Lewis Grabban: How leaving Brentford kick-started my goalscoring career | OneFootball

Lewis Grabban arrived at Brentford in March 2010, simply looking to play regular football again. The Croydon-born Crystal Palace academy graduate had been a regular for Millwall for a season-and-a-half after leaving Selhurst Park for the Den in January 2008 but, in 2009/10, he sat out the first 18 League One games.

The Lions were right in the automatic promotion mix and needed him fit and firing in case of emergency, so he was sent out on loan in March 2010.

The deal which would, officially, run until the end of the season, got off to the ideal start with a goal on his debut against Leyton Orient. “It was a header, if I remember right,” he says. “I wasn't having the best of games, so that goal kind of saved my performance!”

A tally of two goals and two assists in seven games convinced Kenny Jackett to bring Grabban back within the first month and he played twice more as Millwall were promoted to the Championship after beating Swindon in the play-off final at Wembley.

"In the summer, the manager was having conversations about me being more involved because he felt like I was a bit more suited to the Championship and maybe a different style,” he recalls. “But that didn't really work out."

And so Grabban came back to Griffin Park on a month’s loan in October 2010. Then he went back to Millwall after five appearances and one goal in all competitions. He played once more for his parent club, then he came back to Brentford again in January 2011 until the end of the season.

Was it a permanent move or not? “I was quite young at the time and I was never sure," he admits.

Regardless, it was clear he had an enviable working relationship with Andy Scott, whom he went on to work with several times post-Brentford, both at Rotherham and Bournemouth.

"Andy was always good with me; he was quite direct and I think he understood me quite well,” Grabban says.

“I'm always grateful to him for giving me a chance on loan and then giving me another opportunity to play. Whenever a manager's given me an opportunity to play, I've always done reasonably well. He was a good guy for me.

“You don't always cross paths with people repeatedly across your career. I played for Eddie Howe twice at Bournemouth. It’s just those two managers in terms of repeatedly being connected with them."

When Andy left the club in February 2011, Nicky Forster was placed in charge until the end of the season.

Three of the four goals Grabban scored during that second spell came during Forster’s time in charge, which is a testament to the relationship between the pair.

“Me and Nicky were cool, both being forwards. He always treated me respectfully,” he continues.

“It was obviously a little bit different because when you go from being a team-mate to the one that's picking the team, there's the dynamic that shifts, whereas Andy was the manager from beginning to end. They were different relationships, but both positive.

“I was a much different player to what I would say I was later on in my career in those times, but what I did see from him was that he was focused on professionalism, fitness and diet - and that's why he played for quite a long period of time.

“I might not have fully taken it on board back then, but I was definitely seeing little things that he was doing. His demeanour was positive as well, which was good to be around."

Grabban signed off his third spell in TW8 with two goals in the wild 4-4 final-day draw against Huddersfield in May 2011 and that was him done in red and white, as it transpired.

“There was at some point, I'd say more like a verbal agreement that I was going to sign a new contract, but then it changed when, I think, there were some changes behind the scenes,” he adds.

“The direction just shifted a little bit and we didn't end up doing a deal there. When I was, I would say, in a bit of a sticky patch, Andy took me up to Rotherham with him.

“He just said for me to come up there and get going, score goals and I'd be off again, which is exactly what happened.

“In hindsight, the best thing for me at that time probably was to go to Rotherham, to just be fully focused on the football and be out of my comfort zone.

“I would've said I want to stay at Brentford, but the better move was to go and get full game time, full focus and go again. That 100 per cent kick-started my career."

Grabban went on to play in the Premier League and, most notably, became one of the Championship’s most prolific goalscorers. He won promotion with Norwich and Nottingham Forest and scored 112 goals across spells with six clubs, which puts him sixth on the list of the division’s highest scorers.

It’s fair to say he did not set the world alight during his time at Brentford, but some would say that had to happen to pave the way for the success he did have - including himself.

On his time in west London, he says: "I was in a phase where I wasn't doing enough to unlock my potential, I suppose. I'd say I was doing okay, but not pushing as hard as what I needed to push.

“I look at my career as Rotherham being my ignition or start of an upward trajectory. Prior to that, even though I had good moments at Crystal Palace, Millwall and Brentford, I had no consistency. I feel like, after that period, I was able to find consistency.

“Also, a lot of people don't realise that, when I moved on from Rotherham, I actually played a majority of games on the right wing or left wing for Brentford and for Millwall, so I wasn't actually an out-and-out striker until I played for Eddie Howe.

"The only negative I have with my time at Brentford is probably on myself; that I could have done more, I could have done better in certain circumstances. But I was always treated well at the club. I've had no issues with anything."

Now 36 and officially retired as a player, Grabban returned to Nottingham Forest to take up the role of under-18s head coach in the summer.

He had been prepared for this for the best part of a decade.

“I've done all my badges bar my Pro Licence, which I should be starting soon, and I actually did my A and B when I was around 27,” he adds.

“At that particular time, I was like, 'I'm just going to do it, just to do it'. I was concentrating so much on football that I was thinking that if I just do it, I've got it; if I end up finishing and I want to go into it, then I'm not on the back foot. As soon as I made the decision, there were no delays.

“It's very different to first-team football because you're managing not just ability, you're managing maturity levels and a lot of unknown stuff. You're introducing a lot of stuff that, at first-team level, is just basic. There are little elements of a game that I can give to these young players.

“It's challenging in its own ways but it's good because I’m getting a lot of experience on the grass, and I’m now leading a group of staff as well. It's really good for my journey at the moment and I'm enjoying it."

Is a career in senior management on the cards in future? “That’s my only aim,” he says, without hesitation.

If Grabban turns out to be half as good a manager as he was a goalscorer, a bright future lies ahead.