Fitz Hall

Fitz Hall

Hall training with Watford in 2014.
Personal information
Full name	Fitz Benjamin Hall
Date of birth	(1980-12-20) 20 December 1980
Place of birth	Leytonstone, England[1]
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Playing position	Defender, Striker
Youth career
	Senrab
1997–2000	West Ham United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000–2001	Barnet	0	(0)
2001–2002	Chesham United	21	(2)
2002–2003	Oldham Athletic	41	(4)
2003–2004	Southampton	11	(0)
2004–2006	Crystal Palace	75	(3)
2006–2008	Wigan Athletic	25	(0)
2008–2012	Queens Park Rangers	85	(3)
2010	→ Newcastle United (loan)	7	(0)
2012–2014	Watford	26	(1)
Total		291	(13)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Fitz Benjamin Hall (born 20 December 1980) is an English former professional footballer. He played as a defender in his professional career, and as a striker^[2] in amateur football.

Club career

Early career

Hall began his career as a West Ham United youth player on the same day as Paul Konchesky, Bobby Zamora and Jlloyd Samuel but was released at the age of 15. He played for Senrab in Wanstead Flats.^[3] He was also once told that he wasn't good enough to become a professional footballer but found his lucky break through a friend that got him a trial at Barnet^[4] He then joined Barnet as part of a Youth Training Scheme, before moving to non-league Chesham United under the management of Bob Dowie.

Oldham Athletic

Hall's performances at Chesham came to the attention of Dowie's brother Iain, manager of Oldham Athletic, who bought him for £30,000 during the 2001–02 season.^[5] He made his debut in April 2002 against Wycombe Wanderers,^[6] his only appearance of the season.^[7] The following season really saw him shine as he was part of a defence which was only 2nd best to league champions Wigan Athletic and was named in the PFA Team of the Year. Hall scored his first goal for the club against Stockport County in November 2002^[8] and went on to score more important goals that season against Chesterfield,^[9] Brentford^[10] and Mansfield^[11] in the league and Burton Albion in the FA Cup.^[12] In January 2003, Hall signed a new deal, which would have kept him at the club until 2005,^[13] but seven months on following the financial melt down at the club, Hall was sold to Premiership side Southampton for £250,000.^[14] However, he did not manage to break into Southampton's first team on a regular basis.

Crystal Palace

Hall re-joined Iain Dowie at Crystal Palace at the beginning of the 2004–05 season for £1.5m,^[15] and went straight into the first team for the club's first season back in the Premiership.

In August 2005, Hall was appointed team captain of Palace, replacing Michael Hughes following the club's relegation back to the Championship. Many fans felt that Hall's performance was being hindered by the burden of captaincy, and after several poor performances, and several yellow cards, Hughes was re-appointed team captain in January 2006. Despite losing the captaincy, Hall remained in the first team until the end of the season.

Wigan

Hall moved from Palace to Premiership side Wigan Athletic for an undisclosed fee on 26 June 2006.^[16] New Palace boss Peter Taylor cited a £3 million get-out clause in Hall's contract as the reason for the transfer.. On the opening game of the season, Hall made his debut in a 2–1 loss against Newcastle United. During a 4–0 win over Manchester City on 21 October 2006, Hall suffered an ankle ligament damage, following a challenge from Dietmar Hamann^[17] and was out for three weeks. Hall was able on to make his return on 26 November 2006 in a 4–0 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, coming on as a substitute. On 11 February 2007, Hall scored an own goal against Arsenal, to make the score 1–1, before Tomáš Rosický scored a winner. On 21 February 2007, Hall received a straight red card after a challenge on Johan Cavalli in a 1–1 draw against Watford.^[18] After the match, Wigan officially confirmed that they would appeal against Hall's sending off,^[19] but the next day, FA rejected Wigan's appeal, meaning Hall had to serve a three-match ban.^[20] After making a returning from suspension, Hall's career at Wigan went bad to worse after he conceded a penalty against Charlton Athletic following a foul on Marcus Bent, allowing Darren Bent to convert it and score, resulting in Charlton scoring the only goal of the match.^[21] Hall played two more matches before suffering a knee injury, which kept him out for the rest of the season.^[22] The following season proved Hall's last at Wigan after he fell out of favour with Chris Hutchings and then manager Steve Bruce. Clubs in the Championship were reported as tracking him,^[23] and he finally signed for Queen's Park Rangers.

Queens Park Rangers

Hall was one of a number of players brought in by Championship side Queens Park Rangers during the early part of the January 2008 transfer window. He signed a four and a half-year contract, after Rangers paid an undisclosed fee.^[24] Hall scored his first Rangers goal in the first game of the 2008–09 season against Barnsley, and went on to score his second just two minutes later, before having a penalty saved to deny him a hat-trick. Under Neil Warnock's management of QPR, Hall was an everpresent member of the promotion winning squad of the 2010–11 season, and his excellent defensive partnership with Kaspars Gorkšs was influential in Rangers keeping a record number of clean sheets on the way to the Championship title. He initially went on to feature regularly in the Premier League. However, after Warnock was replaced as manager by Mark Hughes, the arrival of Nedum Onuoha saw Hall fall down the Rangers pecking order and he was released by QPR at the end of the 2011–12 season. ^[25]

Newcastle United

On 29 January 2010, Hall was signed on loan by Newcastle United for the rest of the season. He made his debut in the 5–1 win over Cardiff City at St James' Park and put in a solid performance, before being replaced by Tamás Kádár in the closing stages of the game.^[26]

During Newcastle's 2–2 draw with Bristol City at Ashton Gate Stadium on 20 March, Hall injured his hamstring in a chase with Nicky Maynard. After the game, Newcastle United manager Chris Hughton said Hall's injury did not look too good.^[27] Despite this assessment, Hall recovered in time to play in the match that confirmed Newcastle as Football League Championship champions, on 19 April. Following Newcastle's promotion to the Premier League, Hall was keen to make a permanent deal^[28] but it didn't happen, and Hall returned to QPR.

Watford

Hall signed a one-year contract with Watford in July 2012, along with seven new signings.^[29] Having not featured in any of Watford's games in pre-season due to a lack of fitness,^[30] Hall finally made his debut, coming on for Neuton in a second half, as Watford drew 2–2 with Bristol City on 22 September 2012. The next game, Hall scored his first goal in a 3–2 win over Huddersfield Town. Due to several injuries, Hall was limited to just 21 league appearances but remained a key part of Watford's squad as they finished 3rd in the table.

On 22 November 2013, Hall rejoined Watford on a one-month deal having trained with the club previously for a number of months.^[31] Hall made one start and one substitute appearance before his contract expired but was allowed to continue training with Watford under new head coach Giuseppe Sannino.^[32]

On 6 January 2014, Hall joined Watford for a third time after agreeing a new short-term deal.^[33] This was later extended until the end of the season. Along with Lucas Neill and Albert Riera, who were also on short-term contracts, it was confirmed on 4 June that Hall would be departing Vicarage Road at the end of his contract.^[34]

Amateur football

After leaving Watford, Hall signed for Sunday League side Percival, based in Waltham Abbey.^[35] Playing as a striker, Hall scored a hat-trick on his debut as Percival demolished Enfield Rangers 8-0 in their Premier Division fixture^[36] and scored 9 times in 14 league matches during the season.^[37]

International career

In 2003 during his Southampton career, Hall received an unexpected call-up to be eligible to play for Scotland national football team through his grandmother.^[38] However, Hall denied having talk over a possible call-up to the Scotland national team, stating he had heard nothing from manager Berti Vogts.^[39]

Hall is also eligible to play for Barbados^[40] and was called for the Caribbean national team in 2011.^[41] In 2015, he stated that he would like to play for Barbados and would return to professional football if called up.^[42]

Honours

Club

Queens Park Rangers

• Championship: 2010–11

Media

Hall briefly appeared in the opening of the movie The Fifth Element.^[43][44]

References

External links

• Fitz Hall career statistics at Soccerbase
  
• Fitz Hall Career Profile