By Albatross
March 11 2003

The Internet is a wonderful tool for tracking down players. After finding out the whereabouts of Gus Di Lella, it's time to see what another former Hartlepool United player is up to these days....

Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a young player making his way through the ranks at Hartlepool United. He was a skilful forward, and was tipped to go a long way. No, I'm not talking about Adam Boyd; Stephen Halliday, where are you now? If you don't know, read on.....

"Buddy", as he was inevitably nicknamed, made quite an impact early on in his career. He was quick, more than ready to take players on, and if he lacked composure in front of goal - well, he was a young lad, not even out of his teens. With Keith Houchen to act as mentor, there was plenty of hope that he would become a regular goalscorer; and on occasion he looked the part with a vengeance. A Hat-trick against Mansfield in the last game of the 1994/5 season, taking his tally for the season to five, made us think that his breakthrough was about to come.

1995/6 saw a struggling Pools side, leading to the sacking of Keith Houchen and the appointment of Mick Tait. Halliday was one of a very few bright spots for Pools, scoring eight times and displaying his undoubted talents. He was starting to attract attention from the bigger clubs, and although far from the finished article - he all too often held onto the ball too long and his finishing could be woeful at times - fans were starting to think about how much we might get for our young star.

Then, during the summer of 1996 came an infamous incident, and one that made Sunderland highly unpopular amongst many Pools fans. Halliday was wanted by the newly promoted Black Cats, Pools were prepared to let him go - for a price - and he started training on Wearside. Pools' valuation of him was a lot different to that of Peter Reid - who wanted to give us around 50K for a player who at the time was a hot prospect, and a regular for Pools at the age of 20. The transfer tribunal agreed with Pools for once, and put a valuation of 375K on Buddy's head; Reid decided he wasn't prepared to pay that much and promptly sent him back to the Vic. Bear in mind that at the same time Reid was poaching Paul Conlon from under our noses, and it was no wonder Sunderland were unpopular.

Halliday's knockback from his home town club must have been a bitter pill to swallow, and he came back to a Pools side that was once again destined to struggle. Although he stayed for another two seasons, he never quite looked like he would make the big breakthrough we all expected. The 96/7 season saw him once again score eight goals, but by now Poolies were expecting more from him: we were hoping to see him kick on and become a 20 goal a season player, and eight from more than 30 starts didn't fit the bill. The following season - his last in a Pools shirt - saw him score just five times in 36 appearances.

Eventually, he signed for Motherwell for £50K during the summer of 1998. After a great start, by the time he left no-one was particularly surprised. There were concerns though, as we were left somewhat short up front - the following season saw a selection from Craig Midgely, Steve Howard, Stuart Irvine and David Rush up front until the arrival of Gary Jones and Chris Freestone as we struggled against relegation.

He found first team opportunites severely limited at Fir Park though, and towards the end of 1999/00 he joined Carlisle, initially on loan, together with another former Poolie - Rob McKinnon. Although he didn't set Scotland alight, he seems to be remembered with some fondness by 'Well fans.

Ironically, his second game for the Cumbrians saw both ex-Poolies score to dump us out of the LDV - annoyingly, neither would have played but for a series of postponements that saw the game eventually switched to the Vic. He scored eight goals as Carlisle once again staged a great escape - but after being spotted in a nightclub just hours before their final game of the season at Brighton, he was given the chop.

After a brief spell in the Conference at Doncaster, all was forgiven. Atkins re-signed him, and he made regular appearances on the bench for the rest of 2000/1. All was not well at Brunton Park though, and Buddy was about to find himself in the middle of another sacking row.

Carlisle were in all sorts of trouble, with the much-reviled Michael Knighton the main protagonist; money was tight. In early July 2001, they announced that four players had been sacked. One of them was Halliday. To the growing anger of Carlisle fans, it emerged that the reason for the sackings wasn't any sort of misconduct: it was purely to avoid paying them their wages. The PFA got involved, and Carlisle were forced to re-instate the players.

After this inauspicious start, Halliday had a pretty good season, playing a part in most games and scoring seven goals. With his contract up, and Carlisle still in a precarious position, he left. He wasn't the only one - the majority of their first team seemed to follow Buddy out of the door: Ian Stevens went to Shrewsbury, while Mark Winstanley and Steve Soley joined Conference side Southport.

So where did Buddy go?

It's maybe a sign of the times that Halliday - a skilful forward, with over 280 professional appearances to his name, and aged just 26 - didn't find another League, or even Conference club. Instead, if you want to see him play, head for the Archibalds Stadium, home of Durham City. Yes, Buddy is now plying his trade in the Northern League, where he has so far scored 12 goals. He's playing part time, mainly in midfield, and is working in a factory. Also in the side is another former Poolie in Michael Dunwell, who has so far scored 26 goals!

His waistline may be getting him the odd disparaging comment these days (though I've no reason to talk), but Buddy still has the skill and is proving to be a popular player at Durham - visit their Official Site for proof of that. Will he make it back to the professional ranks? Does he want to might be the question to ask: after all, he's hardly likely to earn enough to live a life of luxury when he retires, and like a lot of former Pros he might find it a better bet to stay with a steady job instead of chasing a dream that's already been shattered.

Are there any other former Poolies that you'd like to see featured here? If so, why not drop me a line via the Message Board?