Source: Team_Talk
Grant grateful for English experience
New Celtic coach Grant was a Hoops player from the early 1980s until the mid-1990s before moving down south to play for Norwich, Reading and Bournemouth.
After a spell as Norwich boss, he was an assistant at West Ham before being invited on to the coaching staff at West Brom by Tony Mowbray, who brought Grant up to Celtic this week along with assistant Mark Venus to form the new Hoops' management team.
Speaking at the club's state-of-the-art training ground in Lennoxtown, a far cry from the run-down Barrowfield where Grant learned his trade, the former midfielder said: "I've been down in England 13 years and I never thought I'd see the day I would walk back into Celtic Park, apart from being a supporter.
"To say it is a pleasant surprise is an understatement.
"It was a no-brainer for us. There is no doubt that the Premier League is fantastic but Celtic is a different beast altogether.
"However, the best thing I ever did was leave Celtic. The experiences I gained have been amazing.
"I have worked in every division in England and I worked in the Premier League for three years.
"I worked with some marvellous players, I've been promoted, relegated and got to finals so I've earned my stripes.
"Celtic probably meant too much to me when I was a player," Grant added.
"Even when we won things I never enjoyed them for more than five minutes.
"People would ask me why I was out running the day after we won the league and I would say, 'we are only champions for three weeks because that's when the season starts again'.
"There is no such thing as second place here.
"There was a blip last year when we lost the title to Rangers but we know what we have to do.
"I went nine years without winning the title as a player which was a real, real difficult time but the club bounced back.
"It is time to win it back again."
