Having joined City at the age of 12, skillful central defender Matthew Halliday came to wider awareness when he was in the Norwich City Under 15 squad that won the Northern Ireland Milk Cup in August 2001. At the time he attended Sprowston High School and was offered a place as a first year scholar at the club's academy in January 2003. He accepted and became a full time scholar in July 2003. Sammy Morgan expressed concern in the summer of 2003 that Matthew is "quite slim at the moment and he needs to get bigger and stronger. We may have to be patient with him on that score"

Matthew was the FONCY player of the season for 2004/5 and played for the first team during the 2005/6 pre-season. David Williams said of him in August 2005 "Matthew was consistent all last season and he worked hard to find his feet in the reserves... The early indications for Matthew this season are very positive and I hope that he can now push on from this encouraging start to the new season"

In February 2006, Matthew joined Conference side Hereford on work experience after they had spotted him playing for the reserves against Watford.

At the beginning of April 2006, Matthew was awarded his first professional contract with the Canaries. He made his first team debut as a 90th minute substitute for Adam Drury in the 2-0 League Cup in at Torquay on 23rd August 2006

Halliday and fellow Academy product Rossi Jarvis joined Coca Cola League Two Torquay on a month's loan deal on 25th January 2007 in the hope of regular first team football.

Halliday was one of nine players released on 6th May 2008 having failed to break into the first team during 2007/8

In mid-July 2008, Halliday joined Cambridge United on trial along with Patrick Bexfield, QPR's Aaron Goode and former Manchester United striker Ramon Calliste.Later that summer, Matthew joined Northampton on trial before spending a short spell with Histon.

In late September 2008, Matthew signed for Wroxham, making his debut against Kirkley & Pakefield

In June 2009, Matthew signed for Ryman League newcomers Lowestoft.

At the end of May 2012, Matthew returned to Wroxham, newly promoted to the Ryman League, seeking regular first team football

In June 2013, he was appointed assistant manager of Wroxham's Under-18s.

After seven seasons at Wroxham, he decided to leave for new challenges in the summer of 2017. He then joined Sherringham.

He returned to Wroxham to become Jordan Southgate's Assistant Manager for the 2023/24 campaign. When Southgate stepped down on 18th August 2024 to pursue coaching in a higher division (Lowestoft Town), Halliday was asked to become caretaker manager for the next few games with the support of Darren Plowman and Becky Edge.