In unlaced Yeezy trainers and a black designer coat with garish fur trim, Greg Halford appears a model of the modern footballer.
But he has lasted longer than a season at just four of them, in part because he’s always struggled to fit in. Eight years ago, he found out why. “I wouldn’t have changed anything, purely because I may not have turned out the way I am now,” he says. “I always thought I was … unique. I didn’t need a diagnosis to tell me that. I felt like I had more empathy towards people, I could read body language a bit better. I could see things coming before they’d happened to a certain point.“Would I have made the same mistakes if I did know? I don’t know, but I’m happy with the person that I turned into.
“No. Simple. Football is based around money. Players are commodities. Until football isn’t run as a business, I can’t see changing. At the minute, if players don’t fit in, if they’re not performing, then we cast them aside and bring new ones in.” “I want to be a part of instigating that change. Football is a brutal business and something has to give. If they’re going through players left and right, then they are losing money. That’s the last thing a business wants to do.
And Halford has played under enough managers to know what makes a good one. “I work best with coaches who showed me respect, and treated me like a person, not a footballer,” he says. “People like Neil Warnock, Billy Davies, Michael Appleton. One of the key challenges of Halford’s peripatetic career has been overcoming the autistic aversion to change, something he struggled with early on but now views as hugely beneficial.
He also discusses the impact of mirroring and masking, autistic methods for trying to fit in by copying neurotypical behaviours. Aside from creating a complex relationship with your own identity, the process of trying to be someone you’re not is utterly exhausting. “It all started when I was at Colchester. The senior players said that I was big time, but that was purely based on me looking different and playing different. I had a lot of attention around me in terms of moving clubs at that stage. I wore bright boots.
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