Lee Grant (goalkeeper)

Football player infobox
playername = Lee Grant


fullname = Lee Anderson Grant
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1983|1|27|df=yes
height = height|ft=6|in=4
cityofbirth = Hemel Hempstead
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = Sheffield Wednesday
clubnumber = 1
position = Goalkeeper
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 2000–2007
2005–2006
2006
2007–
clubs = Derby County
→ Burnley (loan)
→ Oldham Athletic (loan)
Sheffield Wednesday
caps(goals) = 74 (0)
01 (0)
16 (0)
52 (0)
nationalyears = 2003–2004
nationalteam = England U21
nationalcaps(goals) = 04 (0)
pcupdate = 20:22, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 19:31, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Lee Anderson Grant (born 27 January 1983 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire) is an English football player who plays as a goalkeeper for Sheffield Wednesday. Grant has also previously played for the England national under-21 football team, and spent seven years at Derby County.

Biography

Grant is a Watford fan, and dreamed of playing for the club as a child. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~374510,00.html
title=Home For Keeps
date=21 April 2003
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] He joined Derby County as a trainee in 2000, and has since played for Burnley and Oldham Athletic (both on loan), and current club Sheffield Wednesday. He has so far played over a hundred league games.

Playing career

Derby County

Grant made his debut for Derby County in the 2002-03 season in a Championship game against Burnley on 7 September 2002, replacing the injured Andy Oakes. He went on to win the club's "Young Player of the Year" award at the end of the season after playing a total of thirty games. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~376286,00.html
title=Lee Is Club's Player Of Year
date=24 April 2003
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] By the end of the season Grant had established himself as a regular in the England youth set-up, and joined the under-21 team for a training session in Sardinia prior to the European Championship qualifying games against Serbia & Montenegro and Slovakia in June 2003. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~382930,00.html
title=Italian Job For Grant
date=12 May 2003
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16]

Grant finally made his debut for England under-21s on 9 September 2003 after Chris Kirkland injured himself during the pre-match warm-up prior to the European Championship qualifier against Portugal, [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~422517,00.html
title=Grant In For England
date=9 September 2003
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] and went on to make a further three appearances for the youth side. Meanwhile a string of good performances for Derby following another injury to Andy Oakes earned him a three and a half year contract extension on 29 January 2004. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~480902,00.html
title=GB On Grant & Whelan
date=29 January 2004
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Grant was voted in to fourth place in the fan's "Player of the Year" award at the end of the 2003-04 season. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~520396,00.html
title=Tom Is Young Player Of The Year
date=1 May 2004
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16]

Derby's young 'keeper Lee Camp was given a chance during the 2004-05 pre-season after a highly successful loan spell at QPR the previous season. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~541513,00.html
title=Camp To Start
date=16 July 2004
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Camp impressed in the game and as a result Grant found himself on the bench at the start of the season despite his recent good form. The move led to press reports that Grant was surplus to requirements at Pride Park, however manager George Burley dismissed the story as "total speculation with no basis in fact". [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~552571,00.html
title=Burley Dismisses Speculation
date=16 August 2004
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Around the same time Grant also found himself ousted from the England under-21 squad by Camp. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~552141,00.html
title=Camp In England U21 Squad
date=13 August 2004
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Grant would have to wait until 19 October to make his first appearance of the season for Derby, when he replaced Lee Camp in goal following Camp's sending-off against Wolves. Grant went on to start the following match against Burnley whilst Camp served a suspension for the red card, but would not play another first team game for the remainder of the season. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~579427,00.html
title=Not Taking It For Grant-ed
date=21 October 2004
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Lee Camp sympathized with Grant at the time, saying "It's tough for Granty and I would be frustrated in his situation. He came in for the Burnley game and did nothing wrong but I think I've done enough this season to warrant my place in the side". [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~584228,00.html
title=Camp Not Taking Place For Grant-ed
date=2 November 2004
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16]

Grant's woes were added to when he suffered a wrist injury in training in March 2005. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~643556,00.html
title=Rams Consider Goalkeeping Options
date=22 March 2005
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] The injury was followed by a shoulder problem the following month which required surgery and kept the goalkeeper out of action for several months. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/MatchTemplate13/0,,10270~652284,00.html
title=Lee Out For Three Months
date=13 April 2005
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16]

Grant was given a chance by new Derby boss Phil Brown during the 2005-06 pre-season, but was again relegated to the bench by the start of the season. He played his first game of the season on 24 August 2005 as Derby crashed out of the League Cup at the hands of Grimsby Town. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/MatchReport/0,,10270~31418,00.html
title=Derby County vs Grimsby Town Report
date=24 August 2005
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Another injury followed a fortnight later when Grant fractured his metatarsal during training, and was out of action for another two weeks. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/MatchTemplate13/0,,10270~710041,00.html
title=Grant Out
date=7 September 2005
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16]

Burnley

After playing just three games in 18 months, Grant was allowed to join Championship club Burnley on a one-month loan on 15 November 2005 as cover for the suspended Brian Jensen. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~741258,00.html
title=Lee Grant-ed Loan
date=15 November 2005
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] [cite news
url=http://www.burnleyfootballclub.premiumtv.co.uk/page/LatestHeadlines/0,,10413~741397,00.html
title=Grant Arrives At Turf Moor
date=15 November 2005
publisher=burnleyfootballclub.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Grant went straight in to the team and made his debut for Burnley against Leicester City on 19 November, but despite a one-month extension to the loan, Grant failed to force Jensen out as first choice 'keeper and did not play again for the first team before returning to Derby. Grant returned to his parent club on 14 January 2006 with Burnley manager Steve Cotterill claiming that the club were unable to continue to pay his high wages and that "he may go on loan somewhere else where he will play all the time". [cite news
url=http://www.burnleyfootballclub.premiumtv.co.uk/page/LatestHeadlines/0,,10413~767461,00.html
title=Grant Set For Derby Return
date=12 January 2006
publisher=burnleyfootballclub.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16]

Oldham Athletic

On 31 January 2006 he was loaned by Derby to League One team Oldham Athletic on a deal until the end of the season. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~776596,00.html
title=Grant To Oldham, Vincent Departs
date=31 January 2006
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Oldham manager Ronnie Moore revealed at the time that he feared that the deal would collapse after being agreed by Phil Brown following Brown's sacking as Derby manager on 30 January, however Derby honoured the deal which had already been agreed and the transfer was completed. [cite news
url=http://www.oldhamathletic.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsUpdate/0,,10337~778143,00.html
title=Keeper Deal Nearly Fell Through
date=3 February 2006
publisher=oldhamathletic.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] The deal forced Lance Cronin out of the club as Oldham were unable to pay the wages of three senior goalkeepers. [cite news
url=http://www.oldhamathletic.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsUpdate/0,,10337~778310,00.html
title=Lance Cronin On Way Out
date=3 February 2006
publisher=oldhamathletic.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Grant made his debut for the Lactics in the 1–0 home defeat to Port Vale on 4 February 2006. He quickly established himself as first choice goalkeeper and went on to make a total of sixteen league appearances for Oldham. In March 2006 Moore revealed that he was looking at making Grant's transfer permanent, [cite news
url=http://www.oldhamathletic.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsUpdate/0,,10337~809505,00.html
title=Move On Cards For Keeper Lee Grant
date=30 March 2006
publisher=oldhamathletic.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] but despite the player stating that he would like to make the switch permanent, [cite news
url=http://www.oldhamathletic.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsUpdate/0,,10337~812211,00.html
title=On-loan Lee Grant For Oldham
date=4 April 2006
publisher=oldhamathletic.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] no offer was made following Moore departing Oldham on 1 June 2006.

Final season at Derby County

Grant was again given a chance during the 2006-07 pre-season, and Derby manager Billy Davies awarded him with a starting place for the club's second league game of the season against Stoke City on 8 August 2006. However, the arrival of Stephen Bywater on 12 August 2006 further limited Grant's first team opportunities. Following Bywater picking up a thigh injury and Camp's loan move to Norwich City, Grant was able to string together six appearances in September and October 2006, but after Bywater's return to fitness he was again left out of the team until his final appearance for Derby against Ipswich Town on 14 April 2007 when he replaced Bywater who had been shown the red card. Bywater was handed a one-match ban, however Lee Camp was recalled from his loan and took his place in the following match. Grant's contract expired on 2 July 2007 and an extension was not offered by Derby. [cite news
url=http://www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10270~1031910,00.html
title=Eight To Be Released By Rams
date=1 June 2007
publisher=DCFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16]

heffield Wednesday

Grant signed a three-year contract with Championship club Sheffield Wednesday on 2 July 2007, joining at the same time as another young 'keeper, Robert Burch. [cite news
url=http://www.swfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,10304~1065649,00.html
title=New Trio Strengthen Owls Squad
date=2 July 2007
publisher=SWFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Despite goalkeeping coach Billy Mercer stating that there would be "no number one or number two", [cite news
url=http://www.swfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,10304~1074271,00.html
title=Keepers' Keen Competition
date=17 July 2007
publisher=SWFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Grant was given the number one shirt and, after some poor early form,cite news
url=http://www.swfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Gaffers/0,,10304~1203993,00.html
title=Laws Grants His Praise
date=1 January 2008
publisher=SWFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] has since established himself as first choice goalkeeper. He made his debut on 11 August 2007 in the 4-1 loss to Ipswich Town. Grant was praised by Brian Laws after the QPR game on 24 November 2007 after making a string of excellent saves, with the manager stating "It was a performance which gives encouragement to everybody and shows what a good goalkeeper Lee Grant can be." [cite news
url=http://www.swfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,10304~1175204,00.html
title=Laws Praises Grant's Heroics
date=24 November 2007
publisher=SWFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Laws again heaped praise on his goalkeeper on 1 January 2008, claiming that he has "probably been the most outstanding keeper in the league in terms of current form."cite news
url=http://www.swfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Gaffers/0,,10304~1203993,00.html
title=Laws Grants His Praise
date=1 January 2008
publisher=SWFC.co.uk
accessdate=2008-02-16] Grant played an integral part in maintaining Sheffield Wednesday's Championship status during the 2007–08 campaign with many excellent performances including a crucial and memorable save on the final day against Norwich City at Hillsborough.

Career statistics

:"(Correct as of 15 March 2008)" [soccerbase|id=22406|name=Lee Grant] [ESPNsoccernet|id=7763|name=Lee Grant]

References