Halliday believes there’s a genuine risk of Rangers dropping outside the top two for the first time in seven years
14:15, 16 Sep 2025Updated 16:29, 16 Sep 2025
Content cannot be displayed without consent
He never thought he’d have to say it – but Andy Halliday now fears Rangers are at genuine risk of finishing third or lower.
Not since 2018 have the Ibrox side finished lower than runners up, coming second to Celtic every year other than their title win under Steven Gerrard in 2021.
But after recording one of their worst ever starts to the league season under Russell Martin, they already trail the Hoops and flying Hearts by nine points – just five games into the campaign.
And the ease with which Derek McInnes’ team swatted them aside at Ibrox at the weekend has Halliday fearing they can go one better than Aberdeen managed last season – and break the Old Firm’s stranglehold on the top two places.
He admitted on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard: “We’re now 12 games into Russell Martin’s tenure, and not only have results been poor, the performances are so alarming.
“The first half (against Hearts) Rangers could not get out their half. It was so comfortable for Hearts.
“I’ve never bought into the idea someone could split the Old Firm. Last year it was Aberdeen winning 11 straight games.
“I now think you are looking at ‘can Rangers finish outside the top two? Can Hearts maintain their form and can Hibs pick it back up?’
“Because the performance levels as well as the results, I’m not seeing any signs of improvement at all.”
Halliday also believes that, while the Rangers owners may see things differently from the fans – they’ll be ‘shocked’ into action once the attendances start to plummet.
Andrew Cavenagh, Paraag Marathe and the San Francisco 49ers are standing by Martin despite the fan fury and the boss is expected to get at least another game or two to show signs of progress.
Halliday though believes the board will get a fright once attendances begin to drop.
He went on: “Andrew Cavenagh and the 49ers have made their stance (clear) to stick by Russell Martin and that’s fine.
“But I think where they will get a real shock is when they see the attendance at the Hibs game and the number of Europa League packages sold.
“I thought this was coming. There is not going to be as many bums on seats.
“They 49ers are not at the games to see the toxicity and the atmosphere but when they watch it on telly and see an attendance of 25,000-30,000 against Hibs or in the Europa League, that might be what sort of catches their attention.”