Chadderton boy has done good

City secretary won’t forget his local link

BERNARD Halford has worked with 29 managers and 12 chairman, overseen the signature of more than 2,000 players and watched in excess of 5,000 matches.

No wonder the lifelong Manchester City fan describes the club secretary role he has departed as “the best job in the world”.

There’s nothing Halford, who has become the Blues’ life president, can’t tell you about the Eastlands outfit or Athletic, his hometown club and the place where it all began when Ken Bates made him the country’s youngest club secretary at 23.

Born on May 26, 1941, he grew up in Chadderton, attending St Margaret Mary’s and St Greg’s schools, before passing his 11-plus at Ardwick Green.

At 15 he started work at Malta Mill but just two years later his happy knack of breaking records began — Halford became Lancashire Cotton Corporation’s youngest ever assistant secretary aged 17.

His love of sport was tested more than ever when, at 18, he was told he was too lightweight to make it as a professional rugby player.

“I was crushed, it felt like the rest of my life had been mapped out for me,” Halford recalled.

“I have sympathy for any young person turned away from any sport.”

But six weeks later the gloom lifted when Athletic advertised for an assistant secretary.

“I will always look back on that week in 1960 as the turning point in my life,” he added.

Halford had been handed the opportunity he craved and did what he’s always done — got his head down and worked hard.

When Bates arrived at the club five years later, his assessment of the staff led to what can only be described as a cull — with only Halford and the groundsman avoiding the boot!

“All those people left so I was doing just about everything that needed to be done, except the pitch of course,” said Halford.

“Three months later Ken walked in the office, threw me the keys and made me club secretary there and then.

“People can say what they will about Ken but it was an unbelievable grounding for me. I owe him a lot. He’s got his head screwed on and I learnt so much from him.

“I’ll never forget the time Latics rented the club car park out to the circus when it came to town.

“I got a call at home from Ken at tea-time saying ‘there’s no water for the elephants, get down there’.

“So I raced over to the ground and had to drag a hose and loop it over the wall to keep the elephants and Ken happy!”

Despite having the time of his life at Athletic, the chance to live the dream came along in 1972.

Headhunted by the powers-that-be at Maine Road, there was only one man for the job.

“I was 31-years-old and everything I wanted had come to fruition,” he said.

Nearly four decades of thrills, spills, ups and downs have followed, and Halford — the only non-player in City’s Hall of Fame — has seen them all come and go.

Not that he can ever be accused of abandoning his roots.

“I’ve never lived more than three miles away from where I was born,” Halford said.

“I love Oldham and the surrounding areas, and I love local sport.

“I play bowls for Springbank Veterans every Thursday, I’m president of Failsworth Dynamos and Gregorians AFC, and I’m Manchester’s representative for grassroots football at the FA.

“I’ll never change and I’ll never forget where I came from.

“I couldn’t have done any of this without my wife Karen, who looks after me domestically, which makes it possible to do my job.”