Goodbye, Grant

Saturday, August 8^th 2009. As the ball reaches Grant Holt, he roots his feet to the floor and nonchalantly flicks his head at it. It reaches the feet of Cody McDonald, who slides the ball home and reduces the deficit to Norwich 1, Colchester 5. Had the result not been 7-1, the Norwich City faithful may have gone home saying, “and did you see that header from Holt, the one that set up our goal?” Instead, Norwich supporters left Carrow Road feeling humiliated, demoralised, and slightly baffled. They had no time to appreciate Holt’s first contribution to City – a modest, ignored assist. Holt would go on to set his teammates up in a similar manner hundreds more times.

            It was these little mannerisms that made Carrow Road love Grant Holt. Whenever he refused to jump for a long ball forward, forcing his opponent to fall over his shoulders, and winning a free kick for City in the process, it reinforced just how clever he was. Whenever the tactic went against him, he would always spread out his arms in a gesture that suggested the world was against him. In a way, it was. He was the man that 91 of 92 sets of supporters loved to hate. And, because of that, the yellow army adored him even more. After four years, it became apparent just how much of a pain Holt must have been to play against.

            Holt is, in fact, the only member of Norwich’s current squad that has been at the club for just the last four years of astonishing success. He became the poster boy of Norwich City 2.0. No longer were the Canaries a hapless clump of misfits scrabbled together without thought. He resembled everything that City wanted to be: hard working, determined and powerful, with a knack for scoring lots and lots of goals. And that’s what City became. Holt, and Lambert with him, didn’t know failure. Making Holt captain was a masterstroke. By instilling someone with the utmost belief in his own ability, it gave the old guard – Hoolahan, Doherty, Lappin, Russell etc. – a new lease of life. The four aforementioned players had their best seasons in a yellow shirt in 2009/10, in no small part because they had a leader on the pitch to help them. Chris Martin also flourished alongside Holt, showing flashes of brilliance that meant that, when Holt was unavailable, he would take up the mantle, as in our 1-0 victories over Brentford and Leeds.

            In 2010/11, Holt finally got a fair crack at the Championship, and again proved to be City’s most influential player. Norwich’s knack for late goals that season – 14 in the 90^th minute or later – was largely attributed to Lambert’s ‘never say die’ attitude, but his captain led by example, scoring last minute winners against Scunthorpe and Reading. Even with Lambert gone, Holt’s last minute winner against Everton last season arguably kept the club up, giving the squad the confidence it needed to crawl over the 40-point mark. Many supporters often say that, had Simeon Jackson not sprang into form in 2011, Norwich wouldn’t have been promoted. Holt’s 23 goals earlier in the season made that possible, and it all culminated in a truly remarkable night at Fratton Park – a memory that the captain states is his favourite in a City shirt.

            In two years in the Premier League, Grant Holt scored against 13 of the 22 sides he came up against, including Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, that bullet header against Liverpool, and his last goal against Manchester City. He contributed massively to two mid-table finishes, scoring 23 Premier League goals in the process. In total, Holt scored 78 goals for Norwich, becoming the club’s sixth highest ever goal scorer while doing so. And, more importantly, he scored three of them against Ipswich, contributing to Norwich’s two biggest wins over their rivals, ever. But, to paraphrase the big man, it doesn’t matter whether he scores, as long as the team wins. Well, the last four years have been one big victory. From the club’s biggest ever home defeat to picking apart the dethroned champions of England on their own pitch is one hell of a journey.

Thanks for inviting us all along for the ride, Grant.