Steve Gritt

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Steve Gritt
Personal information
Full name	Stephen John Gritt
Date of birth	October 31, 1957 (1957-10-31) (age 51)
Place of birth	Bournemouth, England
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1975–1977 1977–1989 1989 1989–1993	Bournemouth Charlton Athletic Walsall Charlton Athletic	006 0(3) 347 (24) 020 0(1) 033 0(1)
Teams managed
1991–1995 1996–1998 2000 2004–	Charlton Athletic Brighton & Hove Albion Millwall (caretaker) Charlton Athletic Academy
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Stephen John "Steve" Gritt (born 31 October 1957 in Bournemouth) is a former English football player and manager. His playing career included spells at Charlton Athletic, Bournemouth and Walsall.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Managerial career 3 Personal life 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Playing career

Gritt spent most of his playing career with Charlton Athletic, after joining from home town club Bournemouth in 1977. In his first spell with Charlton, he experienced one relegation to the Third Division (1980), one promotion to the Second Division (1981) and one promotion to the First Division (1986). In 1989 he moved to Walsall for a brief spell but soon returned to Charlton. In his second spell, he experienced another relegation in 1990.

In all, Gritt made 435 appearances for Charlton, with 26 goals, placing him fifth on Charlton's all time appearance list. He played a further two seasons after being appointed manager, retiring in 1993. He later had brief spells with non-league teams Welling United and Tooting & Mitcham after leaving Charlton in 1995.

[edit] Managerial career

Gritt was named as joint player-manager of Charlton in 1991, alongside Alan Curbishley. In his four year tenure, Gritt helped to lay the foundations for future successes under Curbishley, who succeeded him as sole manager in 1995. Several key players were debuted under the joint managers, including Lee Bowyer, John Robinson, Richard Rufus and Shaun Newton, and went on to be important components of Charlton's successful team of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Gritt was made manager of Brighton & Hove Albion in 1996, who were at the time eleven points adrift at the bottom of the Football League. He was able to turn Brighton's form around, and they successfully avoided relegation to the Conference on the final day of the 1996–97 season. Brighton were never in danger of relegation the following season, but the club's board had higher expectations and Gritt was fired in 1998. Nevertheless, Gritt is still fondly remembered by the Seagulls' supporters.^[1]

Gritt later moved to Millwall and became reserve-team manager. In 2000, he had a short spell as caretaker manager of the Lions and was then assistant manager to Mark McGhee until 2003. In June 2004, Gritt returned to Charlton in the role of academy manager.^[2] It is little known that Gritt's first attempt at football management was in 1980 as manager of amateur Medway Area Sunday League team Hever Farm. This was whilst still a player with Charlton Athletic whose Manager decided the two did not mix and he was ordered to quit managing the little amateur team.

[edit] Personal life

Gritt suffered a tragedy on 7 December 2002 when his 18-year-old daughter Hayley died as a result of cancer. Hayley had been a lifelong supporter and a season ticket holder at The Valley, even after her father's departure from the club in 1995.^[3]

[edit] References

1. ^ "Steve Gritt - Message Book". http://www.domtech.co.uk/Seagulls/gritt.nsf. Retrieved on 2007-11-20. 
2. ^ "New Charlton role for Gritt". BBC. 2004-06-17. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/charlton_athletic/3815011.stm. Retrieved on 2007-11-20. 
3. ^ "Valley View (from This Is Local London)". http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/archive/display.var.256431.0.valley_view.php. Retrieved on 2007-11-20. 

[edit] External links

• Steve Gritt managerial statistics at soccerbase.com
• Steve Gritt - Football Heroes profile

v • d • e Charlton Athletic F.C. – Managers Rayner (1920–25) · MacFarlane (1925–28) · Lindon (1928) · MacFarlane (1928–32) · Lindon (1932–33) · Seed (1933–56) · Trotter (1956–61) · Hill (1961–65) · Stokoe (1965–67) · Firmani (1967–70) · Foley (1970–74) · Nelson (1974–80) · Bailey (1980–81) · Mullery (1981–82) · Craggs (1982) · Lawrence (1982–91) · Curbishley and Gritt (1991–95) · Curbishley (1995–2006) · Dowie (2006) · Reed (2006) · Pardew (2006–08) · Parkinson (2008–)

v • d • e Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. – Managers Jackson (1901–05) · Scott-Walford (1905–08) · Robson (1908–14) · Webb (1919–47) · Cook (1947) · Welsh (1947–51) · Lane (1951–61) · Curtis (1961–63) · Macauley (1963–68) · Goodwin (1968–70) · Saward (1970–73) · Clough (1973–74) · P.T.Taylor (1974–76) · Mullery (1976–81) · Bailey (1981–82) · Melia (1982–83) · Cattlin (1983–86) · Mullery (1986–87) · Lloyd (1987–93) · Brady (1993–95) · Case (1995–96) · Gritt (1996–98) · Horton (1998–99) · Wood (1999) · Adams (1999–2001) · Hinshelwood (2001) · Booker (2001) · P.J.Taylor (2001–02) · Hinshelwood (2002) · Coppell (2002–03) · Booker (2003) · McGhee (2003–06) · Wilkins (2006–08) · Adams (2008–09) · White (2009) · Slade (2009–)

v • d • e Millwall F.C. – Managers Henderson (1894–99) · Stopher (1899–1900) · Saunders (1900–11) · Lipsham (1911–18) · Hunter (1918–33) · McCracken (1933–36) · Hewitt (1936–40) · Voisey (1940–44) · Cock (1944–48) · Hewitt (1948–56) · Gray (1956–58) · Seed (1958–59) · Smith (1958–61) · Gray (1961–63) · Gray (1963–66) · Fenton (1966–74) · Jago (1974–77) · Foley (1977) · Petchey (1978–80) · Anderson (1980–82) · Graham (1982–86) · Docherty (1986–90) · Pearson (1990) · Rioch (1990–92) · McCarthy (1992–96) · Nicholl (1996–97) · Docherty (1997) · Bonds (1997–98) · Stevens (1998–00) · McLeary (1999–2000) · Gritt (2000) · Harford (2000) · McGhee (2000–03) · Wise (2003–05) · Claridge (2005) · Lee (2005) · Tuttle (2005–06) · Burns & McLeary (2006) · Spackman (2006) · Donachie (2006–07) · Shaw (2007) · Jackett (2007–)