Grant McCann

Name: Grant Samuel McCann
Born: 14 April 1980, Belfast
Height: 5.10 ft
Weight: 11.00 st
Position: Midfielder/Left-Back

Representative Honours: Northern Ireland: Full Caps (2001-date), 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).

Club Career:
Clubs.......... --Seasons-- Signed ---Fee--- --League-- -FACup- LgeCup -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..... 00/01...... Oct-00 .....Loan .27 (3)/ 3 .2(0)/0 ....... 1(0)/0
Cheltenham..... 02/03-06/07 Oct-02 ..£50,000 154 (1)/31 .8(0)/4 6(0)/3 10(0)/3
Barnsley....... 06/07-07/08 Nov-06 .£100,000 .28(13)/ 4 .1(0)/0 1(1)/0
Scunthorpe Utd. 07/08-09/10 Jan-08 .Undiscl. .91 (8)/18 .4(0)/0 3(0)/1 .7(0)/1
Peterborough U. 10/11- date May-10 .....Free
Totals............................. £150,000

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.

Irish FA Bio

Northern Ireland Cap Details:
06-10-2001 Malta......... A W 1-0 WCQ sub
13-02-2002 Poland........ N L 1-4 FR. sub
27-03-2002 Liechtenstein. A D 0-0 FR
12-10-2002 Spain......... A L 0-3 ECQ sub
16-10-2002 Ukraine....... H D 0-0 ECQ sub
29-03-2003 Armenia....... A L 0-1 ECQ
02-04-2003 Greece........ H L 0-2 ECQ
10-09-2003 Armenia....... H L 0-1 ECQ
31-03-2004 Estonia....... A W 1-0 FR. sub
15-11-2005 Portugal...... H D 1-1 FR. sub
01-03-2006 Estonia....... H W 1-0 FR. sub
16-08-2006 Finland....... A W 2-1 FR
06-02-2007 Wales......... H D 1-1 FR. sub
24-03-2007 Leichtenstein. A W 4-1 ECQ sub 1 Goal
28-03-2007 Sweden........ H W 2-1 ECQ
12-09-2007 Iceland....... A L 1-2 ECQ sub
11-10-2008 Slovenia...... A L 0-2 WCQ
15-10-2008 San Marino.... H W 4-0 WCQ ... 1 Goal
11-02-2009 San Marino.... A W 3-0 WCQ ... 1 Goal
28-03-2009 Poland........ H W 3-2 WCQ
01-04-2009 Slovenia...... H W 1-0 WCQ
06-06-2009 Italy......... A L 0-3 FR
12-08-2009 Israel........ H D 1-1 FR .... 1 Goal
05-09-2009 Poland........ A D 1-1 WCQ
09-09-2009 Slovakia...... H L 0-2 WCQ
14-10-2009 Czech Republic A D 0-0 WCQ
14-11-2009 Serbia........ H L 0-1 FR. sub
03-03-2010 Albania....... A L 0-1 FR
11-08-2010 Montenegro.... A L 0-2 FR. sub
03-09-2010 Slovenia...... A W 1-0 ECQ
08-10-2010 Italy......... H D 0-0 ECQ
09-02-2011 Scotland...... N L 0-3 CNC
29-03-2011 Slovenia...... H D 0-0 ECQ
10-08-2011 Faroe Islands. H W 4-0 ECQ
Still Active...

Picture by Roy Cathcart.