I played for Man Utd and spent 22 years as a goalkeeper – now I’m one of the top striker coaches in the country
IPSWICH are flying high in League One and are eyeing automatic promotion this season.
The free-scoring Tractor Boys have netted 72 goals in 37 games this campaign – more than any other team in the division.
In fact, Ipswich are the joint-second highest scorers in the top four divisions of English football.
Only Championship leaders Burnley (74) have scored more goals than Kieran McKenna’s side this season.
And McKenna, who left his role as a first-team coach at Manchester United in November 2021, has been helped by a former Red Devil.
Ex-Old Trafford goalkeeper Lee Grant is part of the Ipswich set up… but as a goalkeeper coach.
The former stopper announced his retirement last year with a brilliant post aged 39.
But after spending 22 years between the sticks, Grant now 40, is helping Ipswich’s striker put the ball in the back of the net.
Spending so much time in goal means he knows the best ways to score them.
Grant told the The Telegraph: “Across 20 odd years of being in goal and conceding so many goals, I can remember so many so vividly. They are etched into my mind and psyche.
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“I use that to help guide the forward players occasionally, for the sorts of outcomes that no goalkeeper would like.”
Grant spent four years at United, and is the oldest player ever to make a European debut for United.
When working with his players at Ipswich, he talks about situations he would least like to face as a goalie.
He added: “We talk about foot patterns, how quickly we can get shots off, arriving onto the ball as quickly as possible, shortening steps.
“I like it when our strikers are dictating to the goalkeepers. I enjoy it when we’re the ones leading the dance.
“If I think back to myself between the sticks, that was probably where I felt most vulnerable, when a striker had that real clarity about what they were trying to achieve and were able to.”