Grant Holt was perhaps the most popular player at Norwich City during their two-year run from League One to the Premier League between 2009 and 2011.

The 45-year-old joined Carrow Road after scoring 20 goals for Shrewsbury Town in the 2008/09 League Two season, which concluded in a play-off defeat to Gillingham at Wembley Stadium.

Having been a well-known goal machine in the fourth division with Rochdale before his days at Croud Meadow, and with a 14-goal League After one season with Nottingham Forest, it was evident that Holt’s immediate future lay at a higher-level team than Shrewsbury.

Norwich would purchase him for £400,000, and he’d score 55 goals over the course of two promotion campaigns, including 15 in his maiden top-flight season to help the Canaries establish themselves in the Premier League.

He was the club’s Player of the Year for three years in a succession, becoming the only player to win the title three times, but his famous career at Carrow Road nearly didn’t happen.

Grant Holt almost signed for Colchester United before joining Norwich City in 2009.

Indeed, Paul Lambert, who would become the mastermind behind the Norwich club during the three-year transition from League One to the Premier League, almost prevented Holt from signing for the Canaries in the first place.

During the summer of 2009, the Scottish manager wanted the then-Shrewsbury frontman to help Colchester United return to the Championship after being relegated the season before Norwich.Paul Lambert was anxious to sign me at Colchester, and he called me several times, saying, ‘We’re putting £300,000 in; go tell the chairman you want to leave.’

According to PinkUn, Holt stated on the 3 in the Middle Podcast, “I’m not going to tell him until you do it.”Then Norwich went up to £400,000. The Shrewsbury chairman called me and said they had agreed, therefore it was up to me. He said, “Go and see what they say.” “I have a new contract here, so if you don’t like it,

you can return.”We went down there, but I almost didn’t sign. My brother came with me, which was fantastic. “When we left Carlisle, it was cold, but when we arrived, it was extremely hot.”I was there for three days, and I had an ankle procedure in the summer that had gone wrong at Shrewsbury.

Norwich weren’t convinced by the third day, so I told Bryan Gunn [Norwich’s manager at the time], ‘You’ve got to tell Delia Smith, and you’ve got to do it today or I’m going back.’ They completed the transaction there and then.”

The rest, as they say, is history, as Holt led the charge from the third tier to the top division in as many seasons, becoming only the fourth side to achieve so in the Premier League era.

The best years of the former frontman’s career came at Carrow Road, but it could have been different if Norwich’s management had reconsidered his ankle procedure that summer.

Paul Lambert swiftly got his hands on Grant Holt and demonstrated why he wanted to sign him.

Ironically, Paul Lambert’s sorrow in missing out on Holt as Colchester manager was short-lived, as the Scotsman followed his old striker target to Carrow Road less than a month later, when Bryan Gunn was fired two games into the 2009/10 season.

Lambert was impressed by Holt’s performance and wanted to sign him in the summer. The two were key protagonists in the club’s ascension to the Premier League. “”Paul Lambert and Cully [Ian Culverhouse] were brilliant,” Holt said of the manager. “All they did was say this is how we will win. If you stick to the philosophy, we may win. If you don’t stick to it, we’ll lose. Sticking to our plan may not guarantee victory, but it is the only way to win, and everyone agreed.He was the best for me since you couldn’t relax. Simon Lappin played a lot in League One and the Championship, but he wasn’t playing when we arrived to the Premier League. He had been a member of the squad but rarely played, even from the bench.We played QPR on New Year’s Day, and as we got off the bus, Lapps had left his bag behind. He did not even bring it out. He sat down, the team was named, and Lappin got started. He said, “I don’t even have my stuff!”You had to be ready at all times because he would throw you in out of nowhere. You might play three games or be dropped the following week, but you always had to be prepared.”

There was no chance of Holt being dropped under Lambert, and his lethal character was highlighted when his goal involvement reduced substantially in the 2012/13 season once the manager moved for Aston Villa.

Every player will have one manager that they prefer to play for and who brings out their best. Lambert transformed Holt into a Premier League-level striker in his 30s, and the 45-year-old’s story is one of the most inspiring because of the manager’s ability to bring out the best in him.

Colchester will be disappointed that it could not be accomplished at the JobServe Community Stadium, while Norwich will be relieved that it can at Carrow Road.