Rangers Opinion: Gers should offer Andy Halliday a new deal
According to Football Scotland, Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday has admitted to claims that he is fighting for his career at Ibrox, with the 27-year-old having only 12 months left to run on his current contract.
Halliday is confident that he could possibly earn himself a new deal at Ibrox and extend his stay at the club if he manages to kick on from where he had left last season. (h/t Football Scotland)
The 27-year-old found himself frozen out of the first-team picture in the 2017-18 campaign under managers Pedro Caixinha and Graeme Murty and spent time a lot of time on the bench but he made a surprise return to the playing XI under Steven Gerrard the last term.
Halliday wasn’t a sure starter for Rangers in the previous campaign but he was used as a utility squad player by Gerrard, with the manager rotating him between central midfield and left-back roles to cover for the lack of depth in his options.
The versatile Glasgow-born star made a total of 35 appearances in all competitions for the Gers this past season, including 7 in the Europa League, as the club bowed out of the competition in the group stages.
Halliday contributed with 3 goals and 3 assists over the course of this past campaign and also helped Rangers register victories over Old Firm rivals Celtic last year.
As a matter of fact, the 27-year-old has featured in the starting eleven in both of Ranges Europa League qualifiers against St. Joseph’s and Progres so far this term, meaning that he has already made a positive start to the season.
Born in Glasgow, Halliday started his professional career at Livingston in the lower divisions of Scottish football before earning a move to EFL Championship outfit Middlesbrough in 2010.
However, he struggled to settle down in his career following his move south of the border and went on to make only 42 appearances for the Teessiders over the course of five seasons, spending time on loan at lower division clubs Walsall, Blackpool, Bradford City before earning a move back to his homeland with Rangers in 2015.
A boyhood fan of Rangers, Halliday guided the Gers to a promotion-winning campaign in the Scottish Championship in his debut season at Ibrox and subsequently played a key role in the club’s first season back in the top-flight.
Halliday has made a total of 142 appearances for the Gers in all competitions till date, scoring 18 goals and setting up another 12 in the process.
Andy Halliday has been a useful utility player for Rangers ever since their return to the top-flight and it doesn’t require a rocket scientist to figure out that he always gives his hundred per cent on the pitch.
The 27-year-old might lack the technical abilities and the natural finesse of some of his counterparts but he makes up for those deficiencies with his tireless work rate, commitment and versatility.
Truth be told, he sometimes looks like a fan who is actually playing for the club. Such are his levels of commitment and loyalty.
Moreover, it is important for Rangers to hold on to their existing players despite signing a whole bunch of new players this summer because they would all need time to acclimatise to their new surroundings.
Halliday did a decent job at left-back last season and with Lee Wallace now gone, Gerrard might as well use him in that role more often next term, given that Borna Barisic has struggled to get to grips with the Scottish game.
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Conclusion
Andy Halliday is a boyhood fan of Rangers and a solid utility player in the midfield and defence for manager Steven Gerrard. So it should be a no-brainer for the Gers to offer the Ibrox diehard a new deal in order to extend his stay beyond next summer.