Winger hits out over his Rangers exit
O’Halloran hits back over Caixinha snub
O’Halloran was yesterday named Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership Player of the Month for August after his four goals propelled him to the top of the league scoring charts. Yesterday, he lamented the fact he had not been given a chance to succeed at Rangers since Mark Warburton signed him for £500,000 in February 2016. ‘When did I think: “That’s it for me at Ibrox?” When (Caixinha) said those comments,’ declared O’Halloran. ‘I know my position now. It’s clear. But it was news to me. I got it from the newspapers. ‘A few people texted me about it. But I’ve not heard anything from (Caixinha) or Rangers. ‘I am still contracted at Rangers and I was thinking I would come to St Johnstone and play and then go back there in January. But (Caixinha’s comments) kind of put it in perspective for me. ‘When you are not making squads, you start to question things. But I felt if I went on loan and played well, there was a chance (of playing for Caixinha again), but obviously not. ‘It’s disappointing. I’ve not really had a chance at Rangers. I’ve only played a handful of games. I went there hoping I was going to play and kick on, but it never really happened for me. ‘To not be given a chance and then to be told I had no future there like that is not nice. ‘Do I think I will never play for Rangers again? I would never say never. Things can change in football very quickly. I wouldn’t rule it out.’ O’Halloran revealed he did not feel fit enough after Caixinha’s training sessions and often pounded the pavements in his spare time to get in shape. Asked how he found his sessions, he replied: ‘Different, to say the least. I felt I was needing to do a lot of extra training to keep myself fit. I maybe wasn’t getting a lot out of the sessions. They weren’t very demanding, to be honest.’ When it was pointed out Caixinha has a reputation as a hard taskmaster, he countered: ‘That is not really how I found it. Not his training.’ O’Halloran tried to speak to Caixinha about his future when the Portuguese was making 11 signings during the summer transfer window. But he says he was left confused by the experience. ‘He spoke to a few boys, but I didn’t really get much out of him in terms of what he was thinking,’ he said. ‘He was quite hard to understand sometimes.’ O’Halloran also hit back at suggestions he had failed to turn up for an Under-20s match in April. At the time, Caixinha refused to go into details, but confirmed the issue had been dealt with internally. It is believed O’Halloran was ordered to train alone. ‘I know there was a lot of stuff said about me, but that was a load of nonsense,’ claimed the winger. ‘I would never do that. That’s not in my nature. I always want to play football. I would never refuse to play in a game. I would never not turn up. What did happen that day? I am not allowed to discuss it.’
MICHAEL O’Halloran has fired back at Pedro Caixinha by revealing he only learned he had no future under the Rangers boss when he read his withering remarks in newspaper reports.
The winger, who openly questioned the Portuguese’s training methods and man-management yesterday, is under contract at Ibrox until 2020 but was allowed to return to former club St Johnstone on loan in July,
He was subsequently taken aback when Caixinha publicly declared that O’Halloran was ‘not my type of player… not the type of player Rangers need. In my opinion, he does not have what you need to play for Rangers’.
Now thriving back in Perth,