Lee Grant says he has been absorbing knowledge for years in preparation of becoming a manager. The Huddersfield Town boss made over 450 professional appearances as a goalkeeper for the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Burnley, and Derby County, finishing his career with four years at Manchester United.
During that time with the Red Devils, he could seriously begin preparing for a coaching career, given that he had taken on a squad role that did not require him to play. He earned all his coaching badges learning from top managers and coaches, including Kieran McKenna, who would go on to employ Grant as a first-team coach at Ipswich Town.
“I worked hard to achieve some really great things and play at some fantastic places,” said Grant. “I’ve developed a wonderful network of friends in the game and people I can lean on at different times.
“I enjoyed my time as a player, making some wonderful memories across several clubs that I’ve been proud to represent. I achieved some great things, but there is still more on the table for me to do now as a coach, which I’m excited for.
“Being a goalkeeper was the path for me once I first went in net at around 14 years old, it was an art form that I loved and still enjoy to a degree now. However, in recent times, particularly the last couple of years since I became a coach, my focus has been as far away from the goal as you can get.
“Now, in this role, my attention needs to be on the whole team and making sure we play the right way. I finished playing at 39, and probably about a decade before I retired, the decision was quite firm in my mind [wanting to be a coach].
“With that being said, I wanted to make sure I was prepared to go straight in once my playing days were over, so I did all my coaching badges up to a pro license before I had retired, which I think is pretty rare for players to do.”
Players who go into management are often shaped by past experiences and those they were coached by, taking little bits from each person they worked under.
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It is the same for Grant, but the end he had at United allowed him to build experience as a coach and see the work processes at a club where the pressure to perform is as high, if not more, than anywhere else.
He has his own philosophy to implement now at Huddersfield, using all the knowledge he has gained since setting out on his coaching mission.
Grant added: “I had the wonderful opportunity to do all that during my four years at Manchester United, as a player first and foremost, but in reality, I was more of a player-coach, so I spent most of that four years studying, spending time with the coaching staff and the manager with wonderful access.
“I was in the analysis room and the coaches’ office to get right into the thick of things, which provided a really good runway to my first coaching job. It really is a case of absorbing as much as you can in those times as a player, if you know you want to be a coach.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to work under some really top operators, Steve McClaren, Sean Dyche, Eddie Howe to name a few but other coaches as well who have informed what I see as my own philosophy now and how I’d like to do things when I get the opportunity which I have now.”