GRANT HOLT: I used to work in a factory, so I appreciate life as a footballer... but that doesn't stop me being one of the biggest moaners at Wigan!

PUBLISHED: 02:30 EST, 30 October 2013 | UPDATED: 12:07 EST, 30 October 2013

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Grant Holt has played for 12 clubs in a career that has taken him from non-League Workington and Barrow in his native Cumbria to Australia and Singapore, on his way up to the Premier League and the brink of an England call-up. A terrace hero at Norwich, the striker, 32, decided to leave Carrow Road in the summer and join relegated Wigan. In his debut Footballers' Football Column, he explains why - and discusses his radio show and his love of greyhound racing.

Grant Holt stars in Sportsmail's Footballers' Football Column

I was close to the England squad last year but how close I’ll never know. Roy Hodgson spoke to Paul Lambert and they asked for my medical notes from Norwich, which gives you the sense that you’re there. It was disappointing that I didn’t get in but that’s life, you move on.

I never dreamed I’d get in the Premier League but I did. I was a smidgeon off going to Euro 2012 and yet I never thought I’d get anywhere near the England squad.

When I see Rickie Lambert playing for England now, there’s a tinge of thinking what might have been for me maybe a year earlier. But I didn’t get that opportunity and I’m delighted that Rickie has.

Wigan warrior: Grant Holt made the switch from Norwich to the DW Stadium in the summer

I know him really well – I actually spoke to him recently. At the moment it looks like you can’t take him out of the team. If he keeps putting the ball in the net for England he’ll get picked and I’ll be more than delighted to see him in Brazil.

Players should be picked on form not on where they’re from. We play an endless amount of friendlies and I’ve never understood why Rickie or Gary Hooper, when he was on fire at Celtic, didn’t get a chance in a friendly.

We all know what Rooney, Sturridge and Welbeck can do. Do they really need to travel all the way for a friendly? Probably not. Why not take the other lads and let them have a look? Or stick in the Under 21s to give them that big-game mentality? Vary it and see what works best for England.

I’m never one to criticise the lads who wear the shirt like England were after the Ukraine game. The expectancy level is so great.

Taking his chance: Rickie Lambert has earned his spot in the England squad

Time for a break: Holt says everyone knows what Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Wayne Rooney can do, so England should give more fringe players a chance in the upcoming friendly games

More from The Footballers' Column...

What I’ve found being in the Premier League is when the likes of Man United, Arsenal, City and Chelsea roll into town you park the bus. We sit in and try to frustrate them. Any footballer will tell you, when you’re against a team looking to sit in and pick you off it’s not easy.

Like Rickie, I worked in a factory earlier in my career. It was Cavaghan & Gray in Carlisle, although I was in the storeroom so it wasn’t too bad. You just try to make ends meet.

I’d gone to Barrow, laughing and joking with the lads, just enjoying my football. That was the point when I thought I’d had enough. I’d played in Perth and for Sengkang Marine in Singapore and then been let down over a contract offer by Carlisle.

I was going to play non-League, get a job and that was me done. I never dreamed I was going to get a trial anywhere else but Sheffield Wednesday came in for me.

The only reason I got that trial was because I was enjoying my football. There was no pressure.

I’ve always been the same since. No game really fazes me now. I just try to enjoy football for what it is, the game I had as a kid, kicking a ball and laughing with my mates. I think it’s worked.

Having played at that level gives you a different perspective but I’m still probably the biggest moaner. The more you get in football, the more you moan. It’s more the little things that bother me. The young lads now and their attitude, little bits that wind me up.

They don’t really know what it’s like until you get out. Stupid stuff. Moaning about doing a run, picking something up, wearing trainers.

I always remember Kevin Pressman at Sheffield Wednesday. They only had two baths there. I was in one of them one day and somebody else was in the other.

Being an absolute legend at Wednesday, Kev walked in and said, ‘You’re in my bath!’ It was always his bath. He said, ‘Come on get out!’ I was a young pro at the time. I said, ‘Are you winding me up?’

Because of who he was I got out and emptied it. He made me go and wash it because he said it was too soapy. I didn’t have to but in those days there was that little bit of respect. It’s important to try and keep those old beliefs together.

I used to be a tyre-fitter after I’d left school as well. I was playing for Workington at the time and then I left to join Halifax. I only did it for about a year.

Do you know, I’ve never had a burst tyre. It’s the weirdest thing. Maybe I’m just lucky.

I felt my career at Norwich had run its course when I left for Wigan this summer. I didn’t enjoy the last year. Don’t get me wrong, I still had some good times that year and made some good friends among the lads but I just didn’t enjoy my football.

Respect: Holt jumped out of the bath when Kevin Pressman asked him to at Sheffield Wednesday

The early years: Holt spent the start of his career at Sheffield Wednesday and Rochdale

At the end of the season it was successful and kept us up but I didn’t enjoy playing the way we were and I thought it was right for me to move on.

Under Paul Lambert we used to attack and press and be more high tempo. We scored something like 32 goals in the last 15 minutes under him at Norwich. He had the enthusiasm and attitude, ‘You score two and we’ll score three’. As a forward, I was getting chances and people were around supporting to me.

Chris Hughton was much more defensive. He wanted to do everything in shape but I was a lot more isolated and doing more defensive work than I did.

It’s a team game and who am I to dictate what I want to do? So I did my job for the team, I achieved what I wanted to at the club and Norwich stayed up – which I hope they do again – and I thought the time was right to go.

They’d signed lads to bring in and if he wanted his own men in to play his style that was fine.

Luckily for me Wigan popped up and everything just fitted. I spoke to Owen Coyle and he was enthusiastic. Everyone knows what he’s like. He spoke about his vision and what he wanted to achieve.

On the attack: Paul Lambert was an offensive manager who liked to get forward

More defensive: Chris Hughton liked to build from the back

We knew they were in Europe and that was something I’d never done. I just had a feeling that it was right for me to go.

I never want to stay at somewhere just for the sake of it. I had two years left at Norwich and I just didn’t want to sit there and be a bit-part player or let it take away from the fantastic four years I’d had.

I want to play football. I want to go somewhere ambitious. I want challenges. That’s why I dropped from the Championship with Nottingham Forest, where I had a year left, and went to Shrewsbury in League Two. I’d seen the vision and an opportunity to go somewhere that had a new incentive and I wanted to be part of that.

It was similar going to Norwich that first season. We knew what a club it was and where it could go. We never dreamed it would go there so quickly.

It was my decision to leave in the end. I knew that people would remember whatever I’d done in the past – the three Player of the Year awards, the promotions, scoring a hat-trick against Ipswich.

I didn’t want to sit there with people saying, ‘We like Grant because he did this’. I like to be judged on what I’m doing at the time. That’s why I was ready for Wigan.

The chairman Dave Whelan had the ambition to do well in Europe and get back in the Premier League. At 31, I was ready for a new challenge and that ticked every box.

The chairman is fantastic in giving the lads what they need to do the best job.

On the up: Holt guided Norwich to promotion from League One

Jumping for joy: Holt scored over 60 goals in his time at Carrow Road

Jumping for joy: Holt scored more than 60 goals in his time at Carrow Road

Reaching the promised land: Holt and Norwich won promotion to the Premier League

Most of the players the manager has brought in have played the Premier League. It’s a fantastic club that has got a good base for a team that’s hopefully got enough to challenge on all fronts.

I made my comeback from a knee injury against Blackburn. It normally takes me a good few months to bed in at a new club so to get the injury when I did after already scoring two goals in my first four league games was a little bit disappointing.

You’ve done the pre-season and all the hard work to get your fitness and then four games in you take a knock and you’re out for a while.

But I’m happy with the way I’ve started. It’s very difficult when you go to a team and so many players have been bought in the summer and the manager as well. You’ve got to learn what people do and it’s going to take a while for the team to gel.

I’m sure we’ll progress. We’ve got to be there or thereabouts so when that does happen we can go on that run we know we’ve got.

Fans talk about loyalty to clubs. You sign your contract and you should be loyal. It only crops up when you look at the people at the top, the ones performing well.

You never hear the story of someone who helped take a club up from League One and all of a sudden they’ve gone because it was right for the club.

Up for the challenge: Holt was pleased to move to work for Owen Coyle and Dave Whelan at Wigan

Euro star: Holt is enjoying the experience of playing in the Europa League

It’s one-way. You only hear about when a player is holding a club to ransom, never when a club is holding a player to ransom.

You’ll hear about players putting in transfer requests and wanting to leave for money, this or that. You’ll never hear the other 10 stories about people being shoved out of the back door by not getting pay-offs – the lad who signed a two-year deal and the club is trying to force him out.

The loyalty has gone from clubs. They offer three-year contracts and if doesn’t work out they will soon let you go. When it’s on the other foot, that’s the only story you’ll ever hear.

Football is a business and like any business you only hear the positives not the negatives, and that’s frustrating. I never say we’re not fortunate in the jobs that we do.

I’m very lucky. But sometimes it is frustrating when you’re travelling a lot. You ask some of the bigger players in the Premier League how much they see of their kids when they’re away on internationals.

We’ve got a few of the Wigan boys who were away for two weeks in the last international break and then came back and we travelled to Europe, then Leicester. It’s a difficult job but I’m sure they’d take it.

Moving up: Holt joined Nottingham Forest in a big-money move

On the move again: Holt dropped down from Forest to get more playing time at Shrewsbury

Everyone thinks that because I moved the family, my wife and three daughters back to Carlisle there was an issue at Norwich and I got a bit of criticism. But it was never an issue. It was the fact that I wasn’t enjoying the football. I’d done it before.

When I was in the Championship, they were living in Carlisle for nearly eight months. They moved home for five or six months when we were in the Premier League and I still got on with it.

I’ve always believed that as soon as my family came along they were the first priority. Football’s not a side product but, for me, it comes after the family. If they’re happy I’m happy.

My kids have got a fantastic life in Carlisle surrounded by their nanas and cousins, aunts and uncles, they’re enjoying school and my wife has a more interactive life.

I’m in the perfect location now, up north not far from home. I drive to and from training at Wigan. It takes about one hour and 20 minutes so it doesn’t really bother me. I get all my work done in the car and then I walk through the door and get bombarded for three-and-a-half hours before they go to bed.

If we’ve got a home game I’ll never drive down on the day of the game. I stay at a hotel and try to get my head down and prepare; get that peace and sleep you don’t get with three kids.

Fresh start: Holt is happy with his move from Norwich to Wigan

Close, but not close enough: Holt says he was not far away from an England call

I'm 32 now and I’m not sure how long I will play on. It all depends on what happens at Wigan in the next three years.

I’ve never been the quickest in the world but I always look at Teddy Sheringham and his intelligence. The likes of Kevin Davies and people like that.

A lot of people call me a journeyman already because I’ve had that many clubs. I’ll just do it while I enjoy it. I don’t want to be one of these people traipsing around the country, going for a year here and there.

I never know if I want to do coaching or not. I always think I don’t but when I’ m watching a game I find myself dropping into that role. So if I fell into a job I’d probably do it but I wouldn’t go chasing it.

Away from football, I’ve got some property stuff that takes care of itself but I enjoy the media side of it. I do a radio show for BBC Radio Cumbria, once a week on Tuesday nights 6 till 7.

They asked me to do it and I quite liked it. I don’t know if it’s going to be a career or not but I just enjoy that side of things.

It’s predominantly a Cumbrian programme highlighting Carlisle, Barrow, Workington and Kendal.

We’ve had a few of the Carlisle players on and Mark Halsey. It’s just an hour talking about football, and I do that every day at work so it’s quite easy.

Ahead of the game: Teddy Sheringham and Kevin Davies were not the quickest players but had a good brain

Once you start being known in football you get used to the microphone being in your face. The only difference is that I’m the one posing the questions which is quite nice for a change.

We had Rio Ferdinand on the other week. It’s quite funny when you’re interviewing someone like Rio. He couldn’t come on air at the time so we pre-recorded it.

Next thing, you’re in the middle of interviewing Rio Ferdinand about his England career and his kids are walking in shouting if he can you do this or that. It makes you realise that no matter how big they are it’s the family aspect.

I was saying to him on the show how I found when I used to be really annoyed if we lost and I’d come in like a bear with a sore head. I wasn’t nice to be around.

Radio star: Holt interviewed Rio Ferdinand on his Radio Cumbria show

Then as soon as the kids came along I would walk through the door and it was gone. They couldn’t care less what you’ve done. They know what you do but they’re not bothered. That’s good for me now. When I come in the football’s gone and I all I have to do is focus on them.

The other thing I’m really interested in is greyhound racing and I’ve set up the SMGH Racing Club with my old Norwich team-mate Steve Morison. We got on really well at Norwich although for some reason people didn’t think we did which was funny because he was one of my closest friends there.

When we first went in a lot of people thought we were going to say, ‘We’ll buy this dog for £30,000’ and we haven’t done that. We’ve been sensible. We’re trying to do it the right way.

Track stars: Holt and former team-mate Steve Morison have a greyhound business together

Day at the races: Holt enjoys his dealings with greyhounds

We didn’t want to chuck money at it and people get the hump. I think people realise now that the reason we got involved was because we love greyhound racing. It’s got nothing to do with revamping the sport or winning the big trophies, although obviously you want to do that.

STEVE MORISON COLUMN

Click here to read Steve Morison's Footballers' Football Column

I’ve always liked the dogs. My granddad would go and watch them in Carlisle at the bookies. He’d listen to the radio and you could hear them coming in. One day he took me over to Gretna where they were on and I just enjoyed them. I liked the speed.

With the horses, they take time to go round but you know instantly with the dogs. You know what you were getting. It’s quick and explosive. The horses takes a little bit longer to get going and the favourites are always there or thereabouts but with the dogs anything can win.

Everyone sees horse racing as a rich man’s sport and the dogs as a working man’s thing, which it has been. But that’s changing a little bit. We want people to realise what a good night out it is, not just an old man going down with his paper and his pipe.

Going to the dogs: Holt says he has always been into Greyhound racing

In fairness it’s been dying out. They nearly demolished Wimbledon, one of the most renowned dog tracks. But we’ve got 2,500 followers on our Twitter feed now, probably just through us being footballers and tweeting about the dogs left right and centre.

It’s gone from enjoyment to a hobby to a business. When Steve came to Norwich he had a dog and we were on an away trip somewhere in London and he asked me if I wanted to watch it.

We were sat in London on the bus half nine at night, lights out watching the dog channel and I was more anxious than I’ve ever been watching a race, even though it wasn’t my dog.

From there we ended up buying a couple, someone gave us a couple and we opened the racing club.

It’s gone really well. We’ve got 50-odd members now. It just snowballed. We’ve gone into partnership with Ladbrokes which is fantastic, and the kennels have just opened.

We’re trying to get in the best dogs and the best people to our kennels so our trainer, Jim Daly, can get to the top of the trainer charts.

Jim has never really had the help that he’s needed to get to the next level. With me and Steve buying a few of dogs we’ve trusted what he’s done and what he’ s bought has come good.

He’s from Norfolk and we’re tied in with Coventry which is where all our dogs will run so the kennels are based in Peterborough.

Anyone can buy a dog. Syndicates can buy them. If they want to put them in our kennels they can, if they don’t they can go with someone else.

THE EUROPA LEAGUE ON BT SPORT

BT Sport are showing Wigan’s Europa League campaign live. BT Sport also has 38 exclusively live football matches from the Barclays Premier League, including 18 top picks. For more information visit www.bt.com/sport

Hopefully there will be between 23 and 32 dogs, give or take. We’re trying to get it all energy efficient with the wind turbines and solar panels to make it self-sustainable. Something that’s going to last. We want it all green and to give the dogs the best home possible.

We’re trying to get into the breeding side as well. We had 12 pups earlier this month off two of our dogs. One of them is called Norfolk Canary and she’s my favourite. She had three races and she’s just retired because she broke her ankle. She’s the most peaceful, pleasant dog you can imagine.

She was one of the first dogs we bought at the racing club and that’s why we thought of Norfolk Canary.

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birdie339, Norwich, United Kingdom, 2 months ago

Holty is a born goal scorer with far more skill than he is credited with. I'd still put his name first on the team sheet at Norwich where our new, expensive strikers have got 1 between them so far!

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JamesBest, Tipperary, 2 months ago

I also love greyhound racing. I keep all my dogs regardless of how they performed on the track and support the work of the Retired Greyhound Trust. In Ireland 3% of all winning prize money goes to the RGT. Greyhounds make marvellous pets Grant Holt did not mention what happens to his old, slow or injured dogs. I hope he looks after them and uses his money and high profile position as a top footballer to make sure all his dogs are properly rehomed. A greyhound is not just for Christmas etc

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madison, norwich, United Kingdom, 2 months ago

Great for Norwich, he was main reason we got from 1st div. to Premier. Very sad to see him go but under Hughton he played as lone striker and spent most of his time defending. Feel sorry for the strikers at Norwich now as we play to frustrate and then break. Will be a miracle if we score more than 1 goal in a match.