Andy Halliday’s Celtic U-Turn Is Spectacular as His Ibrox Title Prediction Falls Apart in Just Weeks

Andy Halliday’s Celtic title prediction has undergone a remarkable transformation — and the explanation arguably makes his original forecast look even worse.

Only three or four weeks ago, the former Ibrox midfielder was predicting his old club would win the Scottish Premiership.

Now he believes Celtic will.

Halliday openly admitted the change of heart on BBC Sportscene, saying: “I think Celtic will win the league.”

He even acknowledged his own forecasting record, adding that he is “terrible at making predictions.”

For once, there may not be much argument there.

Andy Halliday Celtic U-turn exposes original prediction

The fascinating part is Halliday’s explanation for originally choosing the Ibrox club.

His prediction was not principally based on what either team actually had.

Instead, Halliday expected the Ibrox club to spend another £15-20million while predicting Celtic would lose a collection of their strongest players.

He specifically thought Arne Engels, Benjamin Nygren and Alistair Johnston could leave, alongside Daizen Maeda.

That is an extraordinary amount of hypothetical business to build a championship prediction around.

Essentially, Celtic had to become considerably weaker while the other side became considerably stronger.

When those assumptions failed to materialise, the prediction collapsed with them.

It barely survived into August.

Celtic reality ruins Halliday’s forecast

Halliday subsequently watched Celtic make a powerful start while events elsewhere moved in completely the opposite direction.

Celtic hammered Kilmarnock 5-1, with Kasper Høgh scoring a first-half hat-trick, while the Ibrox club suffered a home defeat against Hibs and remained without a league victory.

Halliday was on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard the following night as that uncomfortable reality dominated the discussion.

Suddenly, his bold pre-season forecast had become considerably harder to defend.

There is nothing wrong with a pundit changing his mind when the evidence changes.

What deserves scrutiny is how flimsy the original evidence appears to have been.

Predicting a title winner because one club might spend another £20million while the champions might sell several of their best players is hardly forensic analysis.

It is essentially a prediction built upon a prediction.

Halliday has previously been very willing to give strong opinions about Celtic.

In January, he claimed Celtic could be “held to ransom” because other clubs knew they were desperate to recruit a striker.

Before that, he argued that Celtic and the Ibrox club were not “worlds apart” financially when challenging Philippe Clement’s explanation for results.

His commentary is rarely short on certainty.

This time, however, reality appears to have arrived considerably faster than expected.

Three or four weeks.

That was apparently all it took for Halliday’s championship prediction to move from the Ibrox club to Celtic.

Perhaps his most accurate prediction was the one about himself.

He really might be terrible at predictions.

Key Takeaways

• Andy Halliday originally backed the Ibrox club to win the Premiership.
• Only three or four weeks later, Halliday changed his prediction to Celtic.
• His original forecast relied heavily on expected future transfers rather than the squads actually available.
• Halliday believed Celtic could lose Engels, Nygren, Johnston and Maeda.
• He also expected the Ibrox club to spend another £15-20million.
• Those assumptions did not develop as he anticipated, forcing an extraordinarily early rethink.
• Halliday himself admitted he is “terrible at making predictions.”