EX DEES CORNER: JAMES GRADY

James in his Dundee days.

James was born in Paisley on March 14th 1971. He started his footballing career with junior side Arthurlie before turning professional with Clydebank in 1994, where he spent three seasons, scoring 25 goals in 108 appearances for Bankies. In 1997, he earned a move to Dundee and was signed by the then Dundee boss John McCormack. He would remain at Dens for the next three seasons and became a firm fans favourite with the Dens faithful. He was a major player in the 1997/8 promotion season and endeared himself to the Dundee supporters with a fantastic volley against Dundee United at Tannadice in the closing stages of their match in 1998, the first season Dundee were back in the Premier League. In his time at Dundee, he would score 23 goals, clinch promotion from the First Division and help Dundee claim their highest placed finish in the top Scottish league in years, 5th.
His time at Dens ended in 2000 when he moved to Ayr United.  Strangely enough, he again woud spend three years at Somerset Park and would score 14 goals in his 80 appearances for the Ayrshire club. In 2003, he moved to Glasgow and joined Partick Thistle. This time, it was only a short stay and after one season making 33 appearances and scoring 15 goals for the Maryhill side, he joined Dundee United in 2004. This spell would mark a very unsuccessful stint in his career, although he made 29 appearances for the Tannaidce side, he only scored twice. In 2005, he was offered an escape route from United with Gretna FC. They were a team on the up and under the ownership of Brooks Mileson, they were spending and investing money and they were quickly running through the divisions of the SFL.  James spent three years with the Borders side and even managed to help them to the SPL in 2007 where he made 62 appearances scoring 19 goals and also helped them to the Scottish Cup Final in 2006 where they narrowly lost to Hearts at Hampden on penalties. He would also feel heartbreak at the Borders side as they were relegated form the SPL at the end of the 2007/8 season before going out of buisness as a professional football club. From there, Grady's career was slowly coming to an end and he spent short spells at Hamilton and Greenock Morton.
He was made caretaker manager of Greenock Morton after sacking of Davie Irons in 2009 and this was made permanent in October 2009. However his managerial spell at Morton would end in May 2010 when he left the club and currently he is helping out at St Mirren coaching the strikers.

For Dundee supporters, he will always be welcomed back to Dens. His tenaciousness, grit, speed and flair endeared him to the Dens faithful and he always gave his all for the club.


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