 |
| (Roy Cathcart) |
Born: 14 April 1980, Belfast
Height: 5.10 ft
Weight: 11.00 st
Position: Midfielder/Left-Back
Representative Honours: Northern Ireland: 39 Full Caps / 4 Goals (2001-2012), 1 B Cap (2003); 11 Under-21 Caps / 3 Goals (2000-2001), Under-18.
Club Honours: (with Cheltenham) Football League Two Play-Off Winner 2005/06 (promoted); (with Scunthorpe) Football League Trophy Runner-Up 2008/09; Football League One Play-Off Winner 2008/09 (promoted); (with Peterborough); Football League One Play-Off Winner 2010/11 (promoted); Football League Trophy Winner 2013/14.
Awards: Football League 125th Anniversary - Cheltenham Town Greatest Player 2013.
Club Career:
Teams
|
Seasons
|
Signed
|
Fee
|
League
|
FA Cup
|
FL Cup
|
Other
|
West
Ham United
|
99/00-02/03
|
Aug-98
|
Youth
|
0 (4)/ 0
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Livingston
|
99/00
|
Aug-99
|
Loan
|
1 (4)/ 0
|
-
|
-
|
1(0)/0
|
Notts
County
|
00/01
|
Aug-00
|
Loan
|
2 (0)/ 0
|
-
|
1(0)/0
|
-
|
Cheltenham
Town
|
00/01
|
Oct-00
|
Loan
|
27 (3)/ 3
|
2(0)/0
|
-
|
1(0)/0
|
Cheltenham
Town
|
02/03-06/07
|
Oc-02
|
£50k
|
154 (1)/31
|
8(0)/4
|
6(0)/3
|
10(0)/3
|
Barnsley
|
06/07-07/08
|
Nov-06
|
£100k
|
28(13)/ 4
|
1(0)/0
|
1(1)/0
|
-
|
Scunthorpe
United
|
07/08-09/10
|
Jan-08
|
Undis.
|
91 (8)/18
|
4(0)/0
|
3(0)/1
|
7(0)/1
|
Peterborough
U.
|
10/11-14/15
|
May-10
|
Free
|
128(31)/29
|
5(2)/1
|
4(3)/0
|
8(4)/5
|
Linfield
|
14/15
|
Jan-15
|
Free
|
5 (0)/ 1
|
1(0)/0
|
-
|
-
|
TOTALS
|
-
|
£150k
|
436(64)/86
|
21(2)/5
|
15(4)/4
|
27(4)/9
|
|
Biography:
A product of the West Ham youth set-up that gave England the likes of Carrick, Cole and Defoe; Grant McCann had few opportunities at Upton Park. He spent time on loan at a number of clubs before making an impact with Cheltenham during the 2000/01 season. Although his time at Whaddon Road began with him in his favoured left-midfield role, McCann was used for much of the campaign as an emergency left-back – a position he would go on to fulfil on a number of occasions for Northern Ireland.
A regular for Northern Ireland’s Under-21 side for nearly two years, McCann’s impressive left-foot brought him three goals and an early promotion to the Full international set-up. A regular in the Northern Ireland squad throughout the second half of Sammy McIlroy’s managerial reign, he normally found himself on the bench or on the left of defence, McCann seemingly dropped from the reckoning under Lawrie Sanchez. He was given a chance again with his first start in three years in a friendly against Finland in August 2006 and scored his first international goal, surprisingly with his head, against Liechtenstein in March 2007.
At club level McCann made a permanent move to Cheltenham in January 2003 for £50,000. He helped the Robins to promotion from League Two via the play-offs in 2006. The following November he joined Championship Barnsley, initially on loan, making a £100,000 permanent move when the transfer window opened in January. A year later he moved on to Scunthorpe for a six-figure undisclosed fee. In April 2009 he played for Scunthorpe in the Johnston Paint Trophy Final at Wembley. He scored a spectacular equaliser, a curler into the top corner from the edge of the box, in the closing minutes of normal time only for Luton to claim the trophy 3-2 in extra-time. Consolation arrived the following month by way of promotion to the Championship following a Wembley play-off final win over Millwall.
McCann's nine Championship goals in 2009/10 did much to save Scunthorpe from an instant return to League One. However, with his Iron contract expired, and despite interest from several other Championship sides, McCann chose to sign a three-year deal with Peterborough who had just been relegated to League One. His goals again proved key, none more-so than a free-kick in the 3-0 play-off final win over Huddersfield at Old Trafford, as The Posh achieved an instant promotion.
Following Peterborough's relegation back to League One in 2013, McCann was appointed player-coach. That August he announced that he would be taking a break from international football in order to concentrate on his dual role at club level. He also stated that he would never let Northern Ireland down if called upon to play.
In 2014 he was part of the Peterborough side that defeated 3-1 Chesterfield in the League Trophy final, putting in the corner from which Josh McQuoid scored the opener. The following season he found his playing opportunities with The Posh limited, and while he was still fulfilling his player-coach role, he felt that he would like to extend his on-field days. In January he agreed his release, and joined Linfield, the club he followed as a boy. He stayed at Windsor Park for just six weeks before returning to Peterborough as a coach. He was promoted to assistant manager for the 2015/16 season and officially announced his retirement as a player. In September 2015 he briefly acted as caretaker manager and he was permanently appointed to the managerial post in May 2016. He was sacked in February 2018 after a run of poor results.
McCann spent 2018/19 in charge of League One Doncaster Rovers, taking them to the play-offs. He then took charge of Championship side, Hull City. Although they suffered relegation in his first season, he immediately guided them to promotion as League One Champions. He was sacked midway through the 2021/22 season with Hull were taken over by a Turkish consortium and ten points clear of relegation. He was out of work for less than a month before returning to manage Peterborough in February 2022, but could not steer them away from relegation from the Championship. He was again sacked in January 2023 with The Posh struggling outside the League One play-off spots.
Irish FA Bio
Northern Ireland Cap Details:
Summary: 26(13)/4. Won 12, Drew 9, Lost 18.
Northern Ireland B Cap Details:
Summary: 1/0. Won 0, Drew 0, Lost 1.
Northern Ireland Under-21 Cap Details:
Summary: 9(2)/3. Won 1, Drew 4, Lost 5.
Irish FA Bio
 |
| (theGAWA) |
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
|
06/10/2001
13/02/2002
27/03/2002
12/10/2002
16/10/2002
29/03/2003
02/04/2003
10/09/2003
31/03/2004
15/11/2005
01/03/2006
16/08/2006
06/02/2007
24/03/2007
28/03/2007
12/09/2007
11/10/2008
15/10/2008
11/02/2009
28/03/2009
01/04/2009
06/06/2009
12/08/2009
05/09/2009
09/09/2009
14/10/2009
14/11/2009
03/03/2010
11/08/2010
03/09/2010
08/10/2010
09/02/2011
29/03/2011
10/08/2011
02/09/2011
09/09/2011
07/10/2011
29/02/2012
02/06/2012
|
Malta
Poland
Liechtenstein
Spain
Ukraine
Armenia
Greece
Armenia
Estonia
Portugal
Estonia
Finland
Wales
Leichtenstein
Sweden
Iceland
Slovenia
San
Marino
San
Marino
Poland
Slovenia
Italy
Israel
Poland
Slovakia
Czech
Republic
Serbia
Albania
Montenegro
Slovenia
Italy
Scotland
Slovenia
Faroe
Islands
Serbia
Estonia
Estonia
Norway
Netherlands
|
A
N
A
A
H
A
H
H
A
H
H
A
H
A
H
A
A
H
A
H
H
A
H
A
H
A
H
A
A
A
H
N
H
H
H
A
H
H
A
|
W
L
D
L
D
L
L
L
W
D
W
W
D
W
W
L
L
W
W
W
W
L
D
D
L
D
L
L
L
W
D
L
D
W
L
L
L
L
L
|
1-0
1-4
0-0
0-3
0-0
0-1
0-2
0-1
1-0
1-1
1-0
2-1
1-1
4-1
2-1
1-2
0-2
4-0
3-0
3-2
1-0
0-3
1-1
1-1
0-2
0-0
0-1
0-1
0-2
1-0
0-0
0-3
0-0
4-0
0-1
1-4
1-2
0-3
0-6
|
WCQ
FR
FR
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
FR
FR
FR
FR
FR
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
WCQ
WCQ
WCQ
WCQ
WCQ
FR
FR
WCQ
WCQ
WCQ
FR
FR
FR
ECQ
ECQ
CNC
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
FR
FR
|
sub
sub
.
sub
sub
.
.
.
sub
sub
sub
.
sub
sub 1
Goal
.
sub
.
1 Goal
1 Goal
.
.
.
1 Goal
.
.
.
sub
.
sub
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
sub
.
|
Summary: 26(13)/4. Won 12, Drew 9, Lost 18.
Northern Ireland B Cap Details:
1
|
20/05/2003
|
Scotland
|
A
|
L
|
1-2
|
FR
|
.
|
Summary: 1/0. Won 0, Drew 0, Lost 1.
Northern Ireland Under-21 Cap Details:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
|
29/05/2000
02/06/2000
06/10/2000
10/10/2000
23/03/2001
27/03/2001
01/06/2001
05/06/2001
31/08/2001
04/09/2001
05/10/2001
|
Scotland
Wales
Denmark
Iceland
Czech Republic
Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Denmark
Iceland
Malta
|
H
H
H
A
H
A
H
A
A
H
A
|
D
D
L
W
L
L
D
L
L
L
D
|
1-1
2-2
0-3
5-2
0-2
0-2
1-1
0-4
0-2
1-3
2-2
|
ICT
ICT
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
|
sub
-
sub
1 Goal
.
.
.
.
.
1 Goal
1 Goal
|
Summary: 9(2)/3. Won 1, Drew 4, Lost 5.
Comments