Grant Holt

Grant Holt

Personal information
Full name	Grant Holt
Date of birth	12 April 1981 (1981-04-12)
Place of birth	Carlisle, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Norwich City
Number	9
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999	Workington	11	(11)
1999–2001	Halifax Town	6	(0)
1999–2001	→ Barrow (loan)	4	(1)
2001	Sengkang Marine	14	(12)
2001–2003	Barrow	69	(35)
2003–2004	Sheffield Wednesday	24	(3)
2004–2006	Rochdale	75	(34)
2006–2008	Nottingham Forest	96	(21)
2008	→ Blackpool (loan)	4	(0)
2008–2009	Shrewsbury Town	43	(20)
2009–	Norwich City	108	(54)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:03, 11 February 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Grant Holt (born 12 April 1981, in Carlisle, Cumbria) is an English footballer, currently playing in the Premier League for Norwich City. He plays as a striker and is club captain.

Holt played for a number of non-league and professional clubs, notably making nearly 100 league appearances for Nottingham Forest before signing for Shrewsbury Town in 2008 where he became top goalscorer, from Shrewsbury he signed for Norwich in 2009. The move was an immediate success: in the 2009–10 season, Holt finished the season winning the Norwich City Player of the Year award, after scoring 30 goals in 44 appearances for the club (24 in the league) and was one of the leading scorers in Football League One. In the 2010–11 season, Holt continued to be a prolific scorer, and was runner-up in the League player of the year awards.

Career

Early career

He played for several Conference clubs in his early career, including Barrow, Workington, Halifax Town (for whom he scored once in the League Cup against Tranmere Rovers) and in Singapore with Sengkang Marine, before he was signed by Sheffield Wednesday. He made 30 appearances, half of them as a substitute, but only managed four goals.

For Rochdale, he made 83 appearances and scored 42 goals. This made him a target for many higher league clubs, but 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 due to personal reasons, after the two clubs had agreed a fee. However, despite being on the bench for approximately half of Forest's 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 reached an "uneasy truce" after the striker had a transfer request rebuffed, when Forest refused to give him an improved contract. 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 club, Blackpool, making his debut as a late substitute against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium 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 broke their club transfer record by signing Holt for £175,000. He was revealed at a club press conference along with defender Michael Jackson. Holt opened his scoring account for the Shrews on his debut, scoring from the penalty spot against Macclesfield Town, in a game the Shrews won 4–0.

Holt has now scored on his debut for Sheffield Wednesday, Barrow, Nottingham Forest and Shrewsbury Town.

On 7 October 2008, in a Football League Trophy 2nd Round match against Wycombe Wanderers, Holt scored five of the seven goals (scoring in the 12th, 27th, 80th, 81st and 86th minutes), in the Shrews' 7–0 win.

In the March 2009 edition of FourFourTwo, 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, followed by Adam Le Fondre of Rochdale, and Andy Welsh of Yeovil on 4.1 and 4.0 respectively.

Norwich City

On 24 July 2009, Holt transferred to Norwich City 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 at Carrow Road, and scored his first Norwich goals with a hat-trick against Yeovil Town in a first round Carling Cup tie on 11 August 2009. His first league goals came with a brace against Wycombe Wanderers on 22 August 2009. Starting with that game, new manager Paul Lambert made Holt team captain. He won the Coca-Cola League 1 Player of the Month 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 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 and earned promotion to The Championship.

Holt scored his first goals of the 2010–11 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 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. 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.

Holt started the first game of the 2011–12 Premier League season in Norwich's 1–1 draw at Wigan Athletic, 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 following an error by the goalkeeper Hilario. Despite no longer being an automatic selection in the starting XI and being used mainly as a substitute, he also scored against Liverpool in a 1 -1 draw at Anfield and in the next game where he scored a last gasp penalty in a 3-3 draw with Blackburn Rovers. Holt scored his 3rd goal from coming off the bench netting the winner in a 2-1 victory over Queen's Park Rangers. He then started the game against Newcastle United and scored two free headers. Away at Everton in the next game, Holt scored first in a game eventually drawn 1 - 1. Holt next scored in the FA Cup 3rd round match against Burnley which ended 4-1 to Norwich City. The week after, he set a goal up for striking partner Steve Morrison after Grant Holt came on as a substitute for Canadian striker Simeon Jackson. Holt retained the captain band straight away after coming on, with Wes Hoolahan passing him it straight away.He started against Swansea City without a goal in 8 games. He scored two goals and gave away a penalty.

Career statistics

As of 11 February 2012

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		FL Trophy		Play-Offs		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Sheffield Wednesday	2002–03	7	1	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	7	1
	2003–04	17	2	2	1	1	0	3	0	-	-	23	3
	Total	24	3	2	1	1	0	3	0	-	-	30	4
Rochdale	2003–04	14	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	14	3
	2004–05	40	17	3	5	1	1	1	1	-	-	45	24
	2005–06	21	14	1	0	1	0	1	1	-	-	24	15
	Total	75	34	4	5	2	1	2	2	-	-	83	42
Nottingham Forest	2005–06	19	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	19	4
	2006–07	45	14	4	1	1	0	3	3	1	0	54	18
	2007–08	32	3	1	0	2	0	0	0	-	-	35	3
	Total	96	21	5	1	3	0	3	3	1	0	108	25
Blackpool (loan)	2007–08	4	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	4	0
	Total	4	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	4	0
Shrewsbury Town	2008–09	43	20	1	1	1	0	3	7	3	0	51	28
	Total	43	20	1	1	1	0	3	7	3	0	51	28
Norwich City	2009–10	39	24	2	3	2	3	1	0	-	-	44	30
	2010–11	45	21	1	0	2	2	-	-	-	-	48	23
	2011–12	24	9	2	2	0	0	-	-	-	-	26	11
	Total	108	54	5	5	4	5	1	0	-	-	118	64

Honours

Club

Nottingham Forest

• Football League One Runners-up (Promotion to the Championship (1): 2007–08

Shrewsbury Town

• Football League Two Playoff Finalist: 2008–09

Norwich City

• Football League One Winners (1): 2009–10
• Football League Championship Runners-up (1): 2010–11

Individual

• Nottingham Forest Player of the Year (1): 2006–07
• Football League Two Top Scorer (1): 2008–09*
• PFA League Two Team of the Year (1): 2008–09
• Shrewsbury Town Player of the Year: (1) 2008–09
• PFA League One Team of the Year (1): 2009–10
• Norwich City Player of the Year (2): 2009–10, 2010–11
• PFA Championship Team of the Year (1): 2010–11

(* Jointly shared with Simeon Jackson)

External links

• Grant Holt career stats at Soccerbase

Sporting positions
Preceded by Gary Doherty	Norwich City Captain 2009–	Succeeded by Present
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Lee Croft	Norwich City Player of the Season 2009/10 & 2010/11	Succeeded by Incumbent