Golcar United midfielder Alex Hallam has confirmed he is retiring from football after seven years at the club.
Joining the Weavers in the 2016-17 season Hallam, now 34, went on to play for the club 178 times scoring 65 goals. He very quickly became a fans’ favourite and achieved three promotions with the club.
Hallam thought long and hard about retirement and said: “This decision hasn’t been an easy one and at the end of the last season I was just open and honest with Ash (Connor, Golcar manager) and said I was thinking about retiring. I am 34, I’ve had a few injuries and I was finding it difficult to get back from work for games.
“I work in events and I have to travel quite a lot. I go down to London to our head office once a week and sometimes I’d be ringing Ash up on the day of a game saying I might be late because of train delays. That’s not good for the team or me.
“When Ash and Gav were asking each player if they were happy to stay on I was just open and honest with them. They have been very supportive of my decision.”
Looking back at his time at Golcar he added: “When I signed for Golcar I had played at semi-pro level before, but I fell out of love with it and the demands of it, so I dropped to amateur level. At the time Golcar were just starting to build something in terms of the whole club and it was quite exciting.
“In those early years at Golcar I found my love for the game game again and enjoyed playing. We obviously got promoted to the North West Counties division and I scored the winning goal in the club’s first game at semi-pro level when we beat Prestwich Heys 2-1. That was a great memory.
“I think the most memorable year was when we won promotion in 2022 to the Northern Counties East League Premier Division and we won the play-off final with that Ben Burnett goal. Those celebrations at that game and afterwards is something I will never forget. It was a very special time.”
Hallam is confident the club will keep moving forward and he says ‘never say never’ on the possibility of him returning however unlikely that prospect seems right now.
He added: “I am quite definite at the moment on announcing my retirement but then again we’ll see how I feel when the games start again.
“I know many players have stopped playing but then when the season starts they still have that buzz and want to go back. I have enjoyed not thinking about football in the last month or two and just concentrated on life generally but I’ll be interested to see whether I get that bug to go back.
“I can’t see myself returning to Golcar but you never know. I think more likely it’ll be at an amateur club again where i’ll play if I do get back into the game. We’ll see anyway, I’m just enjoying life right now.
“The club can continue to grow and it is doing all the time. I really believe they can go as high as they want. It is a difficult league the Northern Counties East League but, as we showed last year, when you have a solid dressing room and team you can pick up momentum and results.
“It would be a fantastic effort if the club got promoted again next season. Despite not playing for the club anymore I will still go down and cheer the lads on. Golcar is my club and I was proud to play for the managers, team, club on the whole and the fans. I wish them all the very best next season.”
Since the announcement of Hallam’s departure the club has also confirmed star striker Kayle Price will be moving on. Having scored 30 goals in all competitions for the club last campaign, Price has been tempted away by an offer from a different club.
Golcar have been able to keep hold of other key players though and they include:
Harry Stead
Dan Stocker
Joe Skarz
Leon Henry
Kiero Lawrence
Slater Barnes
Adam Field
Lee Bradshaw
James Hurtley
Max Leonard
Dan Naidole
Nathan Woodward
Josh Lang
Jenson McAliskey
Buddy Cox
Kai Phillip
The club starts its pre-season fixtures at home to Nostell on July 8. They then take on Shelley, Ashton Town, Rotherham United, Bury and Huddersfield Town.
