Former Portsmouth, Sunderland and Nottingham Forest man joins 22nd club of 21-year career

Despite turning 40 in December, Halford is still playing football at a competitive level and has signed for Bishop Auckland on a loan deal until the end of the season from Blyth Spartans. His new side play in the Northern Premier League Division One East which is the eighth tier of English football.

Bishop Auckland will act as the 21st club of Halford’s career which began almost 22-years ago at Colchester United. For the last four-years he's been playing in the non-league and is using his wealth of experience in the Football League to help inspire his teammates.

He was thrown in to the thick of things, making his debut as a substitute in the final four minutes of a 1-0 win over Gartforth which was played in front of 410 spectators. Halford's new club are now 11th and 10 points off the play-offs.

Greg Halford’s time at Pompey

The six foot four inch defender had two separate spells as a player at Pompey, first as a loan player and then as a permanent signing. He had joined on loan from Wolves for the 2010/11 season, their first season spent back in the Championship after their relegation.

Halford would make 33 appearances that year and returned to Molineux hoping that his loan spell would have made an impression. Wolves instead signed Roger Johnson which allowed Halford to return to Pompey, this time on a permanent basis. He appeared 44 times in all competitions that season but unfortunately they were relegated, and financial difficulties meant that he had to leave.

‘To be honest, it’s a hard thing to put into words quite what happened off the pitch during my two seasons at Fratton Park," said Halford when reflecting on his time on the South Coast to The News during an interview in May 2020.

‘I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone in the football world. You look at Bury and feel for them, yet that could have been us, that really could have been us.

‘Luckily it wasn’t –and the people that are always there week in, week out saved the club.

‘I thought I’d played pretty well at Pompey during my loan and returned to Wolves fully committed and focused on doing the right thing for them,’ he added.

‘Some of the best football of my career was played at Pompey. It was a happy time because of the way I was treated, mainly by the fans, and I had a good rapport with them.

‘When you have a good relationship with the supporters, how can you not enjoy yourself? I will be forever grateful how they treated me and hopefully I repaid them a little on the pitch.’

His career

Colchester United is where Halford spent the majority of his career. He began there and made 163 appearances for them, spanning over five seasons.

Reading signed him when they were in the Premier League but only played him three times. Sunderland also signed him and he appeared eight times for the Black Cats but had loan spells at Charlton Athletic and Sunderland.

Wolves later recruited him for the 2009/10 season where he appeared 16 times before a move to Pompey, After leaving Fratton Park he headed to Nottingham Forest and later Brighton & Hove Albion, Rotherham United, Birmingham City, and Cardiff City.

After joining from Aberdeen, Southend United were his last professional club; since 2021, he’s been playing semi-professional football. He played in the top-flight of football in Ireland with Waterford before returning to England with Billericay Town, later turning out for Hashtag United, Bishop’s Stortford and Blyth Spartans.