Glasgow Is Tav’s Town

[ian1964 10,428]

JAMES TAVERNIER was the main feature within the Falkirk match programme and you can read a sample here.

 

HE is the right-back who counts David Beckham as one of his biggest inspirations, and after touring the length and breadth of England playing for nine clubs in just six years, the Bradford born boy has eventually found a home in Glasgow.

 

At just 23-years-old, James Tavernier has clocked up 104 appearances for Newcastle United, Gateshead, Carlisle, Sheffield Wednesday, MK Dons, Shrewsbury, Rotherham, Wigan and Bristol City. Now he finds himself at Rangers.

 

It’s fair to say ‘Tav’ had become something of a nomad. But he admits it’s not until now that he has finally settled at a club and in his own words has “fallen in love with football all over again.”

 

His affinity with the game has been evident since his arrival at Ibrox in the summer and his free-kicks are earning rave-reviews in the pubs of Govan. Those spectacular set-pieces aren’t by accident though – he has spent years perfecting them in his spare time.

 

Tavernier was a youth player at Leeds United when he would study Beckham’s style and run out into the backyard to attempt to bend it like Beckham. The evidence would suggest his hard work and dedication has paid off, if the acute angles he can curl a ball into the top corner are anything to go by.

 

While Tavernier once idolised Beckham and Roberto Carlos, it is he who is now becoming the idol – something that is still an oddity to him.

 

After eight goals in a blistering start to the season, it’s fair to say the defender has become something of a fans’ favourite. It’s even earned him the nickname ‘Blue Cafu’.

 

Tav smiled: “I would call Rangers home now. It was a dream come true signing for a club like this and I’ve hit the ground running since I came here. Everyone has been great to me and it definitely feels like home now

 

“When you are walking through the streets of Glasgow you get the fans coming up to you, praising you and asking you for photos. It makes you feel really humble about what you do and you hope you make them happy.

 

“This is the club that has really kicked off my career again and I’ve just fallen in love with football all over again.

 

“I was popping to a shop in town and I was about to go in the door when I saw two young lads who had just finished school

 

“Apparently they had just been talking about me and he gave me a huge hug as I was walking down the street.

 

“I am happy to take as many pictures as the fans want – you owe it to them to give something back. You have to take it in and just really appreciate the moment.

 

“I’d try and get photos with the first team when I was growing up watching Leeds, so for me to be inspiring young lads is just great.

 

“I really appreciate the fans giving me the nickname but I’m not milking it as much as I should be! “I and a few of the other lads saw a top at Ibrox that had ‘Tavernier 2’ on the back and then ‘The Blue Cafu’ underneath and that put a huge smile on my face.

 

“I don’t show too much emotion when I see stuff like that but deep down I really appreciate it and it’s a great sentiment from the fans.”

 

It’s of little surprise that the forward thinking, marauding full-back didn’t start off life in the backline. He learnt his trade at boys club Farsley Celtic before moving to his boyhood club Leeds United aged nine.

 

He got put into central midfield but says he couldn’t help but take over – taking throw-ins, free-kicks and corners. He admits his mum told him off for not letting the other kids have a go. Maybe that is where his desire to take all of Gers’ free-kicks originates from.

 

It was the Yorkshire side who turned the local lad into a right-back, determined to drum some discipline into his game. The position stuck.

 

But despite all the praise for his goals, that is not what Tavernier wants to be known for. Google him and he is a right-back; that’s the part of the job he takes most seriously.

 

He said: “All the best full-backs out there, the likes of Ashley Cole, are known as good defenders but also great at attacking. “I want to be known as a great defender and also great going forward. I want to have them both in my game and I still need to work hard on both aspects.

 

“The full-backs I look up to are Danny Alves, Marcelo and Ashley Cole. What I like is how they are always on top of their game and the best in the world at what they do.

 

“I’d love to be like those three players and obviously the Blue Cafu if I can try!”

 

Tavernier is as surprised as anyone by his goal tally, not least the bookies. They originally priced the right-back at long odds to open the scoring in games, which in turn sent supporters laughing all the way to the bank.

Tavernier has scored nine goals this season already in fourteen appearances – three from free kicks – and is the clubs second top goalscorer behind striker Martyn Waghorn.

 

Those odds have stopped but his scoring hasn’t. The most he has scored in a season was at Rotherham, when he netted five. He’s en-route to doubling that and he’s only two months into the season.

 

And a Rangers legend has been challenging him to get even more. Tavernier says he and John Greig regularly have pre-match chats and the former captain has been reminding him of his goal tallies from his day.

 

Greig scored 13 in total during the 1967/68 season and Sandy Jardine bagged 14 in the 1974/75 season from right-back. At eight for the season Tavernier is on track to emulate the Ibrox greats.

 

The runaway right-back admitted: “I never imagined scoring this many when I came up here, the most I had scored in a season was five.

 

“I think it comes down to how well we are playing and how attacking minded our team is – it puts me in positions on the pitch where I can have chances and get goals and obviously set pieces help me.

 

“I have little chats with Waggy and John Greig and he mentions how many goals he scored in his career we have a laugh before the game to see if I can beat him.

 

“I haven’t got a target because I want to defend first and get clean sheets and if I get assists and score goals then it’s a bonus.

 

“I’ll have a look at it more half way through the season and we’ll see where I’m at and where I can go.”

 

Ask anyone at Hibernian and they’ll tell you all about Tav’s free-kick ability. He’s beaten their keeper Mark Oxley twice in two games from dead-balls already this season. That, he admits, is no accident, but he can’t remember the exact moment they came good.

 

He revealed: “I only started practising them properly a couple of seasons ago and that’s when I started scoring them.

 

“Ever since then I have always done extra on them. We have a few lads who stay on and practise free-kicks and penalties after training.

 

“We work really hard at it. I think it pays off when you do that and it’s always a good way of releasing pressure and adding another goal onto the score sheet.

 

“I don’t know how I realised I was good at them; it was probably when the first free-kick went in and it went in good!

 

“From a young age I looked at Beckham and Roberto Carlos and I was always in the backyard trying to practise their technique.

 

“Only over the past few years have I worked really hard at it and put my name down for the free-kicks and I’ve produced.”

 

The 23-year-old would be the first to admit his ultimate ambitions lie in the English Premier League, but for the boy who doesn’t even know his plans tomorrow, formulating a career plan is far off his radar.

 

Manager Mark Warburton has spoken of him being a future star down south and nine-in-a-row captain Richard Gough reckons he could be sold for £4 million. He’s flattered but he’s more bothered about what his housemate Rob Kiernan is cooking for his dinner than plotting his future right now.

 

He added: “It’s a compliment even being linked to the Premier League and playing in the best league in the world is a dream everyone wants to come true.

 

“I can’t say I don’t want to play in the Premier League at some stage in my career because that is what I want to do.

 

“It’s great to hear that but I am concentrating on working hard for Rangers and making myself a better player for us.

 

“I’m quite laid-back and I don’t even think about what I am going to do tomorrow, let alone the next few years.

 

“I wish we could just play a couple of times a week and play a game straight away, so I definitely look at the short term rather than the long term.

 

“Right now I’m living with Rob and Wes Foderingham and it’s good, it’s quite a chilled household. Big Rob is the chef of the house – you can always rely on him for a great meal.

 

“Rob’s signature dish would probably be salmon, broccoli, rice, sweet potato, a bit of houmous and olives – to be fair it’s really nice.

 

“I really enjoy his breakfasts – he makes a bagel with smoked salmon, poached egg and avocado and I think I’ll take that one with me when I get my own house.”

 

He may not have found his own house in Glasgow just yet, but the ‘Blue Cafu’ has found a place he can call home in Ibrox.

 

http://rangers.co.uk/news/category/features/

[Bruno55 0]

Any ideas where in Glasgow Ian? I've got the program and it looks like the city centre bro..

[ian1964 10,428]

Any ideas where in Glasgow Ian? I've got the program and it looks like the city centre bro..

 

No idea mate!