FPA Focus | Greg Halford
In our next FPA Focus, we caught up with former Bluebird Greg Halford, who discussed his time in the Welsh capital, calling time on his playing career, and much more…
Greg recently announced his retirement from football, having had a highly successful time in the game. He began his senior playing days at Colchester United in 2002, going on to have an impressive 23-year career.
“I’m immensely proud of what I’ve done, very happy with what I’ve achieved,” Greg began.
“It was nice to have so many messages from fans and fellow professionals when I announced my retirement.
“There were a lot of messages from Cardiff City specifically, which was overwhelming for me. It was really nice.”
Chelmsford-born Halford joined the Bluebirds in January 2017 from Rotherham United and quickly became a popular figure at the Club.
His second season saw him play an important part in City’s promotion to the Premier League.
Greg continued: “First of all, it was Neil Warnock that attracted me to the Club. I had worked under him at Rotherham United and as soon as Cardiff City came knocking, that was the only club that I wanted to sign for.
“It was a great place to live and had so many nice people. I can’t speak highly enough of the Club, from the top to the bottom. I loved every minute there.
“It was probably the best dressing room that I’ve been a part of. If you have a changing room like that where everyone gets along and there’s no bad eggs, you can achieve a lot.
“We spent a lot of time outside of football together as well and if you have that, you’re more likely to be successful in whatever league you’re in.
“To top that off, having Neil and his coaching staff got us over the line. We probably weren’t the best footballing side in the league that season but what we did have was a togetherness and a work ethic that meant we would run through a brick wall for each other and overrun teams.”
The Bluebirds made a stunning start to the 2017/18 season, putting themselves in a great position to secure a place in the top-flight.
In the final few months of the campaign, Greg concluded by recalling the journey to promotion.
“I think once we got to February, we were looking at possibly getting promoted but nobody was letting themselves speak about it out loud. The time that I knew for sure that we were going up was when we beat Bristol City in March.
“When Kenneth Zohore scored that goal, we all celebrated like that was the promotion-winning game. Beating our local rivals and the size of the game, you could hear from the crowd that it was a relief.
“That was the time that I thought we would do it that season.”
“It has got to be one of my favourite years as a professional. To be a part of that group and to work for Neil, to live in Cardiff and be a part of it, the end result was special.
“The fans played a massive part for us that season, even when we went through slightly rocky times, they stuck with us and saw what we were trying to achieve.
“Everyone was on board and drove the standards. They got us over that line.”