Anthony James Grant (born 14 November 1974) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former player, he is the assistant head coach of

EFL 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 ...

club

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

. A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, he began his career with

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 Foo ...

club Everton in 1993 and went on to play for

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

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 adop ...

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

and Chester City. He was capped once by

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

. After retiring from playing in 2008, Grant has coached at a variety of clubs and as of 2023 is assistant manager at

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 ...

side

Playing career

Everton

Tony Grant signed as a trainee for Everton. He made his debut for 'The Toffees' two years later in a 1–0 defeat at

in December 1993. He started as Everton won the

1995 FA Charity Shield The 1995 FA Charity Shield (also known as the Littlewoods Pools FA Charity Shield for sponsorship reasons) was the 73rd FA Charity Shield, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Premier League and FA Cup co ...

. He bagged his first league goal at

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 ...

in March 1996. In January 1996, Grant signed for

on loan, where he played three games for 'The Robins', scoring one goal. Three years later, Grant was loaned out again, this time to

where he played eight games for them and scored one goal. His goal came in Tranmere's 2–0 win over

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in the

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 ...

( Steve Yates getting the opener for Rovers). Tranmere would go on to reach the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the League Cup that season, by which time Grant had returned to Everton. Grant's second and final league goal for Everton came in a 2–2 draw at

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

in February 1998.

Manchester City

On Christmas Eve, December 1999, Tony Grant signed for

for a fee of £450,000. Grant made his debut for City in the 2–0 win over West Brom, but during his time at City he never scored. Grant was then loaned out to

in December 2000, where he played five games for 'The Baggies'.

Later career

In October 2001, Grant moved to

signing for a fee of £250,000. Grant soon became regarded as an excellent signing by

Stan Ternent Francis Stanley Ternent (born 16 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. He managed Blackpool, Hull City, Bury, Burnley, Gillingham and Huddersfield Town. He was a scout for Hull City until January 2017. As a manager, he won thre ...

and went on to play 141 games for 'The Clarets', scoring three goals. During his time at Burnley he was most frequently played in the defensive-midfield role, which enabled him to display his range of passing and game-reading ability. Grant became an important member of the team, but was released on a free-transfer at the end of the 2005 season after refusing a new contract offer. He then moved 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 ...

on a free transfer, but only played one game for them; Bristol City's 4–2 League Cup defeat to

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

. In January 2006, after injury problems, Grant signed for Gradi's

, and made ten appearances before the end of the 2005–06 season, but failed to rescue Crewe from relegation to the English

. He signed a new one-year deal to play for Crewe on 1 June 2006. On 31 January 2007, Grant joined

as player–coach. He left the club at the end of the season. On 27 July 2007, Grant completed a move to Chester City, signing a one-year contract under new manager

Bobby Williamson Robert Williamson (born 13 August 1961 in Glasgow) is a Scottish football player and manager. Williamson played as a striker for Clydebank, Rangers, West Bromwich Albion, Rotherham United and Kilmarnock. He then became a manager at Kilma ...

. He scored his only goal for the club in a 2–1 win at

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 ...

on 18 August 2007. He left the club at the end of the season.

Coaching career

Tony became player coach at Crewe Alexander 2006–2007, working closely with Dario Gradi at Championship and League One level. Tony then moved on to Accrington Stanley and Chester City 2007-2009 as first team player coach at League Two level. Tony joined Blackburn Rovers U18 as coach in 2010 to 2012, here he brought new ideas to the club with the emphasis on development. Here they Won the Academy Elite league, finalists in the FA Youth Cup and also the Premier League cup, a feat unrivalled in English Academy system to date. Tony then moved to the First team coach role for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

from 2012 to 2015, here they survived relegation, reached the FA cup quarter final losing by the odd goal to Liverpool, they finished the League in position 7th just missing out on the playoffs. Tony returned to Everton as a first team European scout in October 2016. Named Blackpool's assistant manager on 14 March 2019. In 2020, Grant named the assistant coach of the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

side

SC East Bengal East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (), is an Indian professional multi-sport A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organize ...

, where

Robbie Fowler Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football manager and former player, who most recently managed East Bengal in the Indian Super League. As a player, he was a striker, and is the eighth-highest goalscorer in the history ...

signed as head coach.

References

External links

*
Burnley Career Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Tony 1974 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Everton F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Crewe Alexandra F.C. non-playing staff Accrington Stanley F.C. non-playing staff Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff Everton F.C. non-playing staff Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Forest Green Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Footballers from Liverpool Association football coaches