Halliday came off the bench in Rangers clash against Osijek on Thursday night.
Andy Halliday’s future at Rangers is one that remains up in the air among fans. Some want to keep him, while others want him to go – and back in June it was expected that he would leave.
The Daily Mail claimed that the 26-year-old midfielder was surplus to requirements two months ago, along with Jason Holt, who has since joined Joey Barton’s Fleetwood Town on a season-long loan.
Halliday was even loaned to FK Gabala last season and although he returned in January, he only managed 15 appearances for the Gers under Graeme Murty – seven of which were from the bench.
The signings of Scott Arfield, Lassana Coulibaly and Ovie Ejaria have slimmed his chances of playing in the middle of the park, while Jon Flanagan’s excellent start to life at Ibrox at left-back has also pushed Halliday down the pecking order.
But Steven Gerrard seems to have performed somewhat of a u-turn concerning Halliday, with the former Middlesbrough midfielder included in all four of Rangers’ opening Europa League qualifiers, and coming off the bench in two of those.
Indeed, Halliday entered the fray late on as Rangers booked their place in the third qualifying round over Croatian side NK Osijek with a 1-1 draw – after beating their opponents last week 1-0 in the first leg.
It seems as though Gerrard has decided to go against his initial reported decision of ostracising Halliday and making im available for transfer, by including him in the squad and even giving him game time.
Halliday has two years remaining on his contract at Ibrox, and it will be interesting to see if Gerrard continues to use Halliday as cover – or indeed goes back to his original decision as the season progresses.
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