Fitting reward for a Hal-hearted player
IF EVER there was a heartwarming story to prove football isn’t all about money, it was provided by Greg Halford this week.
The last game of a professional career – which had taken in 13 clubs since his Colchester debut in 2003 – had come for Aberdeen in a 3-0 defeat to Celtic in May 2019.
And with the Covid-19 pandemic forcing clubs to cut their cloth, there was a diminishing market for a 36year-old, even one who offers as much versatility as the 6ft 4in long-throw specialist.
But the defender went the extra mile, last month posting on LinkedIn: ‘If there are any clubs out there looking for an experienced and motivated player with over 500 league appearances I’m willing to play for free up to January.’
‘It went a bit nuts,’ Halford said. ‘I had non-league teams trying their luck and that’s understandable but money has never been a motivator for me.’
Instead he trained at Grimsby but it was the EFL’s rockbottom side Southend, who took him up on a one-month deal at 6.30pm on Tuesday.
A couple of hours later he was on the pitch, as a 64thminute substitute against Grimsby – not in his favoured defensive role but up front where he once earned cult status at Nottingham Forest.
Ten minutes later, the dream happened, Halford heading his first league goal since April 2016 to help seal a 3-1 victory.
‘I’ve got to pinch myself, it’s been a long time and long road
back,’ admitted Halford. ‘I’m obviously delighted with the goal – you could see my happiness when I did score.’
The result earned Southend’s first back-to-back wins since October 2018 and Chelmsfordborn Halford will hope to make a similar impact at Mansfield tomorrow, even if the fixture really in his sights will be the Boxing Day meeting with first club Colchester at Roots Hall.
The irony that he could have been turning out for Grimsby was not lost on their manager Ian Holloway.
‘You can’t write it, can you?’ he said. ‘Good luck to him, and he’s scored the winner. He’s a lovely kid so well done to him.’