John Halls (born 14 February 1982) is a

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

and former English

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 ...

. Halls began his career with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

making three appearances 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 ...

for the "Gunners" before spending time out on loan at

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 ...

, Belgian club

Beveren Beveren () is a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders which comprises the towns of Beveren, Doel, Haasdonk, Kallo, Kieldrecht, Melsele, Verrebroek and Vrasene. The port of the Waasland (Dutch: ''Waaslandhaven'') is in Beveren ...

and Stoke City. He joined Stoke on a permanent basis in December 2003 and became a regular in the side. He left for

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 January after rejecting a new contract with Stoke but he struggled to force his way into a Reading side who were well on their way to gaining 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 ...

and despite spending three season at the

Madjeski Stadium The Madejski Stadium (currently known as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Reading. It is the home of Reading Football Club, who play in the EFL Championship. It also provides the finish for the ...

Halls managed just eight appearances and spent time on loan at Preston North End,

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

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 ...

. He then played for lower league sides

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...

and

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

. After leaving Wycombe in May 2012 Halls decided to retire and set up his own male fashion business. Halls currently models for Next Models.

Club career

Arsenal

His career began in

's youth set-up, where he featured in the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

-winning team of 2000. However, the young defender found first-team football at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

hard to come by, making only a few

appearances for the club. The first of these League Cup appearances was as a substitute against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in November 2001, a game in which Halls was dismissed for two bookable offences. Like many Arsenal juniors, he was frequently loaned out; firstly to

in January 2002 where he made six first-team appearances. The player spent the entire 2002–03 season playing for

KSK Beveren Koninklijke Sportkring Beveren (''Royal Sporting Club of Beveren'') is a Belgian association football club from the town of Beveren in East Flanders. KSK Beveren was particularly successful during the late 1970s and early 1980s in which it won ...

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

along with fellow

youngsters Graham Stack, Steve Sidwell and Liam Chilvers. These loans came about as part of an agreement between the two clubs which existed between 2001 and 2006. In October 2003, Halls was loaned out again, this time to Stoke City, making his debut in the home match versus

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 ...

on 4 October.

Stoke City

After impressing manager

Tony Pulis Anthony Richard Pulis (; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday. Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him on ...

during his loan spell Halls joined Stoke City on a permanent basis in December 2003 and spent a little over two years at the

Britannia Stadium The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was ...

before his departure in January 2006. During this period he featured in a total of 66 games (plus eight whilst on loan) and scored two goals. Both of these goals were scored in consecutive matches during August 2005. The first came in a 4–2 defeat at

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, whilst the second was notched in a 1–0 defeat of

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, eas ...

. Halls also accumulated a total of three red cards during his time at Stoke. His last appearance in a Stoke shirt was on 28 December 2005 at home to

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

. Halls' contract was due to expire in the summer of 2006 but the player had expressed a desire to seek pastures new, provoking a number of clubs to show an interest in capturing his signature.

Reading

High-flying

paid an initial fee of £250,000 for Halls' services on 19 January 2006. Fellow

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 ...

sides

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

had both shown interest in signing Halls at the time. Halls made his

debut in the fourth round

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

tie versus

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 28 January 2006. The match finished 1–1, with Birmingham proceeding to the next round after a replay. He had to bide his time until making his league bow in April 2006, against his former club, Stoke, he also scored in this game, helping

to a 3–1 victory. The player found his first team chances limited after Reading's promotion in 2006. In the 2006–07 season he did not make a single

appearance, having to settle for two

appearances. His chances of breaking into the first team were hampered by an

achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's ''Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, k ...

injury which plagued him throughout the season. Halls' one and only

appearance to date was away at

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 2007. This was followed by two more League Cup run-outs, one of which was a game at home to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in which Halls scored. As first team opportunities again proved scarce at the

Madejski Stadium The Madejski Stadium (currently known as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a Association football, football stadium in Reading, Berkshire, Reading. It is the home of Reading F.C., Reading Football Club, who play in the E ...

he was loaned out on three separate occasions in the 2007–08 season. Halls was loaned out to

sides Preston North End,

, and

making a handful of appearances for each. Despite Reading's relegation into the

, Halls was released by the club on 16 May 2008. During his two and a half-year stay at Reading he made eight first-team appearances, the majority of which came in cup competitions. He also scored two goals, one each in the

and the

. On 19 July, Halls featured in a pre-season match for

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 ...

, with whom he was on trial. The match was played at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground ( cy, Y Cae Ras) is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C. It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home i ...

and finished goalless. On 26 August, it was announced on the official

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

website that Halls had joined the club on trial. Halls would play in a friendly against

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

on 27 August. Halls was rejected by Sheffield Wednesday after failing to impress in that game against Shrewsbury Town.

Brentford

Halls joined

on a one-year deal on 25 September 2008. He featured 23 times for the club before being released at the end of the season.

Aldershot Town

The summer of 2009 saw Halls leave Griffin Park and he joined

as a trialist. The club confirmed on 28 July 2009 that Halls had signed a two-year contract. Halls was allocated the number 11 shirt for the 2009–10 season and on 6 August, Gary Waddock announced that Halls would be the vice-captain for the season. Whilst playing in a reserve game for Aldershot, Halls was sent off for punching an opposition player. He moved on a free transfer to

at the end of the 2010–2011 season.

Wycombe Wanderers

Halls joined up again with Gary Waddock at Wycombe signing a one-year contract in June 2011 on a free transfer from Aldershot. Halls struggled in his first few performances for the club with the player and management blaming it on a hidden injury. Halls has rarely appeared since then due to further injuries and poor performances, leaving him outcast. He was released by the club in May 2012 and retired from football.

International career

Halls was capped by England at

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA SN ...

level.

After football

After leaving Wycombe Wanderers in May 2012, Halls decided to set up his own male fashion business.

Career statistics

Honours

Arsenal *

: 1999–2000 Brentford *

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 ...

: 2008–09

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Halls, John 1982 births Living people Footballers from Islington (district) People educated at Central Foundation Boys' School Premier League players English Football League players English footballers Association football defenders Aldershot Town F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Reading F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Belgian First Division A players K.S.K. Beveren players England youth international footballers