We’re now playing for our future at Rangers, says Halliday
ANDY Halliday has warned his Rangers team-mates their days at Ibrox will be numbered unless they can find a way to arrest their horror slump.
Steven Gerrard’s team were booed off by the furious Gers faithful on Wednesday night after suffering just their second home league defeat to Hamilton in the last 94 years.
Gers have dropped 13 points since returning from the winter break, with the shock loss to Brian Rice’s strugglers coming just four days after the Light Blues were also dumped out of the William Hill Scottish Cup by Hearts.
The Accies loss will make no difference to the eventual destination of the Ladbrokes Premiership title with Neil Lennon’s Celtic already out of sight.
But Halliday insists Gerrard’s players still have plenty to play for in the final 10 games of the season if they want to avoid being part of a summer clear-out.
The Ibrox midfielder — who is out of contract at the end of the campaign — said: “Everyone should be fearing for their future, it’s as simple as that.
“At a big club you’re judged on results and performances you put in on a week to week basis.
“It’s been 10 weeks now and that’s not a blip, that’s a complete turnaround in fortunes.
“If you’re not performing for 10 weeks then pretty soon your position in the team comes under question.
“Far too many of us have underperformed for a long period of time so fans are entitled to have a go.”
From losing the 2016 Scottish Cup final to Hibs to the various Old Firm drubbings dished out by Brendan Rodgers’ all-conquering Parkhead side, Halliday has had to endure more than his fair share of bitter disappointments during his five-year stint with his boyhood club.
But he admits the dressing room scene he encountered after David Mayo’s winner sealed Accies’ 1-0 win was the flattest he has witnessed at Ibrox.
“The dressing room was one of the lowest since I’ve been here and I’ve had my fair share of low moments at the football club,” confessed the 28-year-old.
“It’s especially more difficult when we put ourselves in a good position going into the winter break and for it to fall apart so quickly is bitterly disappointing.
“I can’t put my finger on what has gone wrong. All I can do, and I know it’s empty words, is on behalf of all the players offer our complete and sincere apologies.
“The performances since the winter break have been absolutely miles off it and we can’t put our finger on it.
“For five or six months we looked so dangerous and we’re still in European competition and performing really well there but domestically it’s a completely different Rangers.
“It’s a special club and a heavy jersey and right now we’re not filling it.
“For six months the players were doing ever so well and any task flung their way they dealt with but just now we look shot of confidence.
“Hamilton deserved to take something from the game but my feeling once they went 1-0 was that I feared for us because our confidence looked shot and I didn’t see it turning quickly.
“A couple of chances didn’t fall our way but regardless of that we didn’t deserve to win the game.”
Shell-shocked Gerrard, meanwhile, admitted confidence levels have hit rock bottom in the
Rangers dressing room.
The Ibrox boss (below) was left struggling to come up with answers following his team’s latest disturbing collapse.
Gerrard had urged his players to set about proving they had the nerve required to win trophies at Rangers after seeing them exit the William Hill Scottish Cup with defeat to
Hearts last Saturday.
But instead his squad faltered again as they suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time under his watch.
“Where do we start?” asked the exasperated Rangers boss, who has now watched his side drop 13 points across the last five weeks.
“We have just given three points away, it’s as simple as that. I’m not really sure I’ve got that many words to describe it.
“I didn’t think I could be more disappointed that I was after Hearts — but here I am, even more disappointed than I was a few days ago.
“I laid down the gauntlet before the game and will continue to do that, but I have a dressing room that’s shot of confidence.
“We have played ourselves into a rut and I’ve got a really tough, tough job to pick that up and improve it from here. “Myself and my staff are flat because we are doing everything we can. We are trying to change formations and personnel, doing different things in training to try and lift and put confidence into them. We’ve got a lot to do — a big, big lot.”