Greg Halford

Greg Halford
Halford in Portsmouth Shirt (2011)
Personnel
Surname	Gregory Halford
birthday	December 8, 1984
place of birth	Chelmsford ,  England
position	Midfield , full-back (right)
Juniors
Years	station
2001-2002	Colchester United
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2002-2007	Colchester United	150 (24)
2003	→  Braintree Town  (loan)	1 0(0)
2007	Reading FC	3 0(0)
2007-2009	Sunderland AFC	8 0(0)
2008	→  Charlton Athletic  (loan)	16 0(2)
2008-2009	→  Sheffield United  (loan)	41 0(4)
2009-2011	Wolverhampton Wanderers	17 0(0)
2010-2011	→  Portsmouth FC  (loan)	33 0(5)
2011–2012	Portsmouth FC	42 0(7)
2012-2015	Nottingham Forest	73 0(7)
2014-2015	→  Brighton & Hove Albion  (loan)	19 0(0)
2015-2017	Rotherham United	35 0(2)
2015-2016	→  Birmingham City  (loan)	3 0(0)
2017-2018	Cardiff City	28 0(0)
2019	Aberdeen FC	2 0(0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
2005	England U-20	4 0(1)
1 Only league games are given. As of July 16, 2019

Gregory "Greg" Halford (born December 8, 1984 in Chelmsford ) is an English football player . The versatile player first matured into a promising talent at the lower class Colchester United . After two failed attempts in the Premier League , the "throw-in specialist" and four-time English U-20 international was under contract with some clubs from England and Scotland from the 2012/13 season.

Athletic career

The career start: Colchester United (2001-07)

At the age of 16, Halford joined the Colchester United youth team in July 2001 . A year later followed the first professional contract with the U's and towards the end of the 2002/03 season the first competitive game in the third-rate Football League One . After this debut, which ended against Luton Town with a hefty 5-0 home defeat on April 21, 2003, he scored the first goal almost a year later in the 2-1 home defeat on March 6, 2004 against Hartlepool United . The 2004/05 season finally brought Halford the breakthrough to become a regular player; at the end of the season he received the award for the best young player and was voted into the team of the year of Football League One. Another highlight was his participation in the Toulon tournament in summer 2005, in which he played his first selection match for the English U-20s against Portugal on June 4, 2005 and his first two days later in a 3-0 win against South Korea Scored for England.

The 2005/06 season brought another great club success when Halford promoted Colchester United to the second-rate Football League Championship - the club had never played at this level in its entire history. Halford finally made a name for himself with top division clubs. Above all, his quality as an “all-purpose weapon”, which enabled him to play in several positions at a similarly high level, became a particular strength. Although his preferred role was that in right midfield, Colchester coach Geraint Williams made him appear more often as a right-back. He also played for the U's in the midfield center and at times even as a center forward; in the latter role, he scored six goals in nine games. His special ability as a throw-in specialist also played a major role in the fact that a not inconsiderable number of goals in the promotion season resulted from throw-ins - Halford himself stated that he could throw the ball over half the pitch. Since some Premier League clubs were interested in a commitment - especially the first division promoted Sheffield United is said to have made a "big offer" - Halford asked for a transfer clearance in August 2006 and openly expressed the wish to play in the English elite class . Colchester United initially rejected the request, but then let his 21-year-old talent move to Reading FC in the winter transfer phase on January 30, 2007 . The transfer fee is said to have been at least £ 2.25 million; the end of the contract period was dated June 2010.

The long road to the Premier League (since 2007)

Parts of this article seem out of date as of 2012 .
Please help to research and insert the missing information .

On March 17, 2007, Halford acted for the first time for his new club and was substituted on at 0-0 against Portsmouth FC in left midfield. The first use from the start followed on April 1, 2007 against Tottenham Hotspur , which was unfortunate with a 0-1 defeat and a controversial hand penalty caused by Halford. After only three appearances for Reading FC, Halford signed a new four-year contract with Sunderland AFC in the summer of 2007 . Roy Keane , who was responsible there, had a special eye on Halford and was ready for this £ 3.5 million investment. It was also a relief that after a short time Reading FC had viewed the Halford team as a failure and rated it as unsuitable for the rest of the team.

In a friendly against fourth division FC Darlington Halford made his debut on July 18, 2007 for the "Black Cats", which was followed just under a month later by the league debut at 2-2 against Birmingham City . However, the second attempt at a Premier League club also failed. Within a short period of time, Halford saw the red card twice for Sunderland AFC and had only eight league games by the end of the year. In January 2008, Keane declared that he was ready to sell Halford; At first, however, one only came to an agreement on loan transactions. For the remainder of the 2007/08 season, Charlton Athletic was the first addressee and in the subsequent season, second division rivals Sheffield United secured the player no longer considered in Sunderland for an entire year.

In Sheffield Halford was on the opening match day against Birmingham City in the eleven of his new loaner club. He quickly established himself with the "Blades", scored the first goal in the 3-1 away win against Blackpool FC two weeks after his debut and reached the play-off games for promotion to the Premier League after the end of the regular season. There he scored the only goal in the semi-final second leg against Preston North End and then stood in the final, which was lost 1-0 to Burnley FC . Nevertheless, Halford's wish for a Premier League participation was fulfilled, as he signed a three-year contract with newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers on July 3, 2009 and made his debut there on August 15, 2009 in the 2-0 home defeat by West Ham United .

On July 11, 2011 Greg Halford moved to Portsmouth FC and signed a three-year contract.

After relegation with Portsmouth from the Football League Championship 2011/12 , he signed on July 27, 2012 a contract with Nottingham Forest .

Web links

• Greg Halford in the soccerbase.com database
• Profile at Nottingham Forest

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Halford makes rapid return to Colchester to say goodbye to players & fans" ( Memento of the original from June 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (readingfc.co.uk)  
2. ↑ "The PFA Team of the Year: Coca-Cola League One" ( Memento of the original from October 20, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PFA)  
3. ↑ "Scouting report: Greg Halford, Colchester United" (The Guardian)
4. ↑ "Halford out to impress" (Sky Sports)
5. ↑ "Royals pay new club record transfer fee to sign Colchester's Greg Halford" ( Memento of the original dated February 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (readingfc.co.uk)  
6. ↑ "Halford: 'no pressure' from price tag" (BBC Berkshire)
7. ^ "Royals take a point from a disappointing game against Portsmouth" ( Memento of the original from February 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (readingfc.co.uk)  
8. ↑ "Highly controversial penalty decision gives Spurs a narrow victory" ( Memento of the original from August 5, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (readingfc.co.uk) 
9. ↑ "Halford moves to Sunderland" ( memento of the original from February 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (readingfc.co.uk)  
10. ↑ "Birmingham 2-2 Sunderland" (BBC Sport)
11. ↑ "Keane set to sell Halford" (Evening Chronicle)
12. ^ "Charlton snap up Halford on loan" (BBC Sport)
13. ↑ "Boss makes double swoop" ( memento of the original from September 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (sufc.co.uk)  
14. ↑ "Birmingham City 1 Sheffield United 0" (thestar.co.uk)
15. ^ "Blackpool 1-3 Sheff Utd" (BBC Sport)
16. ↑ Portsmouth sign Greg Halford from Wolves (BBC Sport)
17. ↑ Nottingham Forest sign Greg Halford from Portsmouth (BBC Sport)