Rangers star puts uncertain Ibrox future on back-burner as he takes optimistic view of Premiership title hopes
The Rangers skipper was asked about his contract situation in the aftermath of Sunday’s Old Firm Scottish Cup quarter-final defeat to Celtic
James Tavernier admits his sole focus is now on helping Rangers finish the campaign with silverware rather than looking too far into the future as he ticks down his Ibrox contract.
The Ibrox skipper, who was overlooked by head coach Danny Rohl for the Old Firm double-header with Dujon Sterling given the nod to start at right-back on both occasions, is out of contract in the summer and little progress has been made on the possibility of him signing an extension.
It remain uncertain what the next few weeks have in store for the 34-year-old, both on and off the pitch, but the Englishman is determined to add another league title to his CV and sign off in style if this is to indeed prove to be his last season in Glasgow.
“It’s down to the manager,” Tavernier replied when asked about losing his place in Rohl’s starting XI for the last two matches. “I obviously want to play, but the manager holds the cards to all of it and what team he selects, and you’ve just got to be fully behind the team of whatever team he selects. You’ve just got to keep working hard.
“Yes, obviously I want to play more games, more minutes. But it’s down to the manager, who and what he selects, and obviously you’ve got to respect that. I’m just going to give it all what I’ve normally done every season and see where it takes us.
“Obviously we’re going to hold conversations in the dressing room in private, but I think speaking to you, and what our mindset is as a club, we’re obviously trying to go all the way to the end of the season, and try to get maximum points. That’s our aim.
“I just want to give it my all, like I’ve always done, and that’s the best I possibly can do for myself. The team are working continuously hard, and we would obviously like to see silverware at the end of the season. But it’s game by game, the old cliche.”
James Tavernier maintains Rangers title optimism after Scottish Cup exit
Past failings came back to haunt Rangers on Sunday. Rohl’s men lacked a cutting edge in the final third once again, which has been evident of the course of the season and they failed to overcome a depleted Celtic team without several key players.
While many supporters have already given up on their faltering title hopes, Tavernier remains more optimistic. He stated: “Yeah, look, we had to win and we didn’t. I can only apologise to the fans for that. A game like this, not many of us have been involved in where we were more dominant in the game, but that means nothing if you can’t win the game.
“You’ve got to be clinical in both boxes, and obviously the one we were and the other one we weren’t. But like I said, the league is our main focus now. We tried to go for the cup and it’s not happened, but not we have to put our full energy into next week and just make sure we get three points and then see where it takes us.
“We can only control our results, so we’re obviously going to go and try to get those 27 points and then see where it takes us at the end of the season.”