John Halls

Infobox Football biography
playername = John Halls


fullname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1982|2|14|df=yes
cityofbirth = Islington
countryofbirth = England
height = 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
position = Defender
currentclub = Brentford
clubnumber = 26
contractend =
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 2000–2003
2002
2002–2003
2003
2003–2006
2006–2008
2007
2008
2008
2008–
clubs = Arsenal
→ Colchester United (loan)
→ KSK Beveren (loan)
→ Stoke City (loan)
Stoke City
Reading
→ Preston North End (loan)
→ Crystal Palace (loan)
→ Sheffield United (loan)
Brentford
caps(goals) = 00 (0)
06 (0)
06 (0)
08 (0)
61 (2)
02 (1)
04 (0)
05 (0)
06 (0)
01 (0)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = 09:18, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate =

John Halls (born 14 February 1982 in Islington, London) is a professional footballer currently playing for Brentford. He is primarily a right-sided full back but is also capable of playing in midfield and other defensive positions.

Football career

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 Belgium's Second 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

toke

After impressing manager Tony Pulis during his loan spell Halls joined Stoke on a permanent basis in December 2003 and spent a little over 2 years at the Britannia Stadium before his departure in January 2006.

During this period he featured in a total of 66 games (plus 8 whilst on loan) and scored 2 goals. Both of these goals were scored in consecutive matches during August 2005 as Halls enjoyed somewhat of a purple patch in front of goal. The first came in a 4-2 defeat at Leicester City [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4127000.stm "Leicester 4 Stoke 2"] " BBC Sport " 2005-08-09. Retrieved on 2008-07-21] whilst the second was notched in a 1-0 defeat of Millwall [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4127048.stm "Millwall 0 Stoke 1"] " BBC Sport " 2005-08-12. Retrieved on 2008-07-21] . Halls also accumulated a total of three red cards during his time at Stoke.

His last appearance in a Stoke shirt was on the 28 December 2005 at home to Leeds United [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4538046.stm "Stoke 0 Leeds 1"] " BBC Sport " 2005-12-28. Retrieved on 2008-07-21] .

Halls' contract was due to expire in the summer of 2006 but the player had expressed a desire to seek pastures new [ [http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10306~19071,00.html "Halls' profile"] " readingfc.co.uk ". Retrieved on 2008-07-21] , provoking a number of clubs to show an interest in capturing his signature.

Reading

High-flying Reading paid an initial fee of 250,000 for Halls' services on 19 January 2006. Fellow Championship sides Crystal Palace and Southampton had both shown interest in signing Halls at the time. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/reading/4627512.stm "Halls' Royal Appointment"] , "BBC Sport" 2006-01-19. Retrieved on 2008-07-21]

Halls made his Reading debut in a 4th round FA Cup tie versus Birmingham on 28 January 2006. This match finished 1-1 [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/4634308.stm "Reading 1 Birmingham 1"] , "BBC Sport" 2006-01-28. Retrieved on 2008-07-21] with Birmingham proceeding to the next round after a replay [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/4680422.stm "Birmingham 2 Reading 1"] , "BBC Sport" 2006-02-07. Retrieved on 2008-07-21] . He had to bide his time until making his league bow in April 2006, ironically this game was against his former employers Stoke, perhaps even more ironic is the fact that Halls also scored in this game, helping Reading to a 3-1 victory [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4906694.stm "Reading 3 Stoke 1"] , "BBC Sport" 2006-04-17. Retrieved on 2008-07-21] .

The player found his first team chances limited after Reading's promotion in 2006. In the 2006-07 season he did not make a single Premier League appearance, having to settle for two League Cup appearances. His chances of breaking into the first team were hampered by an achilles injury which plagued him throughout the season.

Halls' one and only Premier League appearance to date was away at Bolton Wanderers in August 2007 [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/6952878.stm "Bolton 3 Reading 0"] , "BBC Sport" 2007-08-25. Retrieved on 2008-07-20] . This was followed by two more League Cup run-out's, one of which was a game at home to Liverpool in which Halls scored [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/7008013.stm "Reading 2 Liverpool 4"] , "BBC Sport" 2007-09-25. Retrieved on 2008-07-20] . As first team opportunities again proved scarce at the Madejski Stadium he was loaned out on three separate occasions in the 2007-08 season. Halls was loaned out to Championship sides Preston [ [http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~1156441,00.html "Halls joins Preston on loan"] , "readingfc.co.uk" 2007-11-01. Retrieved on 2008-07-20] , Crystal Palace [ [http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~1210737,00.html "Halls joins Palace on loan"] , "readingfc.co.uk" 2008-01-09. Retrieved on 2008-07-20] and Sheffield United [ [http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~1265699,00.html "Halls joins Sheffield United on loan"] , "readingfc.co.uk" 2008-03-14. Retrieved on 2008-07-20] , making a handful of appearances for each.

Despite Reading's relegation into The Championship Halls was released by the club on 16 May 2008. [cite news | date=2008-05-16 | url=http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~1314021,00.html | title=Four offered deals, six released | work=readingfc.co.uk | accessdate=2008-05-16] During his two and a half year stay at Reading he made only 8 first-team appearances, the majority of which came in cup competitions.

July 2008 -

On 19 July Halls featured in a pre-season match for Blackpool, with whom he was on trial. The match was played at Wrexham's Racecourse Ground and finished goalless. [ [http://www.blackpoolfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10432~1347360,00.html "Pre-season friendly ends in stalemate"] , "blackpoolfc.co.uk" 2008-07-19. Retrieved on 2008-07-20.]

August 2008 -

On 26 August it was announced on the official Sheffield Wednesday website that Halls had joined the club on trial. Halls will play in a friendly against Shrewsbury Town on the 27 August. [http://www.swfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,10304~1375399,00.html] Halls was reject by Sheffield Wednesday after failing to impress in a 6 - 2 defeat against Shrewsbury Town.

Brentford

Halls joined Brentford on a one-year deal on September 25 2008.

References

External links

*soccerbase|23836|John Halls

Persondata
NAME=Halls, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH=14 February 1982
PLACE OF BIRTH=Islington, London
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=