Grant Samuel McCann (born 14 April 1980 in Belfast) is a Northern Irish footballer who currently plays for Scunthorpe United of Football League Championship in England.

[edit] Career

McCann, a midfielder, who played for the same boys club as the likes of Steven Davis and Keith Gillespie, St Andrews, started his professional career at West Ham United. A product of the club's Academy of Football, he failed to cement a place in the senior squad, and made just four substitute appearances for the East London club.

McCann had loan spells at Livingston and Notts County before moving to Cheltenham Town, in another loan deal, in 2000.

He made his debut for the Northern Ireland national team on 6 October 2001 in a 1–0 away win against Malta.

After another loan deal took him back to Cheltenham in 2002, the move was made permanent during the January 2003 transfer window. McCann went on to make 155 league appearances for the Gloucestershire club.

He joined Barnsley on loan deadline day, 23 November 2006, in a contract that expired on 1 January 2007. On his debut against Ipswich Town he scored a 92nd minute winner in Simon Davey's first ever game as caretaker boss. The two clubs agreed a fee of £100,000 and McCann moved to Barnsley permanently on 2 January 2007. At the time this was a record fee for an outbound player at Cheltenham.

In January 2008, McCann left Barnsley to sign for Championship rivals Scunthorpe United for a six-figure undisclosed fee.

Recently, he has been responsible for scoring most of Scunthorpes penalty kicks, following team mate Paul Hayes missing 2 in successive matches, this took his toatal goal tally for Scunthorpe to 11 in two seasons.

[edit] International career

He opened his goalscoring account for Northern Ireland by scoring the last goal, a header, in the 4–1 away win against Liechtenstein on 24 March, 2007. On 15 October 2008 he grabbed his second goal for Northern Ireland against San Marino with a goal from outside the box. Grant recently became the honorary chairman of the University of Ulster Coleraine Northern Ireland Supporters Club. Grant added to his International goal tally away to San Marino on the 11th February when he curled in a right footed shot from 20 yards out. During the friendly with Israel, he added to his international tally with a trademark free kick. Grant now has three songs from the Northern Ireland fans.

Grant also was honoured by the University of Ulster in Coleraine as their Supporters' club chairman in 2008, for his industrious midfield displays in the Green of Northern Ireland. Grant accepted his accolodade with pride and dedicated his goal against San Marino to the travelling students, who resided in the television gantry with few clothes on.

[edit] Playing Style

Grant McCann is known for his playmaking ability from the middle of the park. His main attributes are his vision, footballing brain and the ability to execute a pass due to his sound technique. He recently scored a long range screamer angainst Sheffield United FC from 30 yards against loan 'keeper Mark Bunn.

International Goals

Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Result	Competition	Scored
March 24, 2007	Rheinpark, Vaduz	Liechtenstein	4-1	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group F	1
October 15, 2008	Windsor Park Belfast	San Marino	4-0	Win	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 3	1
February 11, 2009	Stadio Olimpico Serravalle	San Marino	3-0	Win	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 3	1
August 12, 2009	Windsor Park Northern Ireland	Israel	1-1	Draw	Friendly	1

[edit] References

• Grant McCann player profile at scunthorpe-united.co.uk
• Grant McCann player profile at barnsleyfc.co.uk
• Grant McCann career stats at Soccerbase