John Halls

Arsenal

His career began in Arsenal's youth set-up, where he featured in the FA Youth Cup-winning team of 2000. However, the young defender found first-team football at Highbury hard to come by, making only a few League Cup appearances for the club. The first of these League Cup appearances was as a substitute against Manchester United 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 Colchester United in January 2002 where he made six first-team appearances. The player spent the entire 2002–03 season playing for KSK Beveren in Belgian First Division along with fellow Arsenal 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 on 4 October.

Stoke City

After impressing manager Tony Pulis 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 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, whilst the second was notched in a…

Halls was capped by England at U20 level.

Arsenal

FA Youth Cup: 1999–2000 Brentford

Football League Two: 2008–09