Jack Butland is full of admiration for “unflappable character” James Tavernier and the Rangers goalkeeper insists the Ibrox captain is a key player for the club’s “huge ambitions”.
Tavernier, now in his 10th season with Rangers, was the subject of criticism in the wake of a 3-0 loss at Celtic.
Since then Rangers have won three in a row, including an impressive 2-0 Europa League success away to Malmo in Sweden on Thursday.
“He is someone that always stands up,” said Butland of Tavernier. “But as a captain of a football club like this, it’s not an easy thing to do.
“What he’s done year-on-year, game-on-game, is come back through thick and thin, through really difficult moments.
“We’ve seen and witnessed some of the things that he’s been subject to. That’s part and parcel of being captain of this football club, but to come back and to keep doing what he does, to keep performing for us, to put the team on his shoulders with the penalties, with his play in general and what he does around the team.
“I can only imagine what he has to deal with, but what he does is perform. He keeps coming back and he keeps helping us and he keeps leading us.
“He lives it and he’s lived it for a long time. But it has to be like water off a duck’s back. Tav is a very unflappable character. You see very little change in him day to day.
“He knows what he’s got to do, he knows the responsibility of wearing the badge, wearing the armband.
“We’ve got to continue to support him, he’s still going to have massive moments in this football club. We’ve got huge ambitions for this season and he’s always a huge part of that.”