Peter Grant (born 30 August 1965) is a Scottish football player and coach. During his playing career, Grant played for Celtic, Norwich City, Reading and AFC Bournemouth. He was awarded a testimonial match, played against Bayern Munich, by Celtic in 1997. Grant played in two full international matches for Scotland, both in 1989. Since retiring as a player, Grant has since worked as a football coach. He was manager of Norwich City for a year, and also briefly the caretaker manager of Fulham. Grant has also managed Scottish sides Alloa Athletic and Dunfermline Athletic.
He was captain of the Celtic team that won the inaugural Scottish Youth Cup in 1983–84. Grant made his debut as a teenager for Celtic in a 1984 Old Firm game against Rangers. He was a key figure in league campaigns, such as the 1985–86 Scottish Premier Division which Celtic won in the last game of the season, the 1987–88 where Celtic clinched the league and cup double in their centenary season, and the 1989 Scottish Cup Final against Rangers. Grant played in the 1989 final having missed the 1988 final due to injury.
Celtic would experience a barren period after 1989, consistently failing to challenge for silverware and almost going bankrupt in 1993. 1994 saw the arrival as Celtic manager of Grant's former teammate Tommy Burns who saw Grant as being pivotal in his plans to revive the club. The barren period would end in 1995 with Celtic winning the 1995 Scottish Cup Final against Airdrie, with Grant at the heart of the team. Only a few weeks before, Grant had received a bad knee injury in the final league game of the season, but he concealed the severity of this injury and played through the pain barrier to help Celtic to their first trophy in 6 years. Grant maintained his place as a regular (31 appearances) in the 1995–96 season. His loyalty to Celtic was rewarded with a testimonial match, played against Bayern Munich in January 1997.
After making 483 appearances for Celtic in all competitions between 1984 and 1997, Grant signed for Norwich City for a fee of £200,000. Mike Walker, in his second stint as Norwich City manager, had previously tried to sign Grant soon after taking over from Dave Stringer at Carrow Road in 1992 – however, Celtic had been unwilling to let Grant leave, and Walker opted for Gary Megson as a midfielder enforcer.
After deciding against taking on former Barcelona captain (and European Cup winner) Jose Maria Bakero, Walker this time found Celtic willing to let Grant — now 32 – move to East Anglia. In 1997–98, a difficult season with the club suffering a number of injuries to key players, Grant started 32 games, scoring 3 times; he made 31 starts (coming on as substitute twice) the following season under Bruce Rioch, before being transferred to Reading in summer 1999.
1982-1997 |
1989 |
1997-1999 |
1999-2000 |
2000-2002 |