Rangers Olympiacos James TavernierRangers captain James Tavernier started on the bench against Olympiacos [Credit: Imago]
James Tavernier conspiracy theory mooted at Rangers after Philippe Clement axe v Olympiacos
Gordon Duncan has mooted a new James Tavernier conspiracy theory after the Rangers captain was dropped from the starting XI against Olympiacos.
The Englishman started on the bench as Philippe Clement’s side drew 1-1 with the Greek giants on Thursday (7 November) with Ayoub El Kaabi’s second-half goal cancelled out by Cyriel Dessers.
While it was a surprise for most fans and pundits alike to see the 33-year-old on the bench, Clyde 1 host Duncan believes it was obvious the skipper wouldn’t start after recent developments at the training ground.
Speaking on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard (7 November) he said: “Can I give you my absolute nonsense theory about James Tavernier that made me think he was going to be dropped tonight?
“I don’t mind if people say this is absolute nonsense because I kind of think it might be nonsense myself. My random theory is, I went to the training ground yesterday for work, and the cameras are already there.
“He would know that he would be the talking point, he would know that all the cameras would be trained on him, it was about 11 degrees yesterday, it was perfectly mild and he very rarely does this because I got to these training sessions a lot.
“His snood was up to there, hat down to there and you could barely see him and I just thought that looks like a guy that’s had a bit of bad news.”
What has happened to Rangers captain James Tavernier at Ibrox?
It would explain why Tavernier was so tucked away during training prior to Thursday night’s game if Duncan’s theory was correct, but it does feel like a bit of a stab in the dark.
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The Gers skipper has been dropped before and will almost certainly be axed again. While he is unlikely to be particularly happy with that decision, he is a professional and will almost certainly deal with it in the right way.
In his absence, Dujon Sterling had a good evening at right-back. The former Chelsea man has been in and out of the side so far this season but he now appears to have an opportunity to make that right-back position his own.
Whether or not his display in Greece will have been good enough to force Tavernier out of the team on a consistent basis, only Clement will know.
Fans will have to keep an eye on what clothes the Light Blues skipper is wearing in the lead-up to Rangers’ clash with Hearts on Sunday (10 November) to get an idea of whether or not he is starting.
In other Rangers news, Cerny has been told that he looks like a “little boy” when he plays in the Scottish Premiership
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