Seven years ago, we signed a small-time player from Shrewsbury Town that 168 games, 78 goals, three Player of the Year awards and two promotions later would go down as one of Norwich City’s greatest ever players. The player in question is of course, Grant Holt. Holt helped himself to 30 goals in all competitions as we stormed to the League 1 title in 2009 and played a key role in our promotion from the Championship the following year too. A superb first season in the Premier League in which Holt bagged himself 15 goals as Norwich finished 12th drew calls for an England call-up to that summers competition, Euro 2012, which sadly did not materialise. However all good things must come to an end and Grant Holt left Norwich one year later for relegated Wigan Athletic as we had just signed a multi-million pound upgrade in Ricky van Wolfswinkel (or so we thought!).
A Norwich City Hall of Famer, our former captain is still held in the highest regard among Canary fans and here I will have the tricky task of deciding his greatest five goals for Norwich City.
5) vs Wolves 24/03/12 (2-1 Win) Kicking off this list may not be one of Holt’s most famous strikes but this effort against Wolves in 2012 proved to everyone that Holt has skill. Having just gone 1-0 down to a Matt Jarvis effort, Holt found himself one on one with the Wolves goalkeeper, Wayne Hennessey, and dinked the ball over the stranded keeper before finishing it with his head into the empty net. The Norwich captain later scored a penalty and then got sent off for a second yellow card, he’s had few more eventful afternoons.
4) vs Reading 12/02/11 (2-1 Win) In a season full of injury-time winners that would make even Sir Alex Ferguson look stunned, Holt’s winner was crucial in the Championship race for promotion as it kept Norwich level on points with second placed Cardiff City and enabled the Canaries to avoid going as low as 6th place. Although his tap in at the far post wasn’t his best finish ever, there were few more important than that goal.
3) vs Liverpool 22/10/11 (1-1 Draw) Holt added ‘super sub’ to adjectives used to describe the big man after coming off the bench to seal a point at Anfield. Having only been on the pitch a matter of minutes, he got in between Glen Johnson and Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher and diving headed the ball past Pepe Reina to give Norwich a priceless point.
2) vs Manchester United 26/02/12 (Lost 2-1) The Norwich skipper thought he had secured another all-important point for the Canaries seven minutes from time only to be denied in the last minute by Ryan Giggs on his 900th appearance. All the more frustrating as this goal was something special. A long ball was headed into Holt’s path and he turned past experienced defender Rio Ferdinand before rifling an unstoppable drive past David De Gea.
1) Vs Ipswich Town Hat-trick 28/11/10 (Won 4-1) There was no way I could pick just one goal from this game as Grant Holt’s finest goal. A brilliant hat-trick in the game that matters most in East Anglia, Holt gave Ipswich fans nightmares for weeks with three finely-taken goals to ensure three points and maintain Norwich’s strong start to the season. Holt tore Ipswich’s defence to shreds and his physical nature proved too much for the helpless Tractor Boys. These goals made him a hero and a villain among the two sets of supporters that day but one thing is certain; they never forgot his name. So there it is, my top five (okay seven!) Grant Holt goals. It’s been a nice bit of nostalgia going over them and it’s been even harder than I thought choosing them but it was the least I could do for our former talisman.
Three years on since leaving, Holt is still at Scottish side Hibernian after being released by Wigan. All the best, Grant.
