Lee Anderson Grant (born 27 January 1983) is an English football coach and former professional footballer, who is a first-team coach at EFL Championship side Ipswich Town.
As a player, he was a goalkeeper and began his professional career with Derby County, making his Football League debut in September 2002. Grant spent five seasons with Derby, during which time he went out on loan to Burnley and Oldham Athletic. He joined Sheffield Wednesday in July 2007 and established himself as first-choice goalkeeper, playing in 136 consecutive matches. He moved to Burnley in July 2010, where he made 126 appearances in three seasons, before returning to Derby County in May 2013. Grant joined Stoke City in August 2016, initially on loan, before a permanent transfer in January 2017. He spent two seasons at Stoke before moving to Manchester United in July 2018 where he remained before retiring in at the end of the 2021–22 season.
Career
Derby County
Grant began his career at Watford in 1998 but did not make any appearances and joined Derby County as a trainee in 2000. He made his debut for the Rams in the 2002–03 season in a First Division game against Burnley on 7 September 2002, replacing the injured Andy Oakes. He went on to win the club's Young Player of the Year award at the end of the season after playing a total of 30 games. By the end of the season, Grant had established himself as a regular in the England youth set-up, and joined the under-21 team for a training session in Sardinia prior to the European Championship qualifying games against Serbia & Montenegro and Slovakia in June 2003.
Grant finally made his debut for England under-21s on 9 September 2003 after Chris Kirkland injured himself during the pre-match warm-up prior to the European Championship qualifier against Portugal, and went on to make a further three appearances for the youth side. Meanwhile, a string of good performances for Derby following another injury to Andy Oakes earned him a three-and-a-half-year contract extension on 29 January 2004. Grant was voted into fourth place in the fan's Player of the Year award at the end of the 2003–04 season.
Derby's young 'keeper Lee Camp was given a chance during the 2004–05 pre-season after a highly successful loan spell at Queens Park Rangers the previous season. Camp impressed in the game and as a result Grant found himself on the bench at the start of the season despite his recent good form. The move led to press reports that Grant was surplus to requirements at Pride Park, however manager George Burley dismissed the story as "total speculation with no basis in fact". Around the same time, Grant also found himself ousted from the England under-21 squad by Camp.
Grant would have to wait until 19 October to make his first appearance of the season for Derby, when he replaced Lee Camp in goal following Camp's sending-off against Wolves. Grant went on to start the following match against Burnley whilst Camp served a suspension for the red card, but would not play another first team game for the remainder of the season. Lee Camp sympathised with Grant at the time, saying: "It's tough for Granty and I would be frustrated in his situation. He came in for the Burnley game and did nothing wrong but I think I've done enough this season to warrant my place in the side". Grant's woes were added to when he suffered a wrist injury in training in March 2005. The injury was followed by a shoulder problem the following month which required surgery and kept the goalkeeper out of action for several months.
Grant was given a chance by new Derby boss Phil Brown during the 2005–06 pre-season, but was again relegated to the bench by the start of the season. He played his first game of the season on 24 August 2005 as Derby crashed out of the League Cup at the hands of Grimsby Town. Another injury followed a fortnight later when Grant fractured his metatarsal during training, and was out of action for another two weeks.
Loan to Burnley
After playing just three games in 18 months, Grant was allowed to join Championship club Burnley on a one-month loan on 15 November 2005 as cover for the suspended Brian Jensen. Grant went straight into the team and made his debut for Burnley against Leicester City on 19 November, but despite a one-month extension to the loan, Grant failed to force Jensen out as first-choice 'keeper and did not play again for the first team before returning to Derby. Grant returned to his parent club on 14 January 2006 with Burnley manager Steve Cotterill claiming that the club were unable to continue to pay his high wages and that "he may go on loan somewhere else where he will play all the time".