JAMES TAVERNIER is determined to follow in John Greig's footsteps and secure his Ibrox legacy by leading Rangers to Europa League glory.
The Englishman will captain the side in Seville on Wednesday night as Rangers aim to overcome Eintracht Frankfurt and lift the silverware for only the second time in their history.
Greig was the skipper when Rangers were crowned European Cup Winners' Cup champions with a 3-2 victory over Dynamo Moscow fifty years ago this month.
And Tavernier hopes he can match that achievement at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan and ensure Greig doesn't have a reason to jibe him with another Ibrox wisecrack.
Tavernier said: “I think the only time I can really speak to him is if I lift that trophy up. If I don’t then he’s going to give me some stick!
“My aim is to lift that trophy. That sort of levels the playing field a little bit.
"I have little moments with John, but it puts yourself in a category with most of the greats of the club and that’s where we all want to be.
“You want to put a legacy down for when the day comes when you do retire. You want to be able to look back and be really proud of it.”
Tavernier has been with Rangers every step of the way since helping Mark Warburton's side win the Championship title during his first campaign in Glasgow.
He has been an integral and influential part of the team once again this term and will now look to inspire Rangers to the silverware in Seville.
Victory over Frankfurt would be a stunning success for boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst and the occasion is not lost on the man who could hold aloft the trophy.
Tavernier said: “It would be a dream come true. For me personally, to lead this team out - who are an exceptional group of boys - I couldn’t be more proud.
“I think a lot comes into the mix. It’s 50 years since the last time we won a European cup and it’s our 150th anniversary.
“We’ve also had the sad passing of Walter and Jimmy so I think there’s the emotion of it all where we want to make people proud.
“That’s the people at the club and the ones looking down on us.
“With the group of boys we have in there, they all understand and they all know what it means to be a Rangers player and what it means for those people who had an impact on all of us.
“That’s why I’m exceptionally proud to lead these boys because everyone understand what it means to wear the shirt.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel