Peter Grant (footballer)

Peter Grant
Personal information
Full namePeter Grant
Date of birth30 August 1965
Place of birthBellshill, Scotland
Playing positionMidfielder
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1982–1997Celtic362(15)
1997–1999Norwich City68(3)
1999–2000Reading29(1)
2000–2002Bournemouth15(0)
National team
1989Scotland2(0)
Teams managed
2006–2007Norwich City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Peter Grant (born 30 August 1965 in Bellshill) is a Scottish football player and manager. During his playing career, Grant played for Celtic, Norwich City, Reading and Bournemouth. He was awarded a testimonial match against Bayern Munich by Celtic in 1997. Grant has sinced worked as a football coach, and was manager of Norwich City for a year.

Playing career

Grant made his debut as a teenager for Celtic in an Old Firm game against Rangers. He was a key figure in league campaigns, such as the 1985–86 Scottish Premier Division which Celtic won in the last game of the season, the 1987–88 centenary season where Celtic clinched the league and cup double, and the 1989 Scottish Cup Final against Rangers. Grant played in the 1989 final but missed the the 1988 final due to injury.

Celtic would experience a barren period after the 1989 final, consistently failing to challenge for silverware, and almost going bankrupt in 1993. 1994 saw the arrival of Grant's former team mate Tommy Burns as Celtic manager, who saw Grant as being pivotal in his plans to revive the club. The barren period would end in 1995 with Celtic winning the 1995 Scottish Cup Final against Airdrie, with Grant a key figure in the team. Only a few weeks before, Grant had received a bad knee injury in the final league game of the season, but he concealed the severity of this injury and played through the pain barrier so as he could help Celtic to their first trophy in 6 years. Grant went on to be a key figure in the 1995–96 season. His loyalty to Celtic was rewarded with a testimonial match against Bayern Munich in January 1997.[1]

After making 361 appearances for Celtic between 1982 and 1997, Grant signed for Norwich City for a fee of £200,000. Mike Walker, in his second stint as Norwich City manager, had previously tried to sign Grant soon after taking over from Dave Stringer at Carrow Road in 1992 - however, Celtic had been unwilling to let Grant leave, and Walker opted for Gary Megson as a midfielder enforcer.

After deciding against taking on former Barcelona captain (and European Cup winner) Jose Maria Bakero, Walker this time found Celtic willing to let Grant — now 32 - move to East Anglia. In 1997–98, a difficult season with the club suffering a number of injuries to key players, Grant started 32 games, scoring 3 times; he made 31 starts (coming on as substitute twice) the following season under Bruce Rioch, before being transferred to Reading in summer 1999.

Management and coaching career

After serving Bournemouth as player-coach and then assistant manager, Grant enjoyed a successful time as assistant manager to Alan Pardew at West Ham, helping them reach the 2006 FA Cup Final and finish ninth in their first season back in the English Premier League.

In October 2006 Peter Grant was appointed manager of Norwich City, leaving his position as Alan Pardew's assistant manager at West Ham United.[2] On 14 October he was in the stands to see his new side draw 3-3 with Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road, presided over by caretaker manager Martin Hunter.[3] Grant opted to retain Hunter, but appointed a new assistant manager, Jim Duffy.[4] Hunter eventually left the club in the summer of 2007 to take up a coaching position at Watford. Grant's first signing for Norwich was Jamie Ashdown from Portsmouth on a one-month loan. Grant generally made a good start to his managerial career only losing 2 league games out of his first 6 although this was a heavy 5-0 defeat to Stoke and a defeat to local rivals Ipswich. They did get wins against high flying teams such as Birmingham and Cardiff. However following this City only won once in the league in December and January which put them very close to the relegation zone. At one point City were only three points off the drop zone although two consecutive away wins at relegation rivals Barnsley and Luton all but ended any fears of relegation and City finished the season off in 16th.

In the summer of 2007 Grant prepared for his first full season in charge at Carrow Road by signing Jamie Cureton, Jon Otsemobor, David Marshall. He also signed Julien Brellier and David Strihavka, both of whom struggled to perform and left by January. However, he expressed his frustration at losing Rob Earnshaw and Dickson Etuhu as a result of buy-out clauses in their contracts. City's season started with a goalless draw at Preston and a 2-1 home win against Southampton. After this it all started to go wrong and City only picked up one win in the next few games, against Crystal Palace. After this City went on a disastrous run losing 5 out of their six games and failing to score in any of them. The last game of this run was a televised 1-0 defeat to QPR who had yet to register a win in the season. Grant announced after the match he was considering his future at the club and the next day he resigned as manager after just one year in charge.

On 8 July 2008, he joined West Bromwich Albion as first-team coach, replacing Craig Shakespeare. Grant, who holds a UEFA Pro License, was a team-mate of Albion manager Tony Mowbray at Celtic.[5]

In June 2009, Celtic began negotiations with West Bromwich Albion to agree on compensation for the management team of Tony Mowbray, Mark Venus and Grant. He was appointed the first-team coach at Parkhead after West Bromwich Albion and Celtic agreed a compensation fee believed to be in the region of £2.5 million.[6] On 25 March 2010, Grant was dismissed as first-team coach at Celtic along with manager Tony Mowbray and coach Mark Venus after their 4-0 loss to St. Mirren the day before.[7]

In July 2010 Grant was appointed first-team coach at Birmingham City.[8] before following McLeish to Aston Villa as assistant manager. McLeish and Grant were sacked by Aston Villa after one season. Grant joined McLeish at Nottingham Forest as a first team coach in December 2012.

Fulham appointed Grant as first team coach on 19 June 2014.[9] Following manager Felix Magath's departure from the club in September, Grant's role changed to that of Lead Professional Development Coach/Under-21 Manager.[10]

Managerial stats

Team Nat From To Record
GWDLWin %
Norwich City England 16 October 2006 9 October 2007 5418122433.3

Honours

Celtic

Personal life

His son, also named Peter, signed for Falkirk in July 2014.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Paul, Ian (19 November 1996). "German ace on the ball again at Grant testimonial launch Scoring legend Muller praises exile Lambert". The Herald (Herald & Times Group). Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Norwich City | Grant appointed as Norwich boss". BBC News. 16 October 2006. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  3. ↑ James Nursey (16 October 2006). "QPR 3-3 NORWICH". mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  4. ↑ "Flown From the Nest — Jim Duffy". Ex-canaries.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  5. ↑ "Grant joins backroom staff". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 8 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  6. ↑ Guidi, Mark (14 June 2009). "West Brom give up fight to keep Tony Mowbray as Celtic stump up £2.5m compensation fee". Daily Record. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "BBC Sport — Football — Celtic end manager Tony Mowbray's troubled reign". BBC News. 25 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  8. ↑ "Birmingham appoint Grant — Yahoo! Eurosport". Uk.eurosport.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  9. ↑ "Grant appointed". www.fulhamfc.com. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "Under-21 Staff". www.fulhamfc.com. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  11. ↑ "Falkirk: Jamie MacDonald one of five new arrivals". BBC Sport (BBC). 3 July 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2014.

External links