Grant Holt, then in non-league with Barrow, played and scored in a pre-season friendly against Torquay in 2002. Not engaged at a difficult time in the City's history, he later went on to have a highly-successful career with Norwich City as well as playing for Nottingham Forest and other clubs.

Carlisle-born and playing for Workington and Halifax, he also had spells in Italy and Singapore before settling into more regular football with Barrow in 2001/02. Starting to catch the eye of professional clubs, the 21-one-year-old St James' Park trialist failed to agree a deal with City early in 2002/03 when the club was in a state of crisis. Heading back to Barrow, Grant was eventually given his opportunity by Sheffield Wednesday.

Scoring three times in 24 league games for the Owls, he then moved on to Rochdale before enjoying a good spell with Nottingham Forest where he netted 21 times in 96 league outings.

Dropping a league to Shrewsbury, his excellent scoring record in Shropshire earned him a move to Norwich City which proved to be the peak of his career as he scored 68 league appearances from 154 outings. Subsequently moving to Wigan Athletic in a £2m deal in 2013, he later returned to both Rochdale and Barrow and also turned out for Hibernian prior to going into coaching and scouting.