a hell of lot at stake here.

But with the magnitude of what’s at stake comes even more pressure than was necessary.

If he’d left his announcement until after the season had finished, it would have been a win/win.

And if the Ibrox side won nothing? Tavernier would be remembered as he’s always been seen, a serial loser.

If they did pull it off, he’d have been seen to have made the announcement at exactly the right time.

He would be going out on a high, and he would be remembered rightly as the captain who finally delivered in the end, and announced his departure at just the right time.

Instead, it is now expected of him.

And with the weight of such expectation comes, yes you guessed it, colossal pressure.

Pressure and James Tavernier have never been a match made in heaven.

Unlike Callum McGregor, who believes pressure is for tyres.

So, when Tavernier comes to Celtic Park for his final visit, its up to us, the fans, to make sure he never forgets it.

For all the wrong reasons.

I have no doubt Daizen Maeda will want to make it a special occasion for him.

As he has always done.

James Tavernier has applied all of this undue pressure to himself.

Let’s make sure he feels it for every second of the time he’s on the field of play at Celtic Park.

Let’s give him the send off hen deserves!

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