No way back for Loser Tavernier as abuse levels go overboard

James Tavernier probably thought that things wouldn’t get much worse as he heard the final whistle at Celtic Park, shook a few hands and headed for the away dressing room knowing that there was a fortnight before the net batch of suffering.

The jeering and cat-calls of the Celtic supporters are old hat to a serial loser that has two years left to run as one of the highest paid players at the club, signing a four year deal in September 2022 as a legacy of the run to the final of the Europa League, which was lost.

After the attempts to take the captaincy from him in the summer Tavernier has cut back drastically on his media duties, on Sunday Jack Butland was sent out to explain away another capitulation, how the lads are all hurting in the dressing room and will be working hard to put things right. Again.

Things did change back at Ibrox, less than 50 fans were involved but there was a noticeable level of hatred aimed at the serial losers with Captain Disappointed a clear target for abuse.

For once Tavernier wasn’t turning the other cheek and taking the abuse, he gave some back. One caller to Super Scoreboard last night claimed that the club captain called those gathered to abuse him and his team-mates were a disgrace. That could be a dangerous line crossed.

As the tweets above and thousands of others demonstrate Tavernier has been tolerated rather than admired during nine years of failure.

Virtually every fan knows that their captain is incredibly limited but have hung on to his goal and assists stats to deflect from the reality of a serial loser that has overseen an unprecedented run of success for Celtic.

Ahead of Sunday’s match the chat on both sides was about how Daizen Maeda would torture Tavernier, the match went entirely to script with the energy and application of the Celtic winger contrasting with the apathy of his Hall of Fame opponent.

Phil Clement isn’t short of problems as his Revolution! falters, how to keep the peace between Tavernier and the angry supporters is just one more unwanted problem for A Proper Football Manager to deal with.

Neither Clement or his captain fully understand the mindset of a support brought up into the delusion of a superiority complex that has been trashed and ridiculed for years.

With the joys of the laughable 55 rapidly fading away to being bystanders to Celtic taking the equally ridiculous title of becoming the World’s Most Successful Club things are only going to get more toxic at Ibrox.

While others enjoy the latest chapters in the never ending Banter Years that were supposed to have ended in 2018 when Mister Gerrard took over from Pedro Caixinha.