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Grant Holt (born 12 April 1981) is an English former professional
footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who is currently a scout at
West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
. During his football career, Holt played for a number of non-league and professional clubs, making nearly 100 league appearances for
Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
before signing for
Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...
in 2008 where he became top goalscorer. A year later, he signed for Norwich where he won the
Norwich City Player of the Year The Norwich City Player of the Season award is voted for annually by Norwich City's supporters, in recognition of the best overall performance by an individual player throughout the football season. As a mark of respect, the trophy is named The ...
award in three consecutive seasons, helping Norwich to back-to-back promotions, and became the sixth highest goalscorer in their history. Following his retirement from football Holt became a professional
wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...
, signing with the World Association of Wrestling.


Playing career


Early career

Holt began his career as a youth player at his hometown club Carlisle United, but joined
Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Locat ...
after being released aged 18. Following success at Workington he signed for
Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...
in the Third Division. He scored one goal for Halifax in the Football League Cup against
Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...
, and also went on
loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...
to Australian club
Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...
for one month in 2001 and then to Barrow. He left in 2001 to play for the summer in
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
with Sengkang Marine, under the understanding that he would be signed by Carlisle United on his return. However, Carlisle entered administration and were unable to complete the transfer. Holt moved back to Barrow, taking a part-time job in a factory in the town. Holt spent two seasons at Barrow in the Northern Premier League. He had
trials In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribun ...
with full-time teams but did not get signed until 2003, when
Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...
signed him in March 2003. He made 30 appearances, half of them as a substitute, but only managed four goals. Holt dropped down to
League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
, signing for
Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
, for whom he made 83 appearances and scored 42 goals. Holt views his time as Rochdale as his major break-through and it made him a target for many higher league clubs. It was Nottingham Forest who paid £300,000 to secure his services in January 2006.


Nottingham Forest

Holt made a slow start to his time with Forest, scoring four times in as many months at the end of the 2005–06 campaign. In November 2006, he turned down a move to
Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...
due to personal reasons, after the two clubs had agreed a fee. However, despite being on the bench for approximately half of Forest's matches in the 2006–07 season, he managed to score 18 goals in all competitions to become the club's top scorer. Forest fans recognised Holt's performances by handing him the 'Player of the Season' award. In the summer of 2007, Holt and Forest boss
Colin Calderwood Colin Calderwood (born 20 January 1965) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is the assistant manager at Northampton Town. As a player, he was a centre-back who notably played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hots ...
reached an "uneasy truce" after the striker had a transfer request rebuffed, when Forest refused to give him an improved contract.Holt peace pact with Forest boss
BBC Sport, 9 July 2007; Retrieved 5 May 2012
Holt made it clear that he would be "happy to stay" with Forest for the 2007–08 campaign, while Calderwood admitted "he's not a player we want to see leave". However, Holt failed to impress by only scoring three times all season, although he played out of position as a winger for the majority of the season. In March 2008, Holt signed on loan with
Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...
club, Blackpool, making his debut as a late substitute against Stoke City at the
Britannia Stadium The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was ...
on 22 March. He made four substitute appearances before returning to Forest in the summer of 2008, saying he would like to stay and fight for his place in Forest's team next season, despite interest being shown from his home town club Carlisle United.


Shrewsbury Town

On 24 June 2008,
Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...
broke their club transfer record by signing Holt for £170,000. Holt opened his scoring account for the Shrews on his debut, scoring from the penalty spot against
Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 ...
, in a game the Shrews won 4–0. On 7 October 2008, in a
Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...
second round match against
Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...
, Holt scored five goals in the Shrews' 7–0 win. In the March 2009 edition of ''
FourFourTwo ''FourFourTwo'' is a football magazine published by Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4-4-2. In 2008, it was announced that ''FourFourTwo'' had ...
'', it was stated that Holt was the player to cover the greatest distance per game in both Leagues One and Two, averaging 4.8 kilometres per game. At the end of the season, Holt finished as joint-top scorer with
Jack Lester Jack William Lester (born 8 October 1975) is an English football coach and former professional footballer, who is a first team coach at EFL Championship side of Sheffield United. As a player Sheffield born Lester played as a forward from 1994 ...
for League Two, with 20 League goals, as well as, winning League Two Player of the Year, Shrewsbury Town Player of the Year and named in the League Two PFA Team of the Year for the 2008–09 season.


Norwich City

On 24 July 2009, Holt transferred to
Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
after Shrewsbury Town accepted an undisclosed bid, thought to be £400,000. Holt signed a three-year contract with the option of a further year at Carrow Road. Holt made his debut in the heavy 7–1 opening day defeat to
Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...
at Carrow Road, and scored his first Norwich goals with a hat-trick against
Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...
in a first round
League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
tie on 11 August 2009. His first league goals came with a brace against
Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...
on 22 August 2009. Starting with that game, new manager
Paul Lambert Paul Lambert (born 7 August 1969) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Ipswich Town. Lambert played as a midfielder and won the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren as a 17-year-ol ...
made Holt team captain. He won the League One Player of the Month award for October 2009, for "excellent performances throughout October", a month in which he scored "an impressive five goals in as many league fixtures". He reached the landmark of 20 goals for the season in the home game against
Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...
on 26 December 2009. Holt received his first red card for Norwich City against Brentford on 23 January 2010. He finished the season winning the Norwich City Player of the Year award, having scored 30 goals in 44 appearances in total, as the club finished as champions of
League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...
and earned promotion to the
Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...
. Holt scored his first goals of the
2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
season in the League Cup first round against Gillingham, netting a brace. His first league goal of the season came during stoppage time in a 1–0 away win over Scunthorpe United on 14 August 2010. He scored his first league hat-trick against local rivals
Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
on 28 November 2010. During his time at Norwich he passed the landmark of 150 career goals with a penalty in the first minute in the 3–1 win over
Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...
. He reached the landmark of 50 goals for Norwich City on 2 April 2011 when he scored a hat trick in a 6–0 win against Scunthorpe United at Carrow Road. He was then nominated for the Championship Player of the Year in 2011, but was beaten by Adel Taarabt. He was the winner of Norwich's player of the season for a second consecutive year as the club were automatically promoted to the
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
. Holt started the first game of the 2011–12 Premier League season in Norwich's 1–1 draw at
Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...
, partnering Steve Morison in attack, meaning he had played in all four English divisions. He scored his first Premier League goal in the third game of the season, scoring against
Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
following an error by the goalkeeper
Henrique Hilário Henrique () may refer to: *Henry, Count of Portugal (1066–1112) * Henry I, King of Portugal (1512–1580) * Henry the Navigator (1394–1460), a royal prince and important figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire * Infante Henry, 4th Du ...
.Chelsea 3 – 1 Norwich
BBC Sport, 7 August 2011; Retrieved 27 August 2011
For the first part of the season Holt was used mainly as a substitute, becoming a regular starter again later in the campaign, scoring 15 league goals and being voted the
player of the year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...
for the third season in succession.Grant Holt – My Norwich City achievements will take some time to sink in
''Eastern Daily Press'', 14 May 2012; Retrieved 14 May 2012
He was inducted into the Norwich City Hall of Fame on 20 March 2012. Holt's impressive opening season in the Premier League earned him much acclaim by pundits and managers alike and even conjured talk of a possible place in Roy Hodgson's first England squad for the 2012 European Championship. On 18 May 2012, Holt handed in a transfer request six days after being voted Norwich's Player of the Season for the third year running; the request was immediately rejected by Norwich City. On 1 June, Holt reiterated his request to depart Norwich City via his Twitter account, before signing a new three-year contract with the club on 3 July. He played in 34 league games during the 2012–13 season, scoring eight goals for the club as they again retained their place in the Premier League, including a goal in his final game for the club; a 3–2 victory against Manchester City at the
Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...
.


Wigan Athletic

Holt joined
Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...
on a three-year deal, on 8 July 2013, for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £2 million. He made his Wigan debut on 3 August 2013 and scored in a 4–0 away win against Barnsley. He then scored a penalty in an eventual 2–2 draw with
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...
. On 14 January 2014, Holt joined Aston Villa on loan until the end of the 2013–14 season. Holt made his Aston Villa debut five days later, coming on as a substitute for
Gabriel Agbonlahor Gabriel Imuetinyan Agbonlahor (born 13 October 1986) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward; he mostly played as a central Striker (association football), strike ...
in the 49th minute, in a 2–2 draw against
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
. Holt then scored his first Aston Villa goal, in a 2–1 loss against Fulham on 5 April 2014. Holt went to make ten appearances and scoring once before returning to Wigan at the end of the season. On 27 September 2014, Holt joined
Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...
on an initial emergency loan until 8 November 2014. Holt made his Huddersfield Town debut the same day, coming on as a substitute for Lee Peltier in the 64th minute, in a 2–1 win over
Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...
. His first goal for the club came in their 4–2 win over Blackpool at the
John Smith's Stadium Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of football club Huddersfield Town and rugby league s ...
on 18 October 2014. Following his first goal, Holt had his loan spell with Huddersfield Town extended until 28 December 2014. On 28 December 2014, Holt returned to his parent club Wigan. This came after Holt had a successful operation on his knee, though it kept him out for nine months. On 30 October 2015, he moved on loan to Championship side
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
until 2 January 2016.


Later career

On 18 February 2016, Holt joined
Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
until the end of the season. Holt then signed a one-year contract with Scottish club Hibernian in June 2016. He scored seven goals in 39 appearances for Hibs during the 2016–17 season, as the team won the 2016–17 Scottish Championship. Holt was released by Hibs in May 2017, at the end of his contract. On 9 October 2017, Holt signed for Southern League Premier Division club King's Lynn Town, linking up with manager
Ian Culverhouse Ian Brett Culverhouse (born 22 September 1964) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is currently the manager of Boston United. Culverhouse began his career with Tottenham Hotspur. He found first team opport ...
, who had been assistant manager at
Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
throughout Holt's time with the Canaries. Less than a month later, his former club Barrow made an approach for him to join as a player-coach, with Holt moving to the club in the higher level
National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
. On 16 July 2018, it was announced that Holt would be leaving Barrow. He played three games for
Wroxham Wroxham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Wroxham has an area of 6.21 square kilometres, and in 2001, had a population of 1,532 in 666 households. A reduced population of 1,502 in 653 households ...
in the 2019–20 Eastern Counties Football League and scored two goals, one of which was against South Normanton Athletic in the FA Vase. Holt made three more appearances for Wroxham in January 2022, playing in defence.


Coaching career

Holt's first coaching job was at Barrow, where he acted as a player-coach for the 2017–18 season. In August 2018, Holt announced the end of his playing career and that he has accepted a coaching position with Norwich City, working with the Academy. In December 2021, Holt left Norwich to take up a role as a scout with
West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
.


Career statistics


Wrestling career

In May 2018, Holt signed a professional wrestling contract with WAW. He won his first fight when he was the last man standing in a 40-man Royal Rumble earning him the Crusher Mason Memorial Trophy. In total he wrestled three matches, the last in June 2019, and won all three of them.


Personal life

Holt was born in Carlisle,
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
. He is married and has three daughters.


Honours

Barrow * Northern Premier League President's Cup: 2001–02 Norwich City * Football League One: 2009–10 * Football League Championship runner-up:
2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
Hibernian *
Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...
: 2016–17 Individual * Nottingham Forest Player of the Season: 2006–07 * Football League Two Player of the Month: November 2008 * Football League Two Player of the Year: 2008–09 * PFA Team of the Year: 2008–09 League Two, 2009–10 League One, 2010–11 Championship *
Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...
Player of the Year: 2008–09 * Norwich City Player of the Season: 2009–10,
2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
, 2011–12


References


External links


Grant Holt Interview
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holt, Grant 1981 births Living people Footballers from Carlisle, Cumbria English footballers English expatriate footballers Association football forwards Carlisle United F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Northern Premier League players Expatriate footballers in Singapore Hougang United FC players Singapore Premier League players Hibernian F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players King's Lynn Town F.C. players Wroxham F.C. players English male professional wrestlers Association football scouts West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff