If a player becomes a top performer at Stoke City, kicks alongside Thierry Henry at Arsenal and yet his football career is not the greatest success – then it must be a curious story. This is about John Halls, who now earns his money as a top model.
He was a strong soccer player, but now makes his money from modeling. And even more: The Brit is now even a top model. So let’s take a look at this extraordinary development from the start.
It all started back then when he won the FA Youth Cup in an Arsenal shirt. That same success would lead to Halls being called up to the senior squad.
“I was very fortunate and privileged to break through at a club like Arsenal. It was only when I left Arsenal that I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’ve been training with Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp every day,'” he said.
Today he looks self-critically at his view of things at the time and underlined: “Back then I was a conceited young man who thought I was better than everyone else, who thought: ‘I should play in front of him and him.'”
Halls’ move to Stoke: ‘Didn’t want to return to Arsenal’
Despite confidence in his own abilities, Halls’ options were limited. He still saw his future with the Gunners on loan to Colchester United and Beveren, but that changed when coach Tony Pulis brought him on loan to Stoke City in 2003.
The move to Stoke City should change things for the defensive midfielder and right-back. Although he explains that it is “always difficult to leave a club like Arsenal”, not least because the departure also meant having to switch to the second English division.
However, Halls really blossomed at Stoke and was signed on in the same year. “But I went to Stoke City on loan and played every game for two months. I didn’t want to go back to Arsenal at the time, I loved it,” he said.
Now one might think that Halls would not regret this change. In fact, he sees things differently today, emphasizing: “In retrospect, I think maybe I should have stayed at Arsenal because who knows what would have happened then, but back then I wanted to play.”
John Halls: A stone’s throw from Emirates
Halls, who still lives a stone’s throw from the Emirates Stadium, spent just over two years at Stoke before the departure of coach Pulis and contractual disagreements saw him join Championship rivals Reading.
In his two years at Reading, Halls only played two league games – including a Premier League game against Bolton. It should remain the only appearance in the English top flight.
This next stop “didn’t work out,” Halls admits today. “I didn’t suit their style. They used their full-backs to play the ball down the wings, with safe balls, which didn’t suit my game at all.”
The Reading period was also to end happily due to injury problems. More injury-plagued spells followed at Aldershot and Wycombe before he retired aged 30 in 2012 with an Achilles tendon problem.
The physical difficulties also came about because of disciplinary issues, as Halls self-critically acknowledged: “I liked going out, I won’t lie. I had a lot of friends who liked going out and I enjoyed it.”
Hall’s modeling career begins: encounter at mall opened door
So how did the modeling career, which is still successful today, come about? This development is also quite strange. Because right after the end of your football career, an encounter in a shopping center should open the door to modelling.
Halls said: “I was really lucky, I left Wycombe and about five or six days later I was in a mall when my current agents approached me and asked if I wanted to start modeling, so I gave it a go. “
Hall’s sister recognized his talent in the fashion industry while he was still playing professional football. “Before that my sister got me to go to a few agencies when I was still playing and she convinced me that it was something I could do. I did a tryout for my agents and they got me contracted.”
Halls, now 40, quickly became a top model. “I’ve worked with Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Marks & Spencers, Next and H&M, so I’ve been really lucky. It’s taken me all over the world, which is really nice, especially when you don’t have to pay for it,” he reported.
Halls has endured both a cold, rainy night in Stoke and the catwalk in Milan. He even sees similarities between the two industries, highlighting confidence as an “important factor”. So does he feel more comfortable modeling than on the soccer field?
Not at all, as he explained: “But on the catwalk you have to show up four hours before the runway, even though it only takes 30 seconds. In the four hours you just want to get it over with, but there are people who will touch your hair and yours Making clothes, so you have to wait all the time. It’s pretty boring. I’d rather play a football game.”
Either way, Halls has already proven his talent on both occasions. Would staying at Arsenal have made him an even bigger footballer back then? That remains speculative. In any case, a real top model would have escaped the catwalks worldwide.
