One of the more interesting football signings of recent times is Hearts’ capture of Andy Halliday on a free transfer.
Halliday had been without a club since leaving Rangers at the end of last season, and seemed to starting a media career. However, he has returned to football with Hearts. He has signed a two-year deal with the Championship side.
This seems like a sensible move by Hearts. The Tynecastle club will be favourites to be promoted back to the Premiership, but they will have a very busy schedule for the rest of the season.
An experienced player
They will need a big squad full of experienced players. Halliday is certainly that.
He might not have had the very best of times at Rangers. However, he was excellent for the Ibrox club in their spell in the Championship.
That might well have been in Robbie Neilson’s thoughts when he decided to bring Halliday to Tynecastle.
It will be interesting to see if Halliday features for Hearts in their Scottish Cup semi-final against Hibs on Halloween. That will no doubt depend on how fit he currently is, and how much football he plays for Hearts up until the semi-final.
Hearts’ first game of the season is one week away, when they take on Inverness in the Betfred Cup group stages.
All in all, Hearts have five games before the semi-final. Will Halliday start all of those games? Probably not.
Can be a very influential player
However, he can still be very influential for Hearts this season. Perhaps it will make sense for Halliday to start the season on the bench for Hearts, then gradually bring him into the side, maybe in time for the aforementioned semi-final.
Hearts need some experienced players in their side, and Halliday has played in both England and Scotland even though he is only 28.
He had a memorable spell at Bradford City before moving to Rangers. Neilson will be hoping that he can replicate the form he showed at Bradford and at times with Rangers.
All in all, it seems like a sensible move by Hearts to bring Halliday to the club. Only time will tell if he can help the Tynecastle club return to the Scottish Premiership.
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