Peter Grant (footballer)

Football manager infobox
playername= Peter Grant


fullname = Peter Grant
height =
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1965|8|30
cityofbirth = Bellshill
countryofbirth = Scotland
position = Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1982–97
1997–99
1999–2000
2000–02
clubs = Celtic
Norwich City
Reading
Bournemouth
caps(goals) = 362 (15)
068 0(3)
029 0(1)
015 0(0)
nationalyears = 1989
nationalteam = Scotland
nationalcaps(goals) = 002 0(0)
manageryears = 2006–07
managerclubs = Norwich City

Peter Grant (born 30 August 1965 in Bellshill, Scotland) is a former footballer and was, until October 2007, manager of Norwich City. This was Grant's first role in management, but he had previously held coaching jobs at Bournemouth and West Ham United. He is currently first team coach at West Bromwich Albion.

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.

Playing career

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

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.

On Friday 13 October, 2006 Peter Grant was appointed manager of Norwich City, leaving his position as Alan Pardew's assistant manager at West Ham United. On Saturday 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.

Grant opted to retain Hunter, but appointed a new assistant manager, Jim Duffy. 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 had a mixed start as Norwich manager, with wins against Cardiff and Birmingham but a heavy defeat at Stoke. After the 1–1 draw at home to Hull City on 25 November 2006, Grant publicly criticised the supporters for the lack of atmosphere, saying they were 'a disgrace'.cite news
title = Grant stands by post-match comments
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/articles/2006/11/27/ncfc_grant_fans_20061127_feature.shtml
publisher = BBC Norfolk
date = 2006-11-27
accessdate = 2007-07-07] His refusal to apologise for his remarks led to considerable criticism from supporters, though in the following game against Leicester the supporters created the 'cauldron of noise' that had been asked for, and helped the team a 3–1 victory.cite news
title = Norwich 3-1 Leicester
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/6183366.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2006-11-28
accessdate = 2007-07-07] City went on to finish the season in 16th position in the Championship.

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.

However the start to the 2007–08 season was disastrous, culminating in a run of one point secured and no goals scored in over 450 minutes of play. When Norwich lost 0–1 to Queens Park Rangers on 8 October, 2007, it was the second time that they had lost to the bottom team in just over a week. Grant announced that he was considering his position. He met with club officials after the match at QPR and again the following day [ [http://www.pinkun.com/content/ncfc/story.aspx?brand=PINKUNOnline&category=Norwich&tBrand=PinkUnOnline&tCategory=Norwich&itemid=NOED11%20Oct%202007%2014%3A57%3A38%3A013 The Pink'un - How board and Grant made their decision ] ] when it was announced that he was leaving the club "by mutual consent".cite news
title = Grant parts company with Canaries
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/norwich/7035042.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2007-10-10
accessdate = 2007-10-09]

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. [cite news
title = Grant joins backroom staff
url = http://www.wba.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,10366~1340164,00.html
publisher = West Bromwich Albion F.C.
date = 2008-07-08
accessdate = 2008-07-08]

Managerial stats

Honours as a player

* Scottish League Championship - 1986, 1988
* Scottish Cup - 1985, 1988, 1989, 1995

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=3025|name=Peter Grant
*soccerbase (manager)|id=2052|name=Peter Grant
* [http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/grant.htm Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk]
* [http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/prod/dialspace/town/pipexdsl/p/apvs26/pgrant.html Information re Grant's Celtic career]