By Alistair Aird
On Saturday, if selected, James Tavernier will become only the eleventh player since the cessation of hostilities at the end of World War II to make 500 ‘competitive’ appearances for Rangers Football Club. For clarity, that counts matches played in the League, Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup and Europe and excludes friendlies or testimonials. The others are John Greig (755), Sandy Jardine (674), Ally McCoist (581), Derek Johnstone (549), Davie Cooper (540), Peter McCloy (535), Ian McColl (526), Colin Jackson (506), Allan McGregor (505) and Alex Macdonald (503).
I think it’s safe to say that not many in that group have stimulated much debate over where they rank when it comes to Rangers royalty. Their place in the pantheon of Rangers greats was cemented a long time ago and signed and sealed with indelible ink. But James Tavernier? Our captain continues to divide opinion among the supporters. Should he join that list of luminaries, or will he forever be tagged – unfairly in my opinion – as the serial loser that skippered Rangers in an era that thus far has yielded one Scottish Premiership title, one Scottish Cup, one Scottish League Cup and a sensational run to a European Final? Maybe this article will go some way to settle the squabbles one way or another.
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Full Breakdown
James Tavernier’s 499 appearances thus far are broken down as follows:
League Statistics
On 16 February 2025, Rangers defeated Hearts 3-1 at Tynecastle, and James Tavernier made his 300th appearance for the club in the Scottish Premiership. Subsequent appearances against St Mirren and Kilmarnock have taken his total to 302, and in those games, Tavernier has scored 83 goals and been credited with 86 assists. Rangers have won 205 (67.88%) of the league matches that Tavernier has played in.
Since joining Rangers in the summer of 2015, Tavernier has only missed 21 league games. He was also ever present as Rangers completed the final stage of ‘The Journey’ back from the lower league, and if we include data from that season, the Rangers captain has appeared in 338 of the last 359 league fixtures Rangers have contested prior to the visit of Motherwell on 1 March 2025.
Remarkably, only one of his absences was due to suspension – ironically a match against Motherwell at Ibrox on 1 April 2017 – with the others either through injury, Coronavirus or being an unused substitute. The latter has happened on just four occasions, once in season 2016/17, again for solitary matches in season 2019/20 and season 2021/22 and most recently in the 1-1 draw this season against Dundee United at Ibrox on 23 November 2024.
Tavernier has been part of the starting XI for all but five of his 338 league appearances. And two of the five times he has come on as substitute have come this season. He has been substituted 16 times and picked up 36 yellow cards. Rangers have won just over 68% (230) of the 338 league matches Tavernier has played in and lost on 50 occasions.
Scottish Cup Appearances
Rangers have contested 41 Scottish Cup ties since Tavernier signed for the club. He has played minutes in all but seven of those matches.
Tavernier’s Scottish Cup record includes two semi-final wins over Celtic – he missed a penalty in the shoot out that settled the first of them in season 2015/16 – and one win from three Finals. That came against Hearts in 2022, with Tavernier picking up a runners-up medal after Rangers lost to Hibernian in 2016 and Celtic in 2024.
His last Scottish Cup tie will find a place in Scottish Football folklore. Never in their 153-year history had Rangers lost a Scottish Cup tie at Ibrox against a team from a lower league. But on 9 February 2025, James Tavernier was the captain who oversaw that cataclysmic event. Queen’s Park won 1-0 and Tavernier passed up the opportunity to take the match into extra time when his penalty kick deep into injury time was saved.
Tavernier’s season-by-season Scottish Cup record is:
Scottish League Cup Appearances
James Tavernier first played in the League Cup back in August 2015. Seeded third based on their league position in season 2014/15, Rangers were drawn against Peterhead at Ibrox. They won 3-0 and Tavernier created the second goal for Kenny Miller and scored the third himself.
Tavernier scored again as Rangers defeated Airdrie in Round Two and netted what proved to be a consolation goal when St Johnstone came to Ibrox in the Third Round and won by three goals to one.
Successive semi-final defeats against Celtic and Motherwell followed before Tavernier played in the first of four Finals in season 2018/19. Celtic would win courtesy of a controversial goal from Christopher Jullien, but it was a match Rangers dominated. Tavernier, who by now had assumed the responsibility for taking penalty kicks, could have taken the opportunity to level the scores when Rangers were awarded a penalty, but passed the ball to Alfredo Morelos instead. Morelos saw his effort saved by Fraser Forester.
Tavernier would enjoy better fortune when he next played in a League Cup Final – scoring the only goal of the game against Aberdeen – but he suffered heartache in his next two, Rangers going down 2-1 to Celtic in February 2023 and losing out on penalties after the Old Firm played out an enthralling 3-3 draw earlier this season.
Since that match against Peterhead in 2015, Rangers have contested 37 League Cup ties. Tavernier has played in 30 of them.
His season-by-season Scottish League Cup record reads:
European Appearances
When James Tavernier excelled at centre back in the recent 2-1 win over Union Saint-Galloise that secured a top eight place in the Europa League group stage, he made his 92nd appearance for the club in a European match. Since his first appearance against Progres Niderkorn in 2016, he has only missed out on five of the European ties that Rangers have contested.
Tavernier’s European exploits have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. He was magnificent in the run to the Europa League Final in Seville in season 2021/22 – his seven goals saw him complete the campaign as the top scorer in the tournament – but the following season, he skippered the side to one of the worst Champions League campaigns in the history of the competition. Grouped with Ajax, Liverpool and Napoli, Rangers lost all six matches including a 7-1 thrashing against Liverpool at Ibrox. Tavernier was also substituted at half time in the 4-0 defeat against Ajax in Amsterdam.
Perhaps the most remarkable statistic among Tavernier’s European data is that he made over 50% of his European appearances when Steven Gerrard was manager. Between the match against FC Shkupi on 12 July 2018 and the 1-1 draw against Brondby on 4 November 2021, Tavernier played in 48 matches. Rangers lost only nine of those fixtures.
Tavernier’s appearances in continental competition are broken down as follows:
Old Firm Record
Tavernier has faced Celtic on 39 occasions as a Rangers player. Rangers have won only nine of those matches (23.08%), five at Ibrox, two at Parkhead and two at Hampden. Tavernier has been on the losing side in 25 of the other 30 Old Firm fixtures.
This makes from grim reading. The barometer of success in Scotland invariably swings towards the team that has come out on top in Old Firm matches, so it is easy to see from those statistics one of the principal reasons why Rangers have been so unsuccessful in the time that Tavernier has been a Rangers player.
This is Tavernier’s complete Old Firm record:
Opposition Stats
From Aberdeen to Stranraer, Tavernier’s 407 domestic appearances have been spread across 30 different teams. His complete record is as follows:
Looking at Premiership fixtures, Tavernier boasts a better record at Ibrox than he does at away grounds. Rangers have only lost 18 of the 148 Premiership matches Tavernier has played in at Ibrox – 12.16% – while away from home, Rangers have dropped points in 62 of the 154 matches (40.26%).
In terms of away venues, Tavernier hasn’t been on a losing side at Easter Road in the Premiership – Rangers have won seven of the 12 matches he has played in – or Fir Park – 10 wins from 14 – but he has tasted defeat five times in 12 league matches at Rugby Park. Rangers have also lost 10 of the 15 Old Firm league matches played at Parkhead that Tavernier has featured in.
Goal Involvements
In 499 matches for Rangers, Tavernier has registered a phenomenal 269 goal involvements. That’s broken down to 129 goals and 140 assists. Of those 129 goals, 69 (53.49%) have been penalty kicks. Tavernier has also failed to score 18 (20.69%) of the penalties he has taken for Rangers.
Although his goal contributions have declined this season – four goals and 11 assists – Tavernier’s goal involvements have been exceptional even accounting for the attacking intent of a modern day full-back. His best season total was 38 in season 2015/16, and he has chalked up more than 30 direct goal involvements in five of his 10 seasons with the club.
Trophies
Rangers have taken part in 31 domestic competitions since Tavernier signed for the club. That includes the season 2024/25 Scottish Cup, and the four competitions contested in Tavernier’s first season as a Rangers player. Rangers have won just five of those competitions, the Championship and Petrofac Challenge Cup in season 2015/16, the Scottish Premiership in season 2020/21, the Scottish Cup in season 2021/22, and the Scottish League Cup in season 2023/24. For a club that is built on the foundations of success and silverware, that is an abysmal record.
As a comparator, Celtic’s captain Calum McGregor also marked 500 appearances for his club recently. In the same timeframe that Tavernier has accrued his 500 appearances, McGregor has picked up eight league titles – a ninth is inevitable at the time of writing – six Scottish Cups and seven League Cups.
Looking at major honours won by the other Rangers players that are in the 500-or-more competitive appearances club:
It has to be remembered that the likes of John Greig, Colin Jackson and Sandy Jardine were also at Rangers during spells where it was silverware famine rather than feast although all three were at the club for longer than Tavernier has been.
Managers
When Tavernier made appearance number 499 at Rugby Park on Wednesday evening, he did so working under an 11thRangers manager. Six of them have been permanent, with the other five, including the recently appointed Barry Ferguson, being in charge on an interim basis.
Tavernier’s record by manager is as follows:
Conclusion
This summer will mark 10 years since James Tavernier was signed from Wigan Athletic for a paltry £250,000. There is no doubt that he has been a great servant and ambassador for Rangers over that period. He is also one of a small band of players that have captained Rangers to all three major domestic trophies and one of just four – Eric Caldow, John Greig and Barry Ferguson are the others – to have worn the skipper’s armband in a European final. But despite his consistency and longevity, Tavernier has been lambasted as much as he has been lauded recently. When the team underperforms, he seems to take the brunt of the criticism. He has been tagged as a loser.
For me, that’s harsh. You don’t play 500 times for Rangers if you are a poor player or have a losing mentality. Tavernier has played a pivotal role in the limited success we have had in the last decade yet there will always be a proportion of the support who will say that his legacy has been tarnished by being at the club during one of the leanest and most frustrating times in its history. But while he most certainly doesn’t belong in the top tier of famous figures that have represented Rangers, I propose that James Henry Tavernier still merits a place in the pantheon of legends.
Congratulations on making it to 500 appearances for the Rangers, James.