End of the road for this Ibrox star?

0
End of the road for this Ibrox star?

When Andy Halliday joined Rangers in the summer of 2015, fans took to him instantly. This was, as you might just know, a lad who grew up literally on the Copland Road itself and saw Ibrox Stadium every single day.

He even rejected deals from other teams to risk a trial at Mark Warburton’s new Rangers’ regime and try to earn a contract.

He succeeded.

Unfortunately Halliday, while never disgracing himself, suffered his manager’s obsession with playing square pegs in round holes and found himself sitting in the anchor role at the heart of midfield to fill in as defensive midfielder when Rangers simply did not have one thanks to their manager’s appalling short-sightedness.

Being an attacking mid, this position hardly fit him like a glove, but he played on regardless and was given a little leeway by fans who saw him as One of Our Own and loved the idea of a dyed-in-the-wool fan living the dream and plying their trade on the Hallowed Turf.

It would be safe to say, though, that the slack afforded him has rather faded and fans do not seem to have the same love for Halliday as they maybe once did. And with manager Pedro Caixinha favouring five players who exclude Halliday in his midfield, it is a period of Andy’s career at Ibrox where one wonders what the future for him in Govan holds.

Jason Holt and Jon Toral have nailed down the defensive portion of Ped’s midfield, while Kenny Miller, Emerson Hyndman and Barrie McKay seem to have more or less clinched the attacking three.

This leaves Halliday surplus and on the bench, for now. The lad will be hurting to be out of the picture now, there is no denying that; but he has certainly lived the dream till now that few to none of us ever get to do. And if he is as big a Bear as he professes to be, he will take his demotion on the chin if it is for the betterment of the team; and going by the current performances and results, it is hard to argue otherwise.

With summer’s transfer window only a couple of months away, Rangers will look to bring in a quality of player which can seriously contend to fight for second. Fighting for the title would be magnificent but I have to temper my expectations. Rangers are not going to spend £30M or so on the quality of player needed to bring the league back to Ibrox. And Pedro Caixinha, with empirical experience of what the SPL needs, certainly knows the quality required for it now, if he did not before.

But with this new glut of players coming in, it really is tough to see any way that Halliday can be part of the new season outwith being a squad player.

This is not meant as a smear on the lad – but he like many are probably not up to the standard required for a serious assault on the league next season. And Rangers need to be ready to make one.

No posts to display

1 COMMENT

  1. As you say he has done something that most of us would love to do. He's wore The Famous jersey and was a regular player for a good chunk of his time with us. He has though ran his course with us, in my opinion. You state that with the new glut of players coming in him finding a place in the team would be tough. I hope you're right, not about AH necessarily but about the glut of players heading to us because my God we really need them!

  2. I honestly think he should stay and fight for his place in the starting 11 for next season – as you've rightly stated he'd been operating in a position that wasn't of his choice. He did the best of a bad situation but give him the chance to play in his favoured position. Another season wouldn't do him any harm to prove his worth..

    Will Toral & Hyndman be at Rangers next season ( realistic here by the way ) – naw! Shit I hope I'm wrong but Miller might not even be there or in the team.. I'd love it if all three of those mentioned stay time will tell..

  3. We need a bigger squad so keep him. The worst he will be is a utility player filling in for injuries, but I suspect a good preseason will so him the world of good and he'll be back firing for us next year.

    Ultimately we need to keep most of our current players and add to it. Senderos, Hyndman, Toral and possibly Hill and Miller may leave which means we need 5 just to replace them. That would mean we would need to buy 8-10 players to be more competitive next season so I would leave Halliday where he is…!!!

  4. We know he is not the most gifted of players but you can never accuse him for not trying and having lack of commitment unlike MacKay who has plenty of talent but absolutely no heart when it comes to playing for the jersey he only plays when he feels like it ability is nothing when you dont have application get shot of him he has already knocked back a new deal so sell him on.

  5. He's done what he was bought for.
    I'm afraid he's nowhere good enough for the next stage and nowhere good enough to be getting us challenging the soap dodgers.
    Wish him all the best wherever he goes!!

  6. We should cash in McKay so that he can't run down his contract and leave on a Bosman. I would like to see Halliday stay and fight for his place.

  7. I think Andy is no where near good enough. I want us to be challenging next season and to do that we need shot of a right good few players, we also need money to get in the talent required.

    I hope dave king has deep pockets coz Pedro needs every penny he can muster up. As for wee barrie the wee lad is different class, hes got it all. He needs to be more consistent though.
    Unfortunately i think he has eyes on the exit door it pains me to say as i believe he has the world at his feet, i think hes a warbs lover and feels let down by the club over the way warbs left. I can see him going to Forrest this summer in a cut price 3 mill deal.

    Hopefully pedro has an eye for a player and spends his budget on the right signings. Every signing is a gamble as we all know but surely there must be cheap raw talent in Qatar, Mexico or Portugal? Hopefully there is and he gets them through the door. I know alot of support my think i dont want an infux of foreign players but i for one couldn't care if theyre from mars, so long as theyre good enough to pull on that blue jersey and challenge the manky mob.

  8. Happy to see a positive article about Andy, he is one of us and was good as an attacking mid, but terirble in the holding role. Pedro has put Holt in the holding role and what a difference there has been to him, hopefully he can do exactly the same with Halliday.

  9. Agree Halliday did a good job for a short spell them looked what is a less than average squad player …God love him he is Blue through and through…but time to go …he'll be one of many .Mc Kay sell sell sell