Bare bones Rangers revel in the monumental role James Tavernier is playing – captain in waiting salutes Ibrox leader

Nico Raskin has become Rangers’ midfield commander in the last few months. A young figurehead in the Ibrox dressing-room who is now taking on more responsibility.

He’s even been given the captain’s armband on the odd occasion. But the little Belgian has never been in any doubt who Gers’ main leader is. The guy he’ll always follow and look up to as long as he’s at the club. And on Thursday night against Union St-Gilloise, James Tavernier showed all the qualities you’d expect in a Rangers captain. As the club sensationally stormed into the last-16 of the Europa League with a 2-1 victory at Ibrox, their skipper was at the heart of everything. Playing out of position at centre-back didn’t faze him.

Not only did Tavernier still deliver one of his now trademark assists for Raskin’s opening goal at the other end he bailed out his keeper Jack Butland with a fantastic goal-saving clearance to deny USG an equaliser. The 33-year-old has had his fair share of flak from Rangers fans – and everyone else – in the past few years.

Most punters expected, and maybe even wanted, him to be sold off last summer.

But Raskin believes people have lost sight of just how valuable Tavernier is to Rangers. He says he’s a modern-day legend and Hall of Fame inductee for a reason. And while he’s enjoying taking on a more prominent role in Clement’s leadership group - he knows there’s only one head boy at Ibrox.

Raskin said: “Tav is a leader and example to us all. If you see him every day working, setting the standards high – it’s amazing. We all learn a lot from James and on Thursday he was outstanding. He had an assist and some great saves – but he’s a top player.

"As a team, we have never had any doubts about him. We see what he shows us every day