SUCCESS IS GRANT-ED!
WHEN Ascot United take to Wembley’s hallowed turf this afternoon, there won’t be many dry eyes in the Grant family as brothers Harry and Alfie shoot for FA Vase glory.
Football has been a way of life in their household, with Harry starting his career at Sheffield Wednesday and Gillingham before moving into Non-League where he has played with Alfie at Reading City and North Leigh.
Freddie is at Farnborough – Joe and Archie complete the five brothers – while their uncle is a certain former Brentford, Barnet and Gillingham boss Martin Allen.
We jumped on a Zoom call with the pair ahead of the big day...
NLP: You’re playing at Wembley on Sunday! Does it feel real yet?
ALFIE GRANT: From the start of the season to now feels like a lifetime ago. It’s been quite a campaign, especially across the league, and, reflecting on it now, it feels like a fitting end to what has been an incredible journey to play at one of the greatest stadiums in the world.
HARRY GRANT: It has been a strange couple of weeks. The season finishes and everyone else at our level is on their holidays. We’ve still been going into training. It’s strange because you’re not training for a game at the weekend against a team in your league, you’re training to play a game in the best stadium in the UK. It’s been a bizarre experience. Since Sunday it’s gone up a few levels. We’ve trained at Bisham Abbey and the Madejski Stadium. It’s exciting.
AG: What makes it more special is that it’s not just in the Ascot United camp – the buzz of it seeps into every area of your life. At work, everybody is buzzing. All my friends are buzzing for me across from when I was at uni, to my school mates, and other mates from other areas. It really does become all-encompassing which is the exciting thing about it. You can’t escape it, it’s incredible.
NLP: Have you been to the stadium yet?
AG: Yeah, we went there, saw the changing rooms, did a lap of the pitch and soaked it up. That has made it feel real. Since that moment it’s gone from being something we spoke about to now, ‘This is actually happening’.
HG: Same for me, Alf. It’s gone from something on the horizon to something within touching distance.
HG: My girlfriend has been in charge of ticket buying. Last time I checked it was 45 – and that’s not including the five we get complimentary. And that’s just family. On top of that we’ve got 30 or 40 friends coming each.
AG: Everyone from our Sunday team, AFC Bradfield, is coming and showing their support. Pretty much all my colleagues at EMI are coming. That’s the part which makes me feel so proud and that it’s such a special event. These days don’t happen often for us at the lowest level of Non-League. This is what makes the competition special – normal people can have this completely special event that will never happen again.
HG: Quite often in Non-League football it can be quite lonely. You can be travelling back from the a**e end of nowhere on a Tuesday at midnight, the next morning you’re up at 7am for work and you might get your mum ask how you’ve played but that’s about it.
In moments like this, you really see the support you get as a person and footballer. It’s great and something we are really proud of.
AG: I just like how football puts you in random situations. You go on little adventures with people you otherwise might not associate with. In Manchester I was in a room with Chrissy Ellis – one of my centre back partners – you get to know about his job and what he does. Football brings loads of people together. It’s like the Salford and Wrexham documentaries, it’s so universal. That’s why I think Non-League is the best thing in the world because it brings so many people together.
HG: Almost every club you go to has those similar characters whether it’s the guys on the turnstile or behind the bar. You’re all bonded together. We’ve got so many unique characters at Ascot.
AG: The trips are some of the best moments I’ve had. I liked getting away ties in the Vase because it becomes little adventures to go on. It almost empowers the group. Each away game in this competition has bonded us together as this impenetrable group of people.
HG: The amount of service station parties we’ve had this season! Going in with a speaker on our shoulder and having a party while getting a Burger King!
AG: The journey is the reward of this competition. Of course Sunday is so special and the final showdown. But if I look back, it’s the journey that makes it so special.
NLP: It’s going to be a nice moment for your close family because they really know the personal journeys you’ve been on.
AG: It’s a special moment for our mum, for all those hours she drove us to and from training. It’s for our dad, for our brothers – Fred, Joe, Archie – it’s a really special moment, like a coming of age moment.
One of the most important things for me is us, as brothers. Me understanding Harry’s journey so well from being a professional football player and then having this moment taken away from him, almost, a few years ago for Thatcham. He played in every single round and didn’t feature in the final.
For me, part of that grit and fire in my belly comes from almost wanting to do Harry justice and let him have this moment. That’s been part of my motivation for this. It’s so special for our immediate family but also for us as brothers.
HG: I really saw what it meant to, not just our family, but all the lads’ families at Corsham when we won the semi-final. I saw my dad cry for the first time, my mum was in bits. But not just ours, everyone’s parents and families. It was such an emotional day. Sunday is going to be a big celebration, regardless of the result.
NLP: Probably from the outside we forget how your families experience the ups and downs of your careers too.
HG: They’re excited as we are. Mum works at a school and she’s told everyone. Dad rings ten times a day asking all sorts of questions. There’s a family coach leaving at 9am on Sunday morning, decorated with yellow flags. It’s amazing and I am so happy we can make them proud.
NLP: Harry, has not getting on the pitch for Thatcham in the 2018 final been a big motivation for you?
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The buzz of it seeps into every area of your life. It really does become all-encompassing. You can’t escape it, it’s incredible Alfie Grant on reaching the Wembley final
joke that
West Ham have offered him an ambassador job on the same day. He said, ‘Oh, I don’t know whether to go there or watch you two at Wembley?’. He’ll be there.
We’ve got our shirts printed and our mum, Fred and other brother Joe didn’t know what number to get on the back, so now it’s ‘Grant 826’. I’m 8 and Alf is 26 so we’ve put them together!
NLP: So now it’s the final countdown…
HG: We’re doing a light session on Saturday morning before going to the hotel and then it’s all good to go on Sunday. I must say, our manager Jamie Tompkins’ prep has been brilliant. His attention to detail – and his assistant Dean Greenwood – throughout this whole journey has been so meticulous. JT is going to have a really bright future. He’s only 32.
AG: To put it on record so I look like Mystic Mac – I guarantee he will end up managing in the National League. The way he communicates, he’s almost like a therapist – you feel so calm when he speaks. The training sessions, the analysis, the detail and calmness in high pressure moments.
We wouldn’t have achieved what we have without him as manager and Dean as assistant. The whole standard of everything this season has been impeccable.
HG: It’s a pleasure to play under him and and his coaching staff.
NLP: Whatever happens on Sunday, I’m sure it will be a proud day for you two to be on the Wembley pitch together.
AG: Imagine the moment when Harry pings a corner in and I head it home! I reckon it will be in the last third of the game.
HG: To win it!