James Tavernier has "lifted up his team more than he has dragged it down".That's the view of Joshua Barrie, editor of the Rangers Review, as he digests the impending exit of the long-serving Ibrox captain."He's been someone that Rangers have relied upon too heavily at points and that has not helped him, but he's never hid away from it," Barrie told BBC Scotland."There's been a lot of bad moments and a lot of good moments. What I would come back to is the [2022] Europa League run."That was really powered by him, he was a right-back and at the peak of his career after winning the league title a year before.
He scores in every single round, I think he scores the opening goal in just about every single round as well."He scores in the penalty shootout, but others miss and he doesn't win that title. He's so close to being a European-winning captain and that would have been more than deserved based on his contribution. But he has not played for the club in an illustrious period in terms of winning trophies."Some people will say he's been a part of that, of course he has, but my general viewpoint is that with time, especially if he wins this league title, that European campaign will kind of sum up that he was so often so heavily relied upon and took Rangers so far."He hasn't been able to always get over the line and now it will be intriguing to see if he can over these next five games."Barrie believes the ending to this season's thrilling Premiership title race could "colour" Tavernier's legacy."If he plays a pivotal role in helping win it, compared to maybe the alternative to that, that will certainly determine the send-off to a degree," he added."However, I also think, with time, you look at the situation he came into.
I remember him early on playing away at Alloa and you think of the heights he then got to with the club captaincy and then to a European final."It's not been perfect. Of course there's been mistakes, but I think so often that's been due to an over-reliance."I also think the durability, leaving as the UK's highest ever goalscorer, the ability to turn up week after week in a team that's lacked a lot of other individuals to do that."The 55th league title was so significant for so many reasons and that is, I think, what he will be associated with and remembered with in time."[BBC]