FORMER Premier League centre-back Greg Halford has launched a sensational attack on England legend Stuart Pearce.
Speaking to the Undr the Cosh podcast, Halford, 39, labelled Pearce “the biggest con artist around” and a “compulsive liar”.
Halford made 28 appearances in the Premier League for Reading, Sunderland and Wolves.
And he was managed by England icon Pearce during his time at Nottingham Forest between 2012 and 2014.
Halford did not hold back when asked about Pearce, with his first response to being asked about his experience under him being: “He’s got to be one of the biggest con artists there is.”
He went on to say: “He claims he’s like this psycho and he’s this hard man but he hates confrontation, hates it.”
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He alleges that when Pearce loaned him out to Brighton, he promised that scouts would come and watch every game with a view of reintegrating him back into the Forest first-team once the loan was up.
But Halford claims those promises were never fulfilled and said: “So I come back after the loan and I’m sitting in his office and asked ‘Did you come to any of the games?’ Because I’d gotten three man of the matches at centre-back.
“‘He goes yeah, yeah, yeah… I watched the game at Millwall’ so I called his bluff and said ‘What the game that was on TV?’
“He goes ‘Yeah watched that.’ So I said ‘What about the scouts did they come to all the games?’ He Goes ‘Yeah, got all the scout reports’.
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“So I said can I look at the scout reports please?”
Pearce then said that the reports were in another office to his to which Halford replied: “‘That’s alright, I’m not in a rush, I’ve got all day.'” And said he’d wait while Pearce got the reports.
Halford then said: “So he then literally tried picking me up from my chair and dragging me out of the office. He was just a compulsive liar.”
Pearce has not commented on the allegations.
After falling out with Pearce, Halford left Forest to join Rotherham United, one of the 17 clubs he has played for during his career so far.
The centre-half is still going with his career, albeit on a semi-professional basis now.
The Chelmsford-born stopper now plays for Hashtag United in the non-league Isthmian Premier Division – a team run by famous YouTuber Spencer Owen.
The centre-back will be back in action on Saturday as Hashtag take on Enfield Town.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
