James Tavernier has suffered the ultimate Hero to Zero decline.
Across fans of 11 Premiership clubs the former Wigan Athletic utility man is a joke figure, heralded by the Scottish media as a record breaker while they turn a blind eye to the fact that his stats are created by the most dubious set of match officials in Europe.
Alongside runs of 64 and 75 matches without conceding a penalty in the SPFL officials have virtually been falling over themselves to award penalties to Philippe Clement’s side.
In each of their last four SPFL matches VAR officials have plucked out penalty decisions for their colleagues to agree with, last week they were trailing 2-0 to Celtic when Nick Walsh decided to intervene, yesterday with the score at 3-1 to Ross County Andrew Dallas got involved having ignored a first half handball, deciding apply Goldson’s Law.
All four penalties have been awarded when Tavernier’s side has been trailing or on level terms.
Souttar to his Captain:
“What the f*ck?!”— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) April 14, 2024
Last week’s penalty against Celtic apparently made Tavernier the top scoring defender in the history of UK football, yesterday he scored his 50th SPFL penalty which lifted him above Alfredo Morelos as the club’s all-time record scorer.
Away from the stats the bottom line is that Tavernier doesn’t have the basics to get by as a defender, 20 seconds into the game against Celtic he went to pieces at the presence of Daizen Maeda, thundering a clearance off his opponents shins with the ball flying past Jack Butland.
Yesterday as the club captain chased further scoring records Ross County scored three times, twice exploiting the gaps down the left hand side with Tavernier out of sight as the deliveries went in leading to goals number two and three.
During the summer Dujon Sterling was signed with the intention of challenging for a game at right-back but under both Micky Beale and Clement the club captain seems untouchable. Sterling has bee played at left-back, centre midfield and on the right-wing and seems to be highly rated by fans since he tries hard and looks interested.
After yesterday’s defeat it was the captain that was put up for media duties, he duly obliged with a few references to the latest disappointments that he has had to endure during eight years in the top flight watching Celtic dominate the Scottish game like no club has ever previously enjoyed.
Tomorrow a different player will be put up for media duties but the focus will be on Clement, it is unlikely that the manager will get away with another media shift discussing drainage issues at Dens Park.
The reaction from loyal bears to yesterday’s defeat was unforgiving, if anything less than full points are taken from Dundee the anger of the bears will scale new heights.
CLICK HERE for the despondent BBC report from the Ross County defeat.
CLICK HERE for Celtic as the dirtiest team in the UK.
There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and the Bears turning on #CaptainShitebag. Beautiful 👌
Thank you @CelticEnded2iar 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/zJpx47ZdDh
— T H E ~ S H A M R O C K ☘️ (@TheShamrock1888) April 14, 2024
