Grant Holt

At 43 years old, Grant Holt has this physical status:

Grant Holt (born 12 April 1981) is an English former professional footballer who is currently an academy coach at Premier League club Norwich City. During his football career, Holt played for a number of non-league and professional clubs, making nearly 100 league appearances for Nottingham Forest before signing for Shrewsbury Town in 2008 where he became top goalscorer.

A year later, he signed for Norwich where he won the Norwich City Player of the Year award in three consecutive seasons, helping Norwich to back-to-back promotions, and became the sixth highest goalscorer in their history.

Following his retirement from football Holt became a professional wrestler, signing with the World Association of Wrestling.

Personal life

Holt was born in Carlisle, Cumbria. He is married and has three daughters.

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Playing career

Holt began his career as a youth player at Carlisle United's hometown club, but after being banned at the age of 18, he joined Workington. After a success at Workington, he joined Halifax Town in the Third Division. He scored one goal against Halifax in the Football League Cup, and then went on loan to Sorrento, Australia's Sorrento, for one month and then to Barrow. He left in 2001 to play in Singapore with Sengkang Marines, under the understanding that Carlisle United will release him on his return. Carlisle, on the other hand, was unable to complete the transfer. Holt returned to Barrow and started working part-time in a factory in the town.

In the Northern Premier League, Holt spent two seasons at Barrow. He had worked with full-time teams, but did not get signed until 2003, when Sheffield Wednesday acquired him in March 2003. He made 30 appearances, half of them as a replacement, but only scored four goals. Holt left Division Two after signing for Rochdale, where he made 83 appearances and scored 42 goals. Holt sees his time as Rochdale as his big break-through, and it has made him a target for several higher league clubs. In January 2006, Nottingham Forest paid £300,000 to guarantee his services.

Holt got off to a slow start with Forest, scoring four times in as many months as a result of the 2005–06 campaign. After the two clubs agreed on a fee, he turned down a transfer to Bristol City due to personal reasons. Despite being on the bench for about half of Forest's games in the 2006-07 season, he went on to score 18 goals in all competitions to become the club's top scorer. Holt's success were recognized by forest fans who gave him the 'Player of the Season' award.

Holt and Forest boss Colin Calderwood reached an "uneasy pact" in the summer of 2007 after the striker had a transfer request denied after Forest refused to give him an extension. Holt said he would be "good to stay" with Forest for the 2007–08 season, although Calderwood said "he's not a player we want to see leave." Holt's season was marred by only scoring three times, but he was still out of place as a winger for the majority of the year.

Holt made his debut as a late replacement against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium in March 2008. Despite showing his love for his hometown team, Carlisle United, he made four substitute appearances before returning to Forest in the summer of 2008, saying he would like to stay and fight for his position in Forest's squad next season.

Shrewsbury Town broke their club transfer record by announcing Holt for £170,000 on June 24, 2008. Holt started scoring for the Shrews on his debut, scoring from the penalty spot against Macclesfield Town in a game where the Shrews defeated the Shrews 4–0.

Holt scored five goals in the Shrews' 7–0 victory on October 7, 2008, in a Football League Trophy second round match against Wycombe Wanderers.

Holt was the player to cover the most distance per game in both Leagues One and Two, averaging 4.8 kilometres per game in the March 2009 version of FourFourTwo. Holt played with Jack Lester for 20 League goals, as well as being named in the League Two PFA Team of the Year for the 2008–09 season.

Holt departed to Norwich City on July 24, 2009, after Shrewsbury Town rejected an undisclosed bid worth £400,000. Holt has been with the possibility of a new year at Carrow Road, which is an option.

Holt made his debut in the heavy 7–1 opening day loss to Colchester United at Carrow Road, and scored his first Norwich goals against Yeovil Town in a first round League Cup tie on September 11, 2009. On August 22, 2009, his first league goals came against Wycombe Wanderers. New Holt team captain Paul Lambert was appointed starting with that game. He received the League One Player of the Month award for his "good results throughout October," a month in which he scored "an impressive five goals in as many league games." In the home game against Millwall on December 26, 2009, he scored a record of 20 goals for the season. On January 23, 2010, Holt received his first red card for Norwich City against Brentford. He finished the season as the Norwich City Player of the Year Award winner, having scored 30 goals in 44 appearances, as the club finished as champions of League One and gained promotion to the Championship.

In the first round of the League Cup first round against Gillingham, Holt scored his first goals of the 2010-11 season, netting a brace. In a 1–0 away victory over Scunthorpe United on August 14, 2010, his first league goal of the season came during stoppage time. On November 28, 2010, he scored his first league hat-trick against local rivals Ipswich Town.

He scored a penalty in the first minute in Norwich's 3–1 win over Bristol City during his time as a player. He scored a hat trick in Norwich City's 6–0 victory over Scunthorpe United on April 2, 2011. He was once nominated for the Championship Player of the Year in 2011, but Adel Taarabt defeated him. For the second year in a row, he was the winner of Norwich's player of the season, as the club was automatically promoted to the Premier League.

In Norwich's 1–1 draw in the 2011–12 Premier League season, Holt was partnering Steve Morison in attack, implying he had competed in all four English divisions. He scored against Chelsea in his first Premier League game of the season, defeating goalkeeper Henrique Hilário. Holt was mostly used as a backup for the first part of the season, progressing to a regular starter later this year, scoring 15 league goals, and being named Player of the Year for the third time in succession. On March 20, 2012, he was inducted into the Norwich City Hall of Fame. Holt's stellar start to the Premier League earned him much acclaim from pundits and managers alike, as well as conjuring rumors about his potential inclusion in Roy Hodgson's first England squad for the 2012 European Championships.

Holt submitted a transfer request six days after being named Norwich's Player of the Season for the third year in a row, but Norwich City denied it right away. Holt announced on June 1st that he had requested to leave Norwich City via Twitter before signing a new three-year deal with the club on July 3rd. He appeared in 34 league games during the 2012-2013 season, scoring eight goals for the club as they retained their Premier League status, including a goal in his last game for the club; a 3–2 victory over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

On July 8, 2013, Holt joined Wigan Athletic for a three-year contract, with an undisclosed fee estimated to be in the region of £2 million. In a 4–0 away victory over Barnsley on September 3, he made his Wigan debut on August 3rd. In an eventual 2–2 draw with Middlesbrough, he scored a point.

Holt joined Aston Villa on loan until the end of the 2013–14 season on January 14th. In a 2–2 draw against Liverpool, Holt made his Aston Villa debut five days later, arriving as a replacement for Gabriel Agbonlahor in the 49th minute. In a 2–1 loss to Fulham on 5 April 2014, Holt scored his first Aston Villa goal. Holt made ten appearances and scoring once before returning to Wigan at the end of the season.

Holt joined Huddersfield Town on an initial emergency loan until September 28, 2014. In a 2–1 victory over Millwall, Holt made his Huddersfield Town debut the same day, replacing Lee Peltier in the 64th minute. In their 4–2 victory over Blackpool at the John Smith's Stadium on October 18, the club's first goal was scored. Holt's loan spell with Huddersfield Town was extended until December 28, 2014.

Holt returned to Wigan, his parent club. Holt had a fruitful knee surgery, but it kept him out for nine months.

He stayed on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers until January 2, 2016.

Holt joined Rochdale on February 18, 2016, extending the season to the season. In June 2016, Holt signed a one-year deal with Scottish club Hibernian. Hibs' captain, Nick Clegg, scored seven goals in 39 appearances from 2005 to 2017, when the team defeated the Scottish Championship from 2016 to 2017. Holt was released by Hibs in May 2017 at the end of his term.

Holt signed for King's Lynn Town, the Southern League Premier Division's top-manager, collaborating with boss Ian Culverhouse, who had been assistant manager at Norwich City during Holt's tenure with the Canaries.

Less than a month later, his former Barrow club called on him to join as a player-coach, with Holt moving to the club in the higher National League.

Holt would leave Barrow on July 16, 2018.

He appeared in three Wroxham games in the 2019-20 Eastern Counties Football League and scored two goals, one of which was against South Normanton Athletic in the FA Vase. Holt made three more appearances for Wroxham in January 2022, playing in defence.

Coaching career

Holt's first coaching job was at Barrow, where he served as a player-coach for the 2017–18 season.

Holt announced the end of his playing career in August 2018 and that he has accepted a coaching job with Norwich City, where he spent time with the Academy. Holt left Norwich in December 2021 to work as a scout for West Ham United.

Wrestling career

Holt signed a WAW professional wrestling deal in May 2018. He claimed the Crusher Mason Memorial Trophy in his first battle, beating him as the last man standing in a 40-man Royal Rumble. In total, he wrestled three matches, the last in June 2019, and he won all three of them.

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