Has Graeme Murty created another player spat to follow Bates?

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Has Graeme Murty created another player spat to follow Bates?


If one thing stood out (ok, many things stood out) yesterday, it was the untimely end of Andy Halliday’s time on the pitch as the 26-year old got hooked before half time was even up. Hot on the heels of the David Bates spat, another one may be brewing with ‘one of our own’.

The former Gabala loanee had quite the tantrum when in the dugout, and the source of his ire appears to have been manager Graeme Murty, and while it wasn’t nice to see him spitting with rage in the technical area, some fans believe it was understandable.

It is true that Halliday did not exactly have a stellar time on the pitch, but there is an accusation from some quarters that Murty, by taking him off specifically around five minutes before half time, was in some way blaming him for the first half and making him a scapegoat.

It is also true that something had to change, that Rangers had had an absolutely abominable time of it, thanks to a staggeringly bad team selection and even worse formation (whatever it actually was), but the way Halliday was singled out in the way he was did scream of an ascribing of blame to him.

And that wasn’t fair.

If Murty felt this had to be changed, why not wait five minutes and formulate a plan for half time, and make his team talk and alterations then?

Why did Halliday have to be pointed at in this way?

It is true that this is not unprecedented – remember Celtic doing the same with Boyata after 25 minutes after the defender was being destroyed by Barrie McKay?

So we are not talking about an evil crime here that’s never happened before.

But it is also true that Halliday was not a bigger culprit than anyone else and for him to be singled out did feel a little like a blame culture.

If changes had to be made, and they certainly did, why not hold on till half time and tweak things? Murty has said today he will sit down and have a chat with Halliday, but that is very unlikely to heal this new rift.

Halliday threw a major wobbler, but truth is whoever had been taken off at that point would have been equally furious. Unless they had individually done a Boyata.

That all said, Daniel Candeias equally was livid at being removed – although in his case he had a truly horrific match and deserved the hook.

It was a dark day for Rangers, and Halliday may not play again under Murty. Some might be happy with that, but personally we don’t think he’s been the worst player in the shirt.

Ordinary and does a job when called on. He’s worn the shirt with pride over the years, and we for one aren’t going to pin all Rangers’ woes on Andy Halliday.

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18 COMMENTS

  1. If anyone should have been pulled off it should have been Martin… Halliday is one of the few that was closing people down personally. I’d rather have a player showing there heart like that than some of them that were hiding on the pitch

  2. Halliday should Stay!
    Murty Should Go

    I admit Halliday is no Stevie G or Andreas Iniesta but I think we should keep him at the club for the following reasons :

    1. He's A True Blue…One of Our Own

    2. Shows Heart/Grit whenever and wherever he plays

    3. Knows what it means to play for Rangers and what the club is about

    4. Does his job whenever hes called upon

    5. Would run through brick walls for us, would play with broken for us

    And Yes I Admit it,
    I Am a Big Fan of Andy Halliday

    So What, Hes by no means the worst ever to pull on the Blue Jersey

  3. Halliday had a shocker but was far from the only one. He did close down but he passed to that mob every time. I had no qualms about Halliday starting, I was actually happy about it so I wouldn't make him a scapegoat for that horrific team performance. It's murtys management again thats the problem. Even his choice of replacement was laughable. He could have took off mcrorie who was being bullied silly and put alves in. I could have understood if he took Halliday off, put on Alves and moved mcrorie into midfield (the way he should have started the game). He put windass on which is like going down to 10 men without a red card!!

    • So do I mate but I'm sure the majority of the people knew what we needed before or even during the game….apart from Murty. I'd save King a fortune if I was manager! Lol

  4. In total agreement with every word in this article Ibroxnoise. He was shafted by Murty JN and all coaching staff but most of his so called Teammates – the only person I think saw how bad he felt was Alves. Again Alves being the peace keeper between Docherty & Morelos.

    I genuinely thought least Halliday showed he cared not like the majority of the others. Same goes for Docherty and Morelos least they tried the rest were abject failures. Alves gets credit for his efforts yesterday more than that other Donkey Martin…

  5. I have always liked Halliday as "one of our own" and I agree he would run through a wall for us and owned Brown in the semi 2 years ago. I was glad when he was picked to stiffen the midfield beside Docherty, freeing Dorrans to play in behind Morelos. So what the f*ck happened? Dorrans never got over the halfway line and continued as a crap midfielder, Halliday never got close to anyone and his passing was horrific.

    I think he has blown his last shot with us. Having said all that, I would like Murty, someone I have defended on this site many times – but no longer – to explain why he switched 3 minutes before halftime. If he had done it after 20, 25, 30 or even 35 minutes fair enough. The evidence was already there to justify it.

    But we had all worked out that there was a problem in less than 42 minutes. If it takes you 42 minutes, give it another 3 and make the swap then. What did Murty think the change was going to achieve in 3 minutes? Apart from humiliate someone who would die for the jersey even if can't play well enough to deserve it.

    As Stevie said, if it had been Alves for Halliday w McCrorie pushed forward ok, but it could still have waited 3 minutes. Unacceptable way to treat someone unless you are trying to humiliate them. Which is also unacceptable in this instance.

    • You’ve backed Murty and defended him to the hilt as had I until the other wk. Dorrans is never a DM period the Dundee game laid Murty bare to everybody. Hallidays days and plenty of others time at Ibrox is up…

  6. The only thing worse than Halliday’s performance on the pitch was his performance off it. A total and utter disgrace. The manager picks the team and has the right to make changes as he sees it as the game unfolds. Halliday is a so called professional and should behave like one. Never mind screaming at Murty or supporters or anyone else – he should have been apologising for an abject performance. In truth Murty could have taken the whole team off after 5 mins it was so obviously poor from the start. It was only a few weeks ago that the keyboard warriors on here were complaining that Murty doesn’t react during games and try to change things. And as for waiting until half-time – why the hell should he if a player isn’t performing. I can’t help feeling that the players lack of respect for Murty came down to King undermining him in the run up to the game. For me Halliday and Candeias should never pull the shirt on again.

  7. A real manager would look Candeas and Halliday in the face and say "i took you off because you were crap."

  8. Is it possible that all Rangers players can give this week's wages to charity , to help kids from Syria or even give half to children in need , it would be a nice gesture from the club , I don't earn anyway near what they earn but I give to charity , we were rubbish yesterday , just a thought . WATP

  9. I'm on all Rangers websites , this one and rumours but apparently Gary Neville has been linked with the Rangers job , would want someone more experienced but is it really a gamble after 3 dire appointments ?

  10. You pick a team, you hope they actually do what they are meant to, somehow the players seemed to completely freeze. Hard to pick your way through a shambles, but it all started a few days ago with Mr King, how did the players respond, clearly they had given up before a ball was kicked. There are some major issues with the team, but not as major as the disaster we have as a chairman, please please please just resign Mr K, no wait you will want all your money back, which includes money from years back, you could try to do a deal with someone, he would do it if you asked and has money, you know who Mr K J

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