EFL legend Grant Holt recalls hilarious Sean Dyche prank call story that ‘could’ve got him sacked’

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English Football League veteran Grant Holt is infamous for his goalscoring prowess and his sense of humour, which was evident in his hilarious Sean Dyche prank call story.

EFL defences often fell victim to the goals from Grant Holt during his 16-year playing career within the Championship, third tier, and League Two.

Englishman Holt began his career as a youth player at boyhood club Carlisle United, before playing for a plethora of clubs, including Nottingham Forest, Norwich City and Wigan Athletic.

However, the English football legend once was the victim of a hilarious prank call incident, regarding Burnley legend Sean Dyche.

Famed for scoring against EFL opposition, the incident proved to be a rare own goal for Holt.

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Grant Holt recalls hilarious Sean Dyche prank call incident

Holt joined then-Championship Wigan on a three-year deal in 2013, following his fruitful four years at Norwich.

It was during the forward’s time at Wigan, when he was pranked by someone pretending to be then-Burnley boss, talking about a potential transfer, which obviously never materialised.

At the time of the prank, Wigan had been relegated to League One, whilst Holt had been sidelined for five months. His season to forget culminated in being duped by schoolboy Ben Owen.

Holt recalled the infamous 2015 incident on the Under the Cosh podcast. He said: “It was the weirdest thing. Basically, I was training and kept getting this missed call, private number, private number, private number, and I was in the middle of training.

“My old agent rang me and said ‘I keep getting this phone call off Sean Dyche at Burnley’. I never, ever answer private calls, I’ve seen people do these prank calls, so I never pick up a private number.

“I’m now in the car, driving back from Wigan, and this private number comes in again, so I think I am going to have to answer this.

“Next minute, I’m like ‘hello?, can you give me a call back, I’m just in the petrol station.

“So anyway I put, the phone down, get me petrol, jump back in the car, ring the other agent up and say ‘have you give Sean Dyche my number?’, and he’s like ‘yeah, yeah they’ve been asking us for your number so I’ve given you a number’, because he said he’s keen for this, that and the other,

“So, I was just saying what’s happening at Wigan, but I’m still injured and I’m not fit. So the whole conversation is going on, and I’m thinking these aren’t the questions, because you should know all this.

“I put the phone down, I rang my agent I said, I swear this is not Sean Dyche. Eventually, it comes up on Twitter, ‘Grant Holt’ pranked. And as it came in I laughed, I retweeted it, fair play he’s got me. In seriousness, I could’ve got sacked off the back of that, really.

When asked who was the actual caller, not the ex-Burnley boss, Holt quipped: “Just some young lad from Swansea,” before the whole podcast laughed along together.

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Grant Holt’s statistics in EFL show why Sean Dyche could’ve wanted him

Dyche is infamous for his robust, traditional and direct style of play, which Burnley supporters came to adore him for.

EFL goal-machine Holt could’ve been the perfect addition for Dyche, if it had actually been the ex-Clarets boss on the other end of the phone rather than a sixth-former.

Holt’s most prolific spell in front of goal came for the Canaries, where he found the net 78 times and made 35 assists in just 168 appearances.

At Forest, the forward managed 25 goals and six assists in 107 games, which was much more positive than his two goals scored for Wigan in his 27 Latics outings.

Holt’s career has been one to remember for the 186-time goalscorer, but he may well wish that the prank call is resigned to history.