'Strangle You' - Andy Halliday reveals instant foul mouthed text from ex-Rangers hero after what he did

Andy Halliday has revealed that his goal against Rangers in the League Cup semi final sparked an instant response from a furious Derek Ferguson.

Speaking on Open Goal on 5 November the Motherwell midfielder said that he was contacted by the former Ibrox favourite, even before his own Gers-supporting father, to berate him for netting against his former side at Hampden Park.

Halliday opened the scoring in a 2-1 defeat to Philippe Clement’s side as he capitalised on some bizarre defending from Jefte, and was admonished by his fellow pundit, before a follow-up message later to congratulate him.

Halliday said (27m 15s): “Do you know who was the first person to text me? Derek Ferguson. At [expletive] half three, it must have been as soon it hit the back of the net.

“Wait there, I’ll get it for you. ‘Honest to [expletive], I could strangle you’. That’s what he said.

“And then he said, at 17.03 so he’s obviously calmed down a bit, ‘Fair play, great desire to get on the end of that. Thought you played really well’.”

Derek Ferguson reacts instantly as Rangers concede at Hampden

Ferguson’s feelings will have been echoed by plenty of Light Blues supporters on the day, as Halliday looked like he might have deepened the mess his former side were sinking into in the 25th minute on 4 November.

The goal came during an appalling first-half showing from Rangers which looked like signalling hope under Clement had really been lost.

Jefte’s “crazy” decision to run the other way rather than challenge Halliday for the ball left Alan Hutton in shock on the Premier Sports coverage at half time, and was blasted as “absolutely criminal” by Michael Stewart on their match commentary.

But thankfully for Clement his players did respond to his half-time words and the much-maligned Cyriel Dessers made amends for his open-goal miss just before the break by netting the leveller just five minutes after the restart, following good work from Connor Barron.

And once Nedim Bajrami was found by Vaclav Cerny late on to fire a deflected winner home it allowed Ferguson to see the positive in Halliday’s strike.

Whether the prospect of an extra Old Firm derby in the final is a welcome one however is another matter, with Clement already under huge pressure and without a win in five attempts against Brendan Rodgers’ side.

The Belgian’s reign is slipping badly of late after defeats to Kilmarnock (20 October) and Aberdeen (30 October) left the Gers nine points of the pace.

But the hierarchy don’t appear ready to be swayed by mounting dissatisfaction from supporters so Clement looks set to stay [BBC Sport, 1 November], and a major response to the rough form is now needed.

In other Rangers news, the Light Blues have been hit by a “massive blow” that could hurt their chances against Celtic.

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