Grant Holt

Grant Holt (born 12 April 1981) is an English former professional footballer who is currently a scout at West Ham United.

He scored one goal for Halifax in the Football League Cup against Tranmere Rovers, and also went on loan to Australian club Sorrento for one month in 2001 and then to Barrow.

He left in 2001 to play for the summer in Singapore with Sengkang Marine, under the understanding that he would be signed by Carlisle United on his return.

However, Carlisle entered administration and were unable to complete the transfer.

Holt moved back to Barrow, taking a part-time job in a factory in the town.

Holt spent two seasons at Barrow in the Northern Premier League.

He had trials with full-time teams but did not get signed until 2003, when Sheffield Wednesday signed him in March 2003.

He made 30 appearances, half of them as a substitute, but only managed four goals.

Holt dropped down to League Two, signing for Rochdale, for whom he made 83 appearances and scored 42 goals.

Holt views his time as Rochdale as his major break-through and it made him a target for many higher league clubs.

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.

It was Nottingham Forest who paid £300,000 to secure his services in January 2006.

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 matches 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.

During his football career, Holt played as a forward 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.

Holt began his career as a youth player at his hometown club Carlisle United, but joined Workington after being released aged 18.

Following success at Workington he signed for Halifax Town in the Third Division.

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.

On 24 June 2008, Shrewsbury Town broke their club transfer record by signing Holt for £170,000.

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.

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

At the end of the season, Holt finished as joint-top scorer with Jack Lester for League Two, with 20 League goals, as well as, winning League Two Player of the Year, Shrewsbury Town Player of the Year and named in the League Two PFA Team of the Year for the 2008–09 season.

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.

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 League 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 League One Player of the Month award 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.