Gary Holt (footballer)

Gary Holt
Personal information
Full name Gary James Holt[1]
Date of birth (1973-03-09) 9 March 1973[1]
Place of birth Irvine, Scotland
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)[1]
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Livingston (head coach)
Youth career
1992–1994 Celtic
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1995 Stoke City 0 (0)
1995–2001 Kilmarnock 138 (12)
2001–2005 Norwich City 168 (3)
2005–2007 Nottingham Forest 65 (1)
2007–2009 Wycombe Wanderers 76 (3)
2009 Colchester United 0 (0)
2009–2010 Lowestoft Town 22 (4)
Total 469 (23)
National team
2000–2004 Scotland 10 (1)
Teams managed
2013–2014 Falkirk
2018– Livingston
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Gary James Holt (born 9 March 1973) is a Scottish football player and coach, who is currently the head coach of Livingston.

Holt first played competitively for Kilmarnock, making 138 appearances, before transferring to the English Division One side Norwich City, where Holt made 168 appearances. Holt also received 10 caps for the Scotland national football team, scoring one goal.[2] Later in his career, Holt also played for Nottingham Forest and Wycombe Wanderers, before signing for Isthmian League side Lowestoft Town after an unsuccessful transfer to Colchester United.

After his retirement from playing football, Holt joined the Norwich City Academy. He then managed Falkirk for just over a year until June 2014, when he returned to Norwich as a first-team coach. In August 2018, he was appointed head coach of Scottish Premiership club Livingston.

Playing career

Holt came late to professional football, having had a spell in the Army Catering Corps as a chef and played for the British Army team prior to joining Celtic. He did not play for the Bhoys first team and moved on to Stoke City. After a brief stay, Holt returned to his boyhood favourites, Kilmarnock, where he excelled in the Ayrshire team's most consistent period of success since the 1960s. He set up home in his place of birth with his wife in the Bourtreehill part of Irvine. Despite his excellent form with Kilmarnock, international recognition proved elusive, and Holt briefly explored the option of playing for Canada in 1998. However, it eventually emerged Holt wasn't eligible for Canada, and Holt gained his first Scotland cap a year later.

In 2001, Norwich City paid £135,000 for Holt. He was voted Norwich City player of the year in 2001-02, when he also collected a number of fans' awards, including the Capital Canaries Player of the Season trophy. That season, Holt was a member of the Norwich team that reached the final of the Division One play-offs, losing on penalties to Birmingham City[3] After playing in Division One for his first three seasons with the club and helping them win promotion to the Premier League in 2004, Holt left to join Nottingham Forest in 2005, where he spent two years before being released at the end of the 2006-07 season. At Forest he scored three times, with goals against Weymouth in the FA Cup,[4] Cheltenham in the league[5] and Yeovil in the second leg of the 2007 League One play off semi final.[6] He subsequently signed for League Two side Wycombe Wanderers on 12 July 2007.[7] He signed a 1-year extension until July 2010 on 17 January 2009. On 28 March 2009 he lobbed Luke Daniels in the League Two match against Shrewsbury Town to score the third goal of his Wycombe Wanderers career.

For the 2009/10 season he left Wycombe Wanderers to join former manager Paul Lambert at Colchester United as a player coach. However, when Lambert left for Norwich City after only three game of the season, his contract was terminated without him making a single appearance for the club. On 6 October 2009 he signed for Isthmian League club Lowestoft Town.

International career

Holt made his Scotland debut on 2 September 2000 as an 89th-minute substitute against Latvia in a match that Scotland won 1-0. He kept his place in the squad for the next year and a half before he was omitted from after a friendly against France that ended in a 5-0 defeat for Scotland in March 2002. He was not capped again for two years when his final cap came in a 1-1 draw against Moldova in October 2004. His only international goal came in a 4-1 win over Trinidad & Tobago in 2004.

Coaching career

In July 2010, he returned to Norwich City as assistant Academy manager. He was responsible for the coaching of City's under-12 to under-16 age groups as well as assisting the current coaching staff with reserve team matters.[8]

Holt was appointed manager of Scottish First Division club Falkirk on 3 April 2013.[9] Upon becoming the new manager of Falkirk, Holt expressed has delight at returning to a club that gave him one of the best days of his career[10]'. Holt also credits former Norwich City manager and compatriot, Paul Lambert for helping him.[11] Holt left Falkirk in June 2014 to take a position at Norwich City as a first-team coach.[12] Holt left Norwich by mutual consent after the 2015–16 season.[13]

In August 2018, he was appointed head coach of Scottish Premiership club Livingston,[14] replacing former Scotland teammate Kenny Miller in the role.[15]

Career statistics

International

Scotland national team[16]
YearAppsGoals
200020
2001—
200210
2003—
200471
Total101

International goals

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.[17]
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.30 May 2004Easter Road, Edinburgh Trinidad and Tobago2–04–1Friendly

Honours

Kilmarnock
Norwich
Lowestoft Town

Individual

Manager statistics

As of 6 October 2018

Team Nat From To Record
GWDLWin %
Falkirk Scotland April 2013 June 2014 52 25 11 16 048.08
Livingston Scotland August 2018 Present 6 4 2 0 066.67
Total 58 29 13 16 050.00

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0.
  2. ↑ Gary Holt at the Scottish Football Association
  3. ↑ "Birmingham reach Premiership". BBC. 12 May 2002. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  4. ↑ "Nottm Forest 1-1 Weymouth". BBC. 5 November 2005. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
  5. ↑ "Nott'm Forest 3-0 Cheltenham". BBC. 24 March 2007. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
  6. ↑ "Nottm Forest 2-5 Yeovil". BBC. 18 May 2007. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
  7. ↑ Wycombe capture midfielder Holt
  8. ↑ "Gary Holt". ex-canaries.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  9. ↑ "Falkirk confirm Gary Holt as new manager for semi-final". BBC Sport. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  10. ↑ "New Falkirk gaffer Gary Holt delighted to clinch job for team that gave him one of the best days of his career". Daily Record. 4 April 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  11. ↑ "Gary Holt's hails mentor Paul Lambert". Scotsman. 7 April 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  12. ↑ "Norwich City: Gary Holt to quit Falkirk for Canaries role". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 June 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  13. ↑ "Gary Holt: Norwich City first-team coach leaves to seek boss job". BBC Sport. BBC. 28 June 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  14. ↑ McLauchlin, Brian (23 August 2018). "Livingston: Gary Holt agrees to replace Kenny Miller as manager". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  15. ↑ "Scotland player Gary Holt: Managers & Teammates". FitbaStats. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  16. ↑ National Football Teams profile
  17. ↑ SFA profile
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