AWOL star axed from first-team training
PEDRO CAIXINHA has cracked the whip and banished Michael O’Halloran from his first-team squad.
The winger has been ordered to train with the kids this week after failing to trap for an Under-20 game against Hearts at Stirling.
O’Halloran’s future at Ibrox is in the balance after he became the first player to fall foul of his new Portuguese boss.
Caixinha recently claimed he could act like the devil if his players stepped out of line and has taken a hard-line stance against the former St Johnstone star.
O’Halloran, 26, was told to report for the game against the Jambos at
Forthbank on Monday night after failing to make the top-team squad for Sunday’s trip to Aberdeen.
But he stunned coaches Graeme Murty and Kenny Miller by failing to turn up without offering an explanation.
Suggestions O’Halloran was unaware of the details of the game are wide of the mark as every Rangers player is texted matchday plans as a matter of course. Rangers have already taken disciplinary action against O’Halloran and the decision of Caixinha, left, to send him to train with the kids underlines the extent of his unhappiness.
Caixinha, left, is set to face the media at Murray Park and is expected to outline further details including what future, if any, O’Halloran has with the club he joined in a £500,000 move just 14 months ago.
Rangers and O’Halloran’s representatives both declined to comment last night.
O’Halloran is the second player to be banished from the first-team dressing room this campaign following in the footsteps of Joey Barton who fell foul of former boss Mark Warburton back in September.