HALLIDAY: BARTON’S A BIGGER LOUD MOUTH THAN ME

ANDY HALLIDAY once regarded himself as a mouthy member of the Rangers squad. Then Joey Barton arrived.

Halliday, it seems, would go hoarse trying to keep up with Barton, who has been quick to call out colleagues on a daily basis at the first sign of slacking.

So while the veteran midfielder is happy to cast out the bait to Celtic rivals Scott Brown and Brendan Rodgers to amuse himself, when he has a pop at pals within the Rangers camp he really means it.

Halliday revealed: ‘At a lot of teams I’ve played with in the past, if you let it drop for five or 10 minutes then you’re going to get it at half-time off the manager.

‘Now we know we’re going to get it off Joey Barton. So that’s so healthy. I thought I had a big mouth but I think he’s worse. You get a laugh off the park but then it’s down to business.

‘He’s a top man. He’s very demanding, but aren’t we all? We’re a squad of winners. He’s put a lot of demands on everyone. He demands every single day in terms of the intensity here.

‘Of course, you can have a go back. That’s the harmony we’ve got. We set a lot of demands on each other. Joey is probably the first one to say it himself.

‘If his standards drop in training, he’ll put it on himself and likewise the rest of the boys. But it’s not personal. It’s only professional, so everyone takes it in the right manner.’

Barton’s barbed comments in the direction of Brown — ‘not in my league as a player’ — and Rodgers — ‘going through a mid-life crisis’ — have predictably created an Old Firm stir.

Rangers would have been naive in the extreme to think signing the controversial midfielder did not come with this unattractive baggage.

However, Halliday explains that on the shop floor at the Rangers training ground, there is no inciting behaviour from Barton (right) when he gets down to work.

‘I let all that stuff go over my head,’ said Halliday. ‘What matters is that he’s not really the centre of attention here. It might look like that because of the way that things are portrayed.

‘He does have a big mouth and will admit that. But he doesn’t want to be the centre of attention here on the training ground. He’s been a big addition to the squad, though, a very big signing for us.’

A more recent big addition to catch Halliday’s eye is Joe Garner. The striker scored for Preston against Halliday’s Bradford City two years ago, one of 27 goals in season 2014/15.

Rangers paid £1.8million for the 28-year-old and Halliday said: ‘It’s a lot of money compared to what we’ve spent on the rest of the team. It’s certainly a statement of intent.

‘The gaffer sees that we need one or two more players to add that quality to the squad — and he’s gone into the market and done so.

‘Joe played for a good Preston team in League One, who got promoted that year. He scored a lot of goals and, hopefully, he can implement that here. He was a very dangerous striker in that league.

‘I’m not sure he’s different, as such, to what we’ve got because I think he’s got some similar attributes to Waggy (Martyn Waghorn). They’re not the biggest in size but they can really put themselves about.’

So, too, at first training-ground glance can Matt Crooks, who is the unknown quantity of Mark Warburton’s close-season captures. The 22-year-old’s Rangers debut has been delayed by an operation in May and a setback in his recovery from an ankle problem. However, Crooks has joined in full training in recent days and Halliday believes the ‘big monster’ from Accrington Stanley can be a huge, quality presence in midfield or at centre-half.

‘For a big boy, he can certainly play,’ said Halliday. ‘He’s quick for 6ft 4in. Any set-piece problem that we’ve had, he’s going to help there because he’s a big monster. He will bring a lot of quality to the team.’