Mick Halsall

Michael Halsall (born 21 July 1961) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder. He scored 42 goals in 389 appearances in the Football League, playing for Birmingham City, Carlisle United, Grimsby Town and Peterborough United.[1]

Mick Halsall
Personal information
Full name Michael Halsall
Date of birth (1961-07-21) 21 July 1961
Place of birth Bootle, England
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1977–1979 Liverpool
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1979–1983 Liverpool 0 (0)
1983–1984 Birmingham City 36 (3)
1984–1987 Carlisle United 92 (11)
1987 Grimsby Town 12 (0)
1987–1993 Peterborough United 249 (28)
1996 Finn Harps 1 (0)
Teams managed
1995–1996 Peterborough United
2006 Walsall (caretaker)
2014 Notts County (caretaker)
2015–2016 Notts County (caretaker)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He has also worked as a manager with Peterborough United and as caretaker manager at Walsall and at Wolverhampton Wanderers youth academy, as of 2014 as professional lead coach.

In August 2014 he joined Notts County, and has had two spells there as caretaker manager.

Playing career

Halsall was born in Bootle, Merseyside. He began his football career as an apprentice with Liverpool in 1977 and turned professional in 1979, but in six years with the club he never played for the first team. He moved on to Birmingham City,[2] and went straight into the starting eleven for the First Division game away to West Bromwich Albion on 19 March 1983. Birmingham lost that game 2–0, but Halsall played in all but one of the remaining games of the 1982–83 season, in which the team won five of the last six games to avoid relegation, and scored his first goal for Birmingham in the penultimate game against Tottenham Hotspur.[3][4] Halsall began the following season as a first-team regular, but despite demonstrating his enthusiasm and capacity for hard work, he gradually lost his hold on a starting place. He was sent off in his last appearance for the club, in a League Cup tie in October 1984, and was promptly sold to Carlisle United for a fee of £5,000.[2][5]

When Halsall joined Carlisle, they were in the Second Division;[6] by the time he left for Grimsby Town two-and-a-half years later, for a fee of £10,000,[2] they were well on the way to the Fourth.[7] Grimsby sold Halsall on to Peterborough United for a fee of £25,000 during the 1987 close season.[2]

Halsall spent six seasons as a player with Peterborough, and played 249 league games.[1] He captained the club to promotion from the Fourth Division in the 1990–91 season, to a run of nine consecutive wins the following season which contributed to their reaching sixth place in the Third Division, qualifying for the play-offs, and winning promotion to the second tier of English football for the first time in the club's history.[8][9] The Peterborough Evening Telegraph's "A to Z of Posh" feature summed him up as follows:

Have Posh ever had a better captain than Mick HALSALL? It's doubtful as his tireless, passionate performances made him a club legend even before he lifted the Division Three Play-off trophy at Wembley in 1992.[10]

Coaching career

In his last season as a Peterborough player he became involved on the coaching side, and in January 1994 he was appointed assistant manager to Chris Turner after the departure of Lil Fuccillo.[11] He then worked under John Still before being appointed manager in October 1995 after Still's departure.[12] Halsall reverted to coaching when Barry Fry took over the club in June 1996,[13] only to be sacked as an economy measure a few months later.[14]

In November 1996, shortly after leaving Peterborough, Halsall made one playing appearance for Finn Harps in a League of Ireland match at Derry City.[15]

Halsall worked for a private football academy[16] and as assistant to John Still at Barnet[17] before joining the coaching staff at Walsall in the 1998–99 season. His main concern was with youth development, though as time went on he had more involvement with the first team, until in October 2002 he was appointed first team coach by manager Colin Lee.[18] In March 2004, the appointment of Paul Bracewell as assistant manager allowed Halsall to return to the post of Head of Youth Development.[19] After Lee's departure soon afterwards, Halsall offered assistance to player-manager Paul Merson, but was unwilling to accept the role of first-team coach.[20] When Merson left in early 2006, Halsall acted as caretaker manager for three matches, but refused any more permanent tenure.[21]

Halsall earned himself an excellent reputation in bringing young players through to first-team level, and in January 2009 he was approached by Premier League club Stoke City to manage their youth academy. Walsall's chairman refused to accept Halsall's resignation, but said he would not stand in his way provided that Stoke paid adequate compensation for the loss of his services.[22] Halsall decided to stay at Walsall.[23]

He joined Midlands neighbours Wolverhampton Wanderers in July 2009 as assistant academy manager and under-18's coach where he loved to run them.[24] After a spell as reserve-team coach in 2012, as of 2014 Halsall is professional lead coach at the academy.[25]

On 8 August 2014 Halsall was appointed Notts County Head of Academy Coaching.[26] On 18 September 2015 he was appointed as the club's new Academy Manager.[27] On 29 December he was appointed joint caretaker manager of Notts County.[28]

As of 2018, he is Head of Coaching at the Coventry City academy.[29]

References
  1. "Mick Halsall". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  2. Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  3. Matthews, p. 218.
  4. Harrison, Paul (9 May 1983). "No blues in the rainbow". The Times. p. 18. Birmingham's players responded with their fourth win in five games, one which took them out of the bottom three for the first time this season ... Tottenham were well and truly unhinged by Phillips's ball to the fast and creative Handysides, whose centre left the unmarked Halsall to stab into the net after 16 minutes.
  5. Matthews, pp. 219–20.
  6. "Season 1984–85: Back to Mediocrity". Carlisle United Online Archive. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
  7. "Season 1986–87: On the Crest of a Slump". Carlisle United Online Archive. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
  8. "Record breakers are not finished yet". Peterborough Evening Telegraph. 14 March 2008. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
    "Peterborough United 2 v Stockport County 1". LondonRoad.net. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
  9. "2005 Articles". The Posh Supporters' Trust. Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. However, among [Steve Collins's] team mates were three players who were destined to help propel Posh through consecutive promotions into the new Division 1 – Noel Luke, Mick Halsall and Worrell Sterling.
  10. Alan, Swann (4 October 2008). "A to Z of Posh: H". Peterborough Evening Telegraph. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  11. Ridley, Ian (7 January 1994). "Turner aims to paint new Posh picture: Peterborough bank on having an effect on Tottenham". The Independent. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
  12. "Posh Stats & Records". Peterborough United F.C. 15 December 2008. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011.
  13. "Leeds poised to sell". The Independent. 1 June 1996. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
    "Mick Halsall's Career". Up The Posh!. Chris Wilkinson. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
  14. "Ex-Manager Will Be Posh Spy in the Stand Next Season". Peterborough United F.C. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
  15. "Derry too strong for Finn Harps". Irish Times. 25 November 1996.
  16. Halford, Brian (24 March 2009). "Walsall hand youth role to Fogarty". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  17. Signy, Dennis. "Signy Says". Barnet F.C. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012.
  18. "Exclusive! New First-Team Coach Announced..." Walsall F.C. 7 October 2002. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012.
  19. "Youth Coaches Depart". Walsall F.C. 12 March 2004. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012.
  20. "Merson Happy With Halsall". Walsall F.C. 10 February 2005. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012.
  21. "Past Managers". Walsall F.C. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012.
  22. Halford, Brian (22 January 2009). "Mick Halsall can go for the right fee". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  23. Walker, Andy (5 February 2009). "Saddlers' head of youth Mick Halsall rejects Stoke approach". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  24. "Halsall Joins Academy". Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. 8 July 2009. Archived from the original on 10 March 2012.
  25. "Wolverhampton Wanderers FC Academy Staff". Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  26. http://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/article/mick-halsall-appointed-notts-county-head-of-academy-coaching-1814158.aspx Head of Academy Coaching at Notts County
  27. http://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/article/mick-halsall-appointed-academy-manager-2697326.aspx Academy Manager
  28. http://www.nottinghampost.com/Mick-Halsall-ruled-running-Notts-County-boss/story-28440384-detail/story.html Caretaker manager at Notts County
  29. https://www.ccfc.co.uk/teams/Academy-Staff/
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