James Grady (footballer)

James Grady
Personal information
Date of birth (1971-03-14) 14 March 1971 (age 53)
Place of birth Paisley, Scotland
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
–1994 Arthurlie
1994–1997 Clydebank 108 (25)
1997–2000 Dundee 95 (23)
2000–2003 Ayr United 80 (14)
2003–2004 Partick Thistle 33 (15)
2004–2005 Dundee United 29 (2)
2005–2008 Gretna 62 (19)
2008–2009 Hamilton Academical 5 (1)
2008 → Greenock Morton (loan) 10 (1)
2009–2010 Greenock Morton 17 (1)
Total 436 (101)
Managerial career
2009 Greenock Morton (caretaker)
2009–2010 Greenock Morton (player-manager)
2022– Scotland under-16
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

James Grady (born 14 March 1971) is a Scottish former professional footballer who spent the majority of his career in the top two divisions in Scottish football. He played as a striker, and became player-manager for Greenock Morton in the First Division between 2009 and 2010.

Grady started in the junior ranks with Barrhead side Arthurlie, before turning senior with Clydebank. After three seasons at Kilbowie, Grady got a move to Dundee, where stayed for another three seasons. Another spell of three seasons was spent at Ayr United, before a season at Partick Thistle.

He then played at Tannadice Park with Dundee United for a season before spending three years winning the First Division title with the ill-fated Gretna. A short spell at Hamilton Academical ended with a loan spell at Morton, which was turned permanent, before he was made the player-manager after Davie Irons was removed from his post.

Playing career

Grady was born in Paisley. After a spell in junior football with Arthurlie, he moved to former senior outfit Clydebank, who now play junior before spending three seasons with Dundee. A further three years were spent with Ayr United, before a prolific season in the SPL with Partick Thistle saw him finish the top Scottish scorer with 15 goals.

An unproductive season with Dundee United followed, in which he scored just twice, but Grady rediscovered his scoring touch in 2005 with Gretna. On 28 April 2007, he scored an injury-time winner against Ross County to secure Gretna's promotion to the SPL as First Division champions.

He joined Hamilton Academical on 31 January 2008.[1] Grady scored his first goal for the Accies against Queen of the South on 1 March. His only other goal for Accies was against Clyde in a 3–1 win in the Scottish League Cup.[2]

Grady joined Greenock Morton on an emergency loan (up to 93 days) on 17 October 2008.[3]

Grady scored on his debut for Morton, in a 1–0 home victory over Clyde on 18 October 2008, to give the Cappielow club their first league victory since beating Partick Thistle on the last day of the previous season.[4] This goal was Grady's 100th league goal of his career.

Grady was released by Hamilton on 2 January 2009,[5] and signed a permanent deal until the end of the season at Morton.[6]

The Daily Record stated that Grady was offered a further contract until January 2010, via its Soccer Shorts section.

Coaching career

After the sacking of Davie Irons, Grady was made caretaker manager of Greenock Morton alongside Allan McManus.[7] They were appointed permanently (this time with McManus as his assistant) on Halloween 2009.[8] He left Morton on 9 May 2010, after eight months in charge of the club.[9]

As of 2018, Grady was the dedicated coach for the Scottish Football Association's Performance Schools project based at Grange Academy in Kilmarnock.[10] He became coach of the Scotland under-16 team in February 2022.[11]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Scottish Cup Scottish League Cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Clydebank 1994–95 Scottish First Division 108 25 108 25
1995–96
1996–97
Dundee 1997–98 Scottish First Division 36 14 4 3 2 0 – 42 17
1998–99 Scottish Premier League 26 3 1 0 1 0 – 28 3
1999–2000 31 6 1 0 2 1 – 34 7
Ayr United 2000–01 Scottish First Division 18 3 1 0 – – 19 3
2001–02 31 8 5 2 5 2 – 41 12
2002–03 31 3 2 1 1 0 – 34 4
Partick Thistle 2003–04 Scottish Premier League 33 15 2 2 2 1 – 37 18
Dundee United 2004–05 Scottish Premier League 29 2 3 2 2 1 – 34 5
Gretna 2005–06 Scottish Second Division 31 15 6 6 2 1 – 39 22
2006–07 Scottish First Division 23 4 1 0 – 2 0 26 4
2007–08 Scottish Premier League 8 0 – 1 0 – 9 0
Hamilton Academical 2007–08 Scottish First Division 5 1 1 0 – – 6 1
Greenock Morton 2008–09 Scottish First Division 21 2 – – – 21 2
2009–10 5 0 – – – 5 0
Career total 435 101 27 16 18 6 2 0 482 123

Honours

Dundee

Ayr United

Dundee United

Gretna

Hamilton Academical

See also

References

  1. ^ "Grady and Jenkins in Gretna exit". BBC Sport. 31 January 2008.
  2. ^ "Hamilton 3–1 Clyde". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  3. ^ "Grady in on loan ahead of key match". Greenock Telegraph. 17 October 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  4. ^ "Morton 1–0 Clyde". BBC Sport. 18 October 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  5. ^ "Players On The Move". Hamilton Academical FC official website. 2 January 2009. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
  6. ^ "McAnespie on way out". Greenock Telegraph. 3 January 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2009.
  7. ^ "Morton appoint James Grady & Allan McManus as caretaker bosses". Daily Record. 22 September 2009. Archived from the original on 29 September 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
  8. ^ "Grady and McManus get Ton job". Greenock Telegraph. 31 October 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  9. ^ "Manager James Grady parts company with Morton". BBC Sport. 9 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
  10. ^ "JD Performance Schools: Grange Academy - Kilmarnock". Scottish Football Association. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  11. ^ "Stuart Glennie and James Grady appointed as Scotland Under-15s and Under-16s Head Coaches". www.scottishfa.co.uk. 22 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022.