Nana Kasanwirjo reveals what Rangers 'father' James Tavernier told him after he took his place

By his own admission, Nana Kasawnirjo is the young pretender in the Rangers backline. But he’s also the first to admit that old stager James Tavernier remains the daddy at Ibrox.

The on-loan Dutchman may be after the skipper’s right-back slot but he also has full respect for the father figure he’s aiming to dislodge. As the longest serving member of the current squad, Tavernier has been there and done that where Rangers are concerned.

The Gers faithful would certainly have liked to have seen the captain hoisting silverware on a more regular basis. But we’re talking about a man who helped heave the club out of the lower divisions and has since then picked up all three domestic trinkets while also leading from the front as Gers stormed to a European final. Now after nine and a half years in Glasgow, some of those fans are looking to the future as they imagine a life beyond Tavernier.

They got a rare glimpse of how that might look against St Mirren on Sunday as the Englishman failed to start a league game for the first time since May 14, 2022 - four days before he marched his team out to face Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville. Kasanwirjo was the man handed his jersey and while it was another drab display from Philippe Clement’s team, no one can have any complaints about the on-loan Feyenoord defender’s contribution.

Standing in for a man who has been virtually ever present on the Ibrox team-sheet since he first walked through the door in 2015 won’t have been easy on his 22-year-old rival. But Kasanwirjo was grateful for the fatherly advice he received before taking on the Buddies.

The Dutch under-21 kid said: “Yeah, he came before the game to me and said to just enjoy the game and show the quality you can play. He said to me