JAMES Tavernier’s energies are mainly devoted to trying to make Rangers top dogs in the Ladbrokes Premiership. But when he isn’t exemplifying the bulldog spirit on the park, or simply located in the dog house like he was after conceding that penalty against Hibs, the English full back hopes to persuade you of the merits of introducing a designer dog into your household.
A dog lover since childhood, when he had two family pets called Rio and David after Rio Ferdinand and Edgar Davids – Tavernier and his boyhood pal Jake Chapman operate a business called Designer Bullies UK, which breeds American Bulldogs for the market.
Read more: Tam McManus: Critics are wrong, Alex McLeish will bring back glory days
At the moment that means man-marking six of these animals, all of whom have been given glamorous names like Versace. The settled existence off the park all speaks to a player content with life in Glasgow, where he recently signed a three-and-a-half year extension.
“I have always been into dogs,” said Tavernier. “Myself and my missus always wanted a family dog but it had to be the right place, not an apartment, and we are in a house now.
“This is something I have started with a friend who I have known since I was three,” he added. “We decided to start a business about these dogs and it is going really well at the minute. I’m enjoying it and enjoying being around the dogs.
“These American Bulldogs only came into the UK in 2012 so they are quite new to people. They are a great family dog and have been great with my kids. None of my team-mates have bought one yet. But I know Josh [Windass] is looking for a dog so I might try and persuade him!
“What was my first ever dog? It was a little bit of a mongrel, a bit of mixed breed. There were two, actually – Rio and David. Rio after Rio Ferdinand and David after Edgar Davids. They would chew up the house and my mum wasn’t best happy about it.
“We don’t really do the football names any more though. The business is called Designer Bullies so have gone down the road of designer names that we can give to the dogs.
“You have thoughts about what might happen after football. The lads always try and come up with different opportunities to start up little businesses. I’ve gone this way and hopefully it can take off and be something after football that I can concentrate on.
“We talk about which dogs we are going to buy next and the figures that pop up, you have think about how much you have to spend and so on. So it runs like any other business. You have to make calls and do the rest.
“But it’s enjoyable, because you have these family dogs around the place. At the moment, I think we have six in total. Two are with me, three are down with my friend and another with someone else. It’s all on the website.”
No stranger to being in the dog house earlier in his career, Tavernier has been every Rangers fan’s best friend this season, his new deal a popular move from the club’s hierarchy. He took the captain’s armband in the William Hill Scottish Cup win against Ayr United on Sunday and with Jason Holt suspended is likely to retain it against Hamilton Accies tomorrow.
Often left isolated in Mark Warburton’s system, Tavernier now has Daniel Candeias stationed in front of him most weeks. “Daniel works extremely hard going forward and back,” said Tavernier. “We have a good understanding, but it is also about our central midfielders. They have been a key part of filling the gaps when we do attack on the left or the right. We have a great mixture now of knowing what we are doing and covering when people are on the ball.
“Even when I was younger, a kid, I always had thoughts of captaining a side,” he added. “So when the gaffer gave me the armband last Sunday, I was absolutely over the moon. I couldn’t wait to tell my mum and my close friends. They were all really proud of me. One of my friends said to me about some of the great people who have captained this club in the past so it was obviously a huge honour to do that. The gaffer has given me a bigger responsibility and hopefully I can take that forward.”
Rangers currently trail Celtic by 11 points, and Aberdeen by a further three, but Tavernier wouldn’t have signed his increased deal if he didn’t feel the club were incapable of making further inroads into that gap.
“It all comes down to us being competitive with Celtic,” he said. “There are a few areas where we need to tidy up but I believe we’re closing the gap. We’ve dropped too many points at home so if we can address that then we won’t be far off mountain a sustained challenge.
“There’s no reason why that can’t happen sooner rather than later. It’s down to the players to ensure we improve again for next season. I am quite sure the gaffer will add more quality in the summer. If we can do well in the Scottish Cup then that will also breed confidence for next season.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel