Greg Halford

Colchester United

Halford was born in Chelmsford, Essex. He started his football career in July 2001 when he joined Colchester United'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 on 21 April 2003, and scored his first senior goal in a 2–1 defeat at home to Hartlepool United in March 2004. In the second half of the 2002–03 season, he spent time on loan at Braintree Town and Aylesbury United. 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's 2005–06 League One Team of the Year as Colchester finished as runners-up in League One and gained promotion to the Championship. In over 150 games in five years for the Layer Road 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, preferred to play him at right back. 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 Premier League clubs. According to the player, a "big offer" from Sheffield United was…

Halford was capped for England at U20 level. He made his debut against Portugal in the Toulon Tournament on 4 June 2005, and scored his first international goal in a 3–0 win against South Korea two days later.

Halford was praised for his versatility, to the extent that he was referred to as a utility player. 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 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, who had managed Halford at Rotherham, commented that "he played five or six positions" in the previous season.

In 2023 Halford became one of the first professional footballers to reveal that he is autistic; he also revealed that he had been subjected to discrimination throughout his career due to his perceived failure to 'fit in' with teammates, notably at Reading and by Roy Keane at Sunderland.