FORMER Rangers player Andy Halliday has revealed how ex-boss Steven Gerrard was left in stitches when goalkeeper Allan McGregor showed up for breakfast dressed as a Smurf.
The ex-Gers midfielder said that the team once had a team night out in Tenerife, Spain but was told by their gaffer Gerrard to make sure they would all be ready to meet for 9am the next morning.
Halliday, 31, who now plays for Hearts, said that Gerrard gave the players a curfew and would hate when they would all go out drinking.
However, the 42-year-old footie manager ended up being left in stitches when McGregor rolled into the breakfast the next morning “steaming” and still wearing his full blue Smurf costume.
He said: “Best ever I was involved in was we had a team night out in Tenerife.
“Big Greegsy dressed up as a Smurf when we were out – I’ve told you Gerrard hated that, you’d think he loved a drink with the boys but he hated when the boys went out and that.
“There was always a curfew, the curfew was something like midnight.
“[Gerrard said] everyone make sure you’re at breakfast for 9am in the morning.
“We weren’t supposed to train the next day but he [Gerrard] was like ‘if you’re not all there at 9am you’re training the next day’.
“So we went out and fair play everybody got back for the curfew time.
“Breakfast the next day – obviously Greegsy has dressed up as a Smurf the night before – 9am and everyone is there apart from Greegsy.
“We’re all thinking ‘oh no we’re training now’.
“Gerrard pulls all the boys and says ‘if you don’t get him here by 9.15am you’re all training’.
“So we’re all f***ing raging, banging at his door and he’s not waking up.
“Honestly, all of us went back to breakfast and at 14 minutes past nine Greegsy walks in with like this full Smurf outfit and blue face paint.
“Gerrard just burst out laughing and said ‘what the f**k can I do?’
“He still had all the face paint, he was steaming.”
Halliday’s Hearts fell to defeat in their final UEFA Europa League game yesterday (THU) losing 3-1 to Istanbul Basaksehir in the Turkish capital.
However, it is believed that the Jambos will net a windfall of around £5m for their participation in Europe’s third tier this season.
Meanwhile, odds have been slashed on Steven Gerrard returning to Rangers as a replacement for current boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst, following the side’s dismal Champions League campaign, which saw them record the worst Champions League group stage performance in the tournament’s history.
