Jason Jones

Thu 4 June 2020 15:14, UK

Andy Halliday has claimed that Rangers players still believed they could catch Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership this season. 

The Gers finished second behind their bitter rivals after the campaign was curtailed early as a result of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

But Steven Gerrard’s men still had a game in hand on the Hoops, as well as two Old Firm meetings left to contest.

And Halliday, who will leave the club this summer after it was announced that he would not be signing a contract extension, has argued that he and his teammates still held out hope of pulling off an unlikely turnaround.

Speaking to PLZ Soccer, he said: “There were still two Old Firm games to go.

“I’m not going to sit here and lie, Celtic were the favourites to go and win the title. But Rangers have won two league titles on the last day of the season. Rangers have been seven points clear and ended up losing the title.

“So it was a never say never scenario. Celtic were the favourites, but as players we were always going to think we could claw it back game by game.

“Obviously, it’s all guns blazing for Rangers next year.”

Could Rangers have won the title this year?

Long before Andy Halliday was a Rangers player, he was a Rangers fan first and foremost.

And that allegiance and belief really shines through here with the honesty of his comments.

In truth, we probably couldn’t have put it better ourselves.

There’s no denying that Celtic were strong favourites to life the title given their 13 point lead and our shaky form since the turn of the year, but with a game in hand and two Old Firms left to play, anything could have happened.

Obviously, there’s no point crying over spilt milk now, and Halliday is right when he says that we’ll have to attack next season all guns blazing, but we’ll always wonder what might have been if things had been allowed to run their course.

In other Rangers news, Hartley claims signing Dykes would be ‘great coup’ for Rangers.