Gregory Halford (born 8 December 1984) is an English semi-professional and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for Isthmian League North Division club

Hashtag United Hashtag United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Len Salmon Stadium. Founded in 2016 by YouTube personality Spencer Carmichael-Brown, the club original ...

. He is naturally a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

but can play in numerous positions including

central midfield A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

right midfield A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and even as a striker. Born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

, Halford began his career with

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

where he came through the youth system before moving to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

in 2007. His stay at Reading was a short one and Halford transferred to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

later the same year. After failing to hold down a regular place with Sunderland, he moved to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in 2009 and later to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in 2010,

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in 2012, and

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

in 2015. He signed for Cardiff City in January 2017, where he went on to achieve promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

the following season by finishing second in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. Halford has also played for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

and

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

on loan at various points in his career, as well as representing England at under-20 level.

Club career

Colchester United

Halford was born in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. He started his football career in July 2001 when he joined

's youth team. He signed a professional contract on 1 August 2002, made his first-team debut in a 5–0 home defeat to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

on 21 April 2003, and scored his first senior goal in a 2–1 defeat at home to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

in March 2004. In the second half of the 2002–03 season, he spent time on loan at Braintree Town and

Aylesbury United Aylesbury United Football Club is a football club based in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England. They are currently members of Division One Central of the Southern League and play at Chesham United's Meadow ground, having been evicted from their ...

. Halford continued his progress at Colchester: he picked up the club's Young Player of the Year award for the 2004–05 season, and was named in the

Professional Footballers' Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional association footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sport trade union, and has over 5,000 members. The aims of ...

's 2005–06 League One Team of the Year as Colchester finished as runners-up in

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

and gained promotion to the

. In over 150 games in five years for the

Layer Road Layer Road was a Football League stadium in Colchester, England. It was only used for football matches and was the home ground of Colchester United before being replaced by the Colchester Community Stadium. The stadium held spectators and was ...

first team, he gained the reputation of being a utility man, having played in defence, midfield and attack for club and country. His last manager,

Geraint Williams David Geraint Williams (born 5 January 1962) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1980 until 2000, notably featuring in the Premier League for Ipswich Town, as well as in the Foo ...

, preferred to play him at

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He also had a reputation for a long throw, with a high percentage of Colchester's goals in the 2005–06 season coming from Halford's long throw. He said "I tried measuring it one time – it was half the pitch, 50 yards."

Reading

Keen to prove himself at a higher level, Halford handed in a transfer request in August 2006 after interest from several

clubs. According to the player, a "big offer" from

was rejected. He was linked with a number of other Premier League clubs, but on 30 January 2007,

completed the signing of Halford for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in excess of the club's previous record of £2.25 million, on a contract that would keep him at Reading until June 2010. His debut for Reading came as a substitute appearance in their 0–0 home draw with

on 17 March 2007, where he played for the last few minutes on the

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

. He made his full debut in Reading's 1–0 defeat away to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

on 1 April 2007, where he conceded a penalty in a controversial handball decision. Halford failed to establish himself at Reading, and played only once more. Director of Football Nicky Hammond said that although Halford had not made the impact desired by both club and player, that was no reflection on him personally or professionally, and that "sometimes in football, players do move on quite quickly if it's felt that the fit isn't quite right".

Sunderland

Halford signed a four-year contract with Premier League club

on 11 June 2007. The fee was variously reported as £2.5 million rising to £3m depending on appearances, or as £3.5m. Hammond said it was an excellent deal for Reading financially, and Sunderland manager

Roy Keane Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, coach and former professional player. He is the joint most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies in his club career, 17 of which came during ...

was "delighted" that Halford had joined. He made his debut for Sunderland on 15 August 2007 in a 2–2 draw with

at St Andrew's, and played in the next three matches, but was sent off in the third, a 3–0 League Cup defeat to

. He made three more appearances, and was again sent off. In January 2008, following reported interest in him from

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

and

, Keane confirmed that Sunderland would listen to offers. He was not sold, but instead joined Charlton on loan for the rest of the season. He played regularly in the

, and scored twice, against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

and

. Halford spent the 2008–09 season on loan to Championship club

. He made his debut in the opening game of the season, at Birmingham City, scored his first goal a fortnight later, against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, and went on to play regularly throughout the season, appearing in 49 of the club's 56 fixtures. He scored eight goals altogether, including the only goal of the semi-final against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

that took Sheffield United through to the 2008–09 play-off final.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Halford signed for newly promoted Premier League side

on 3 July 2009 in a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut on 15 August against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, and went on to make 17 Premier League appearances for Wolves, along with 3 in cup competitions. He mostly played on the right of midfield or at right back. As with earlier in his career, long throw-ins were a strong feature of his game.

Portsmouth

Unable to stake a claim to regular football at Molineux, Halford joined Championship club

in October 2010 on a month's loan. He made his debut in a victory over

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

, and his first goal, on 23 October, secured a 2–1 win at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

. On 17 November, the loan was extended for a further month, then until January, and then to the end of the season. He was used mostly as a centre back in 2011, with fellow loanee

Ritchie De Laet Ritchie Ria Alfons De Laet (, born 28 November 1988) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Royal Antwerp in the Belgian First Division A. De Laet played for various youth teams before joining the Royal Antwerp youth ...

preferred at right back. On 11 July 2011, Halford signed a three-year contract with Portsmouth. The fee, officially undisclosed, was believed by '' The News'' to be in the region of £1m. He finished the season with seven goals, which made him the club's second highest scorer, behind only David Norris with eight. Portsmouth were unable to avoid

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

Nottingham Forest

With the club on the brink of closure unless they removed senior players from the wage bill, Portsmouth sold Halford to Championship club

on 27 July 2012 for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut on 13 August in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

against

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

, made his league debut five days later against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

, and scored his first Forest goal in the 4–1 win over

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

in October, in a performance that earned him a place in that week's

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

Championship Team of the Week. After the 3–0 home win over

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

in August 2013, in which Halford was deployed as a striker, manager Billy Davies said he now regarded him "predominantly as a front man". Halford appeared regularly for Forest during that season, but not at all the next. He spent time on loan to

during 2014–15 before being released when his contract expired in June 2015.

Rotherham United

In July 2015, Halford joined

on a free transfer. He was appointed captain, but after only five league gamesfour losses and a drawmanager Steve Evans replaced him with Lee Frecklington. Halford played only once more before joining fellow Championship club

on 26 November 2015, on loan until 2 January 2016. He made his Birmingham debut as a late substitute in a goalless draw at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

on 12 December, and after two more appearances off the bench, he returned to Rotherham when his loan expired.

Cardiff City

On 6 January 2017, Halford joined Cardiff City, signing an 18-month contract, making his debut two days later in a 2–1 defeat to

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in the third round of the FA Cup. He scored his first goal for Cardiff in a 2–1

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

win against former club

on 8 August 2017. At the end of the 2017–18 season, Halford left the club after his contract expired on 30 June.

Aberdeen

On 26 February 2019, Halford joined

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

until the end of the season. He left at the end of his contract.

Southend United

Halford signed for

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

on a short-term deal on 15 December 2020. Hours later, he made his debut as a substitute against

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

and scored the final goal in a 3–1 win. On 18 January 2021, Halford signed a contract extension to remain at the club until the end of the 2020–21 season.

Waterford

On 23 July 2021, it was announced that Halford had signed for

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

club

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. He made his debut for the club the same day in an

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

tie away to

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club () is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they pl ...

, and scored a 91st-minute equaliser. The match stood at 4–4 after extra time, and Waterford won on penalties. He made a total of 17 appearances in all competitions for the club, scoring two goals, as they were relegated to the

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. Th ...

Billericay Town

On 12 February 2022, Halford signed for

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side

Billericay Town Billericay Town Football Club is a football club based in Billericay, Essex, England. The club are currently members of and play at New Lodge. They are the second most successful club in FA Vase history, having won the competition on three o ...

Hashtag United

On 27 August 2022, Isthmian League North Division side

announced the signing of Halford on 27 August 2022. He made his debut the same day in an Isthmian League game at home to Stowmarket Town, scoring an opening own goal before his quick free kick led to a late equaliser.

International career

Halford was capped for England at U20 level. He made his debut against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in the

Toulon Tournament The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...

on 4 June 2005, and scored his first international goal in a 3–0 win against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

two days later.

Style of play

Halford has been praised for his versatility, to the extent that he is referred to as a

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water polo. The ...

. During his time at Colchester, he played primarily on the right-hand side of midfield, though appeared in the centre of midfield, as a right-back, and a forward, where he scored six goals in nine games. While at Forest, the ''

Nottingham Post The ''Nottingham Post'' (formerly the ''Nottingham Evening Post'') is an English tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper which serves Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. The ''Post'' is p ...

'' stated that during the 2012–13 season, Halford "played in every position on the pitch for Forest, asides from actually taking the keeper's gloves", going on to add that he did "not look out of place" as either a full back or "even in wide positions in midfield", with manager Billy Davies also installing Halford as a striker. Upon signing for Cardiff in 2017, manager

Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English former football manager and player. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed sixteen different clubs from the Premier League to ...

, who had managed Halford at Rotherham, commented that "he played five or six positions" in the previous season.

Career statistics

Honours

Cardiff City *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

runner-up: 2017–18 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 2005–06 League One

References

External links

Greg Halford profile
at the Rotherham United F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Halford, Greg 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Chelmsford English footballers England youth international footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Association football utility players Colchester United F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Aylesbury United F.C. players Reading F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Waterford F.C. players Billericay Town F.C. players Hashtag United F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players League of Ireland players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Expatriate association footballers in the Republic of Ireland