Grant Holt's Near Miss with Norwich
City legend Grant Holt has revealed he almost never signed for the Canaries. The striker arrived at Carrow Road for 400k in July 2009 from Shrewsbury Town and went on to score 78 goals in 168 appearances across four years with the club. Read more about Legends Shine as Norwich City Unite for Charity Match.
He netted 24 League One goals in his first season to help Norwich secure an immediate return to the Championship, before adding 21 in the second tier as City completed back-to-back promotions. Holt then struck 15 Premier League goals to help guide the club to a 12th-place finish in their first season back in the top-flight for six years, before scoring a further eight the following campaign prior to his departure to Wigan Athletic. Read more about Long Joins Southampton as Norwich Exit Finalised.
Behind the Scenes of Holt's Transfer
However, that remarkable rise, including his memorable hat-trick against Ipswich, almost never came to fruition. Holt shared his experience on the 3 in the Middle Podcast, stating, "Paul Lambert was desperate to sign me at Colchester, and he rang me loads of times saying, 'We're putting 300,000 in, go and tell the chairman you want to leave.' And I was like, 'No, I'm not going to tell him until you've done it.'
Then Norwich went to 400,000. The Shrewsbury chairman rang me up and said they'd agreed it, so it was up to me. He said, 'Go and see what they say. I've got you a new contract here, so if you don't like it, you can come back.' Read more about Norwich Target Bello as Left-Back Options Dwindle.
Holt's Journey to Success at Norwich
We went down there, but I nearly didn't sign. My brother came with me, which was brilliant. We left Carlisle and it was freezing, then went down there and it was the hottest place to go. We had to go to the shop over the road because we had nothing. He had the best time for three days. I couldn't leave the hotel because I didn't want anyone to see me.
By the third day, Norwich weren't so sure, so I told Bryan Gunn, 'You've got to tell Delia Smith, you've got to do it today or I'm going back.' They did the deal there and then. Following Bryan Gunn's departure after just two games in charge, Holt finally linked up with Lambert, who had previously attempted to bring him to Colchester, and the rest was history.
Holt ranks Paul Lambert as the best manager he worked under in football, stating, "All they did was say this is how we're going to win. If you stick to the philosophy, we might win. If you don't stick to it, we'll get beat. And if you do stick to it, we still might get beat. But that's the only way we're going to win, and everybody was on board with it."