The Longside Reference

Name: Lee Anderson Grant  

D.O.B: 27 January 1983

Place of Birth:Hemel Hempstead

Position: Goalkeeper

Clubs:Derby County, Burnley (loan), Oldham Athletic (loan), Sheffield Wednesday, Burnley

Burnley Fee: First spell: Loan

Burnley Fee: second spell: Undisclosed (Reported to be in the region of £1mil, rising to £1.5 Mil with add-ons)

Signed by Steve Cotterill (first spell)

Signed by Brian Laws (Second Spell)

Burnley Debut: 19th November 2005, Leicester City. League, won 1-0

Last Game for Burnley: 

Claret Stats: 1 Substitute appearance while on loan.

International Honours: England U21 4 Apps

Claret Honours: None.

Squad Number for the 2011/12 season: 1

Claret Stat: Lee came on loan in 2005 but only played one game when Brian Jensen got suspended. Jensen was red carded at the 3-2 win at Luton Town where famously John Spicer went in goal, but although Lee Grant kept a clean sheet in the game against Leicester City he would be replaced as soon as Jensen had served his suspension.

In the summer of 2010, Burnley bid numerous times for the Sheffield Wednesday stopper, the third reported to be in the region of £1 Million was on the day Sheffield Wednesday has a winding up order from HMRC. 

On the 23rd July 2010, almost four and a half years since Lee made his Burnley bow, abit being on loan, he signs in on three year deal taking the stopper up to the start of the 2013/14 season.

Brian Laws in final made four bids for the former England U21 International, in doing so gave Burnley a dilemma in who gets the nod in goal as Brian Jenson now has real competition.

Grant made his debut for Derby County in the 2002/03 season in a league game against Burnley on 7 September 2002, replacing the former Burnley trainee Andy Oakes who was out injured, but found first team action hard to come by.  Grant would battle it out for the number one spot with Lee Camp, with Camp keeping him out more often than not, Camp won the number one battle so much that Grant again went out on loan this time to Oldham Athletic where he made sixteen appearances.

At the end of the 2006/07 campaign Lee Grant was not offered an contract extension at Derby County and was subsequently released.

Brian Laws a came in for Grant in the summer of 2007 making Grant number one in his Sheffield Wednesday team.

In 2009/10 with Sheffield Wednesday fighting at the wrong end of the championship Grant was singled out as one of the best in the division, and even had England coaches Ray Clemence and Franco Tancredi talking about him, his manager for the first 5 months of that season was Brian Laws, the man who signed him prior to the 2010/10 season for Burnley who had just come out of the Premiership. 

Grant played 25 Championship games in 2010/11 as he and Brian Jensen battled it out for the starting spot, both keepers have different styles, and while Jensen on one-on-ones is possibly the best in the division, Lee Grants' agilitly over his older colleague have seen him take the starting spot into the 2011/12 season.

Lee Grant may never win over the entire crowd at Burnley, but i truely believe this is nothing to do with his goalkeeping ability but more to do with the man (Laws) who signed him. Grant was a mainstay of Burnleys 2011/12 season, making 48 appearances and keeping 12 clean sheets in the procces.