Full name Anthony James Grant 1996 → Swindon Town (loan) 1993–1999 Everton Height 1.77 m | Years Team Role English footballer Name Tony Grant | |
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Date of birth (1975-11-14) 14 November 1975 (age 40) | ||
Place of birth Liverpool, England | ||
Anthony James "Tony" Grant (born 14 November 1975, Liverpool, England) is an English former professional footballer.
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As a player, he was a midfielder from 1993 until 2008, notably spending time in the Premier League with Everton and Manchester City. He also played in the Football League for Swindon Town, Tranmere Rovers, West Bromwich Albion, Burnley, Bristol City, Crewe Alexandra, Accrington Stanley and Chester City. He was capped once by England U21 in his career.
Everton
Tony Grant signed as a trainee for Everton. He made his debut for 'The Toffees' two years later in a 1–0 defeat at Manchester City in December 1993. He bagged his first league goal at Middlesbrough in March 1996. In January 1996, Grant signed for Swindon Town on loan, where he played three games for 'The Robins', scoring one goal. Three years later, Grant was loaned out again, this time to Tranmere Rovers where he played eight games for them and scored one goal. His goal came in Tranmere's 2–0 win over Oxford in the League Cup (Steve Yates getting the opener for Rovers). Tranmere would go on to reach the final of the League Cup that season, by which time Grant had returned to Everton. Grant's second and final league goal for Everton came in a 2–2 draw at Barnsley in February 1998.
Manchester City
On Christmas Eve, December 1999, Tony Grant signed for Manchester City for a fee of £450,000. Grant made his debut for City in the 2–0 win over West Brom, but during his time at City he never scored. Grant was then loaned out to West Bromwich Albion in December 2000, where he played five games for 'The Baggies'.
Later career
In October 2001, Grant moved to Burnley signing for a fee of £250,000. Grant soon became regarded as an excellent signing by Stan Ternent and went on to play 141 games for 'The Clarets', scoring three goals. During his time at Burnley he was most frequently played in the defensive-midfield role, which enabled him to display his range of passing and game-reading ability. Grant became an important member of the team, but was released on a free-transfer at the end of the 2005 season after refusing a new contract offer.
He then moved to Bristol City on a free transfer, but only played one game for them; Bristol City's 4–2 League Cup defeat to Barnet. In January 2006, after injury problems, Grant signed for Gradi's Crewe Alexandra, and made ten appearances before the end of the 2005–06 season, but failed to rescue Crewe from relegation to the English League One. He signed a new one-year deal to play for Crewe on 1 June 2006.
On 31 January 2007, Grant joined Accrington Stanley as player–coach. He left the club at the end of the season. On 27 July 2007, Grant completed a move to Chester City, signing a one-year contract under new manager Bobby Williamson. He scored his only goal for the club in a 2–1 win at Rochdale on 18 August 2007. He left the club at the end of the season.
Coaching career
After working as first team coach for Blackburn Rovers from 2012 to 2015, Tony returned to Everton as a scout in October 2016.