HALFORD GETS THE JOB

09 / 01 / 12

Mossley have appointed Steve Halford as the club's new first team Player / Manager and the experienced former Accrington, Droylsden and Hyde central defender will take charge for the first time when the Lilywhites entertain Abbey Hey in the Manchester Premier Cup on Tuesday night.

Steve will be joined by Mossley team-mate Peter Band who has been appointed Player / Assistant Manager.

Stephen Paul "Steve" Halford was born on 21st September 1980 in Bury. Steve started his career at his hometown club where he played 5 games in the Football League, before joining Conference National side Chester City in October 2001.

He then joined Accrington Stanley in 2002 and made 57 appearances, scoring 2 goals for Stanley.

After a brief spell at Radcliffe Borough he joined Droylsden in 2005 , helping them to promotion into the Conference.

In December 2008 he scored the winning goal in Droylsden's FA Cup 1st Round tie with Chesterfield, remarkably taking Droylsden into the second round.

In September 2010 he was released from Droylsden after five years at the club after making 103 league appearances scoring 6 goals.

After his release from Droylsden he signed for their local rivals Hyde on 1st October 2010 making his debut in a 3–1 win at Harrogate Town on 2nd October 2010.

On 4th April 2011, he took over as joint player-manager on a caretaker basis at Hyde after the sacking of Neil Tolson and later that month he was awarded the Hyde Football Club Player's Player of the Year in his debut season with the Tigers.

He was replaced as the joint-manager of Hyde before the start of the 2011–12 season by ex Curzon Ashton manager Gary Lowe and joined Mossley as a player in the close season of 2011.

Steve made his Mossley debut at Ossett Town on the opening day of the current season and went on to make 21 appearances so far, scoring 2 goals.

Steve left Mossley at Christmas and was extremely keen to get into football management. We are delighted to offer him that opportunity and are equally delighted that he has accepted, having turned down several other offers in order to take the job here at Seel Park.

Peter Band was born on 18th December 1973. Peter is a very experienced but still extremely fit central defender who has previously played for Altrincham, Hyde United and Northwich Victoria.

He signed for Mossley in the close season of 2011 from Woodley Sports where he was player / assistant manager last season under ex Mossley boss Chris Wilcock.