Ross Grant has opened up on the responsibilities of his new role at Celtic, outlining how his work as the club’s first specialist set-piece coach combines detailed analysis with on-field coaching.
The former Hearts coach joined the Scottish champions after earning praise for helping develop one of the Premiership’s most effective set-piece records. Hearts netted 23 goals from corners, free-kicks and throw-ins last season, and Grant is now aiming to deliver similar success at Celtic.
Speaking from the club’s pre-season training camp in Portugal, Grant explained that much of his work takes place behind the scenes, analysing both Celtic and their opponents to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities from dead-ball situations.
“So my role is probably quite heavy analysis based in the background,” Grant told Celtic’s official podcast. “So looking at opposition teams, our team, seeing where we can get success.
“Looking at maybe where other teams might think they can get success against us and trying to build a structure and principles on both sides, attacking and defending and about how we can get success. Success looks like scoring goals and not conceding so there’s that.”
“For me the coaching side on the pitch the stuff I can do is also built into the style of play. So a lot of conversations with the manager, Shaun (Maloney), Foz (Mark Fotheringham) and Mick (Stephen McManus) about how we want that to look, how set plays fits into that without changing the style everybody wants to see Celtic play.
“There has to be that element of speed and instensity to the game so it’s all about trying to fit into that. Then when we have the opportunity to have a set-play it’s an added way we can try and score a goal.”
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