Grant Gillespie (footballer)

Grant Gillespie

Personal information
Date of birth	(1991-07-02) 2 July 1991 (age 32) [1]
Place of birth	Bellshill, Scotland
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Greenock Morton
Youth career
2006–2009	Hamilton Academical
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2009–2018	Hamilton Academical	199	(4)
2018	Dundee United	6	(0)
2018–2019	Raith Rovers	27	(2)
2019	Derry City	8	(1)
2020	Ayr United	4	(0)
2020–2022	Queen's Park	40	(3)
2022–	Greenock Morton	54	(10)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 10:12, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

Grant Gillespie (born 2 July 1991) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Greenock Morton. He has previously played for Hamilton Academical, Dundee United, Raith Rovers, Derry City, Ayr United and Queen's Park.

Career

Hamilton Academical

Gillespie made his senior debut for Hamilton Academical on 15 August 2009, in a Scottish Premier League match against Kilmarnock. ^[2] In May 2011, he signed a new two-year contract with Hamilton. ^[3]

In May 2012, Gillespie urged manager Billy Reid to make him a first-team regular for the forthcoming 2012–13 season. ^[4] In January 2012, after making an "impact" as a substitute in the previous game, Gillespie spoke publicly about his desire to start the team's next match. ^[5] In February 2013, he commented that he wanted a win in the upcoming derby against Airdrieonians. ^[6] In April 2013, Gillespie signed a new two-year contract with the club. ^[7]

In August 2013 Gillespie stated that the team needed to "dig in and grind out results" in the season ahead. ^[8] In October 2014 he signed a new contract with the club, to last until the summer of 2018. ^[9] Gillespie left the club in January 2018. ^[10]

Dundee United

Gillespie signed a short-term contract with Dundee United. ^[11] He was released by the club at the end of his contract in May 2018. ^[12]

Raith Rovers

Gillespie signed with League One club Raith Rovers in June 2018. ^[13]

Derry City

In July 2019 he signed for Derry City. ^[14] After making 10 appearances, scoring 1 goal, he left in January 2020.

Ayr United

In January 2020 he returned to Scotland, signing for Ayr United until the end of their season. ^{[15] [16]}

Queen's Park

In August 2020 he signed for Queen's Park, ^[17] before leaving in 2022.

Greenock Morton

In June 2022 he signed for Greenock Morton. ^[18] Gillespie was named club captain by manager Dougie Imrie, and made his first competitive appearance against Hibernian in the League Cup Group Stage. Gillespie would score 2 times in this group, against Hibernian and Bonnyrigg Rose respectively. ^{[19] [20]} Gillespie would continue his positive start to life at Morton by scoring in the first league game of the season against his former club Hamilton. ^[21]

Following an impressive first half of the season, scoring 7 goals in 2022 for Morton (5 of which coming from the penalty spot), Gillespie signed a contract extension on New Year's Day, keeping him at the club until summer 2024. ^[22] Gillespie would conclude the season with a total of 11 goals.

Career statistics

As of 27 January 2020 ^[23]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Hamilton Academical	2009–10 [24]	Scottish Premier League	1	0	0	0	0	0	—		1	0
	2010–11 [25]		17	0	1	0	1	0	—		19	0
	2011–12 [26]	Scottish First Division	16	0	1	0	1	0	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	19	0
	2012–13 [27]		32	1	2	1	2	0	0	0	36	2
	2013–14 [28]	Scottish Championship	33	1	1	0	2	0	5 [lower-alpha 2]	0	41	1
	2014–15 [29]	Scottish Premiership	36	0	1	0	4	0	—		41	0
	2015–16 [30]		30	1	1	0	0	0	—		31	1
	2016–17 [31]		31	1	4	0	5	0	1 [lower-alpha 3]	0	41	1
	2017–18 [32]		3	0	0	0	4	0	—		7	0
	Hamilton Academical Total		199	4	11	1	19	0	7	0	236	5
Dundee United	2017–18 [32]	Scottish Championship	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Raith Rovers	2018–19 [33]	Scottish League One	27	2	3	0	3	1	2	0	35	3
Derry City	2019 [34]	League of Ireland Premier Division	8	1	2	0	2	0	—		12	1
Ayr United (loan)	2019–20 [34]	Scottish Championship	0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0
Career total			240	7	17	1	24	1	9	0	290	9

1. Appearance in the Scottish Challenge Cup
2. One appearance in the Scottish Challenge Cup and four in the Premiership play-offs
3. Appearance in the Scottish Premiership play-offs

References

1. "Fixtures 2012/13". Hamilton Academical F.C. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
2. "Kilmarnock 3 – 0 Hamilton". BBC Sport. 15 August 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2009.
3. "Grant Gillespie signs new Hamilton Accies contract". BBC Sport. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
4. Andrew McGilvray (24 May 2012). "Accies midfielder aims to prove he's ready for a regular first-team place". Hamilton Advertiser.
5. Andrew McGilvray (17 January 2013). "Grant: Let me start the game at Raith". Hamilton Advertiser.
6. Andrew McGilvray (14 February 2013). "Dump the Diamonds: Gillespie wants derby win". Hamilton Advertiser.
7. "Gillespie signs Extension". Hamilton Academical F.C. 8 April 2013.
8. Andrew McGilvray (15 August 2013). "Midfielder Grant Gillespie says Accies need to dig in this season for wins". Hamilton Advertiser. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
9. "Hamilton's Crawford and Gillespie agree new deals". BBC Sport. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
10. @acciesfc (26 January 2018). "With almost 500 appearances between them the club has today said Goodbye to Michael Devlin, Greg Docherty and Grant Gillespie. Statement to follow on website shortly" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 January 2018– via Twitter.
11. "Dundee United: Stephen Thompson to step down as chairman". BBC Sport. 31 January 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
12. "Captain Willo Flood among Dundee United departures". BBC Sport. BBC. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
13. Robertson, Neil. "Raith new boy Grant Gillespie determined to make this a season to remember".
14. "Grant Gillespie: Derry City sign Scottish midfielder until end of season". BBC Sport. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
15. "Grant Gillespie signs – Ayr United Football Club".
16. "Former Candystripe Grant Gillespie joins Ayr United on a short-term deal". ExtraTime.ie.
17. Cairns, Ian (11 August 2020). "Grant Gillespie Signs for the Spiders".
18. "Grant Gillespie joins on a one-year-deal". 20 June 2022.
19. "Hibernian v Greenock Morton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
20. "Greenock Morton v Bonnyrigg Rose". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
21. "Morton and 10-man Hamilton share points". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
22. "Grant Gillespie extends his stay". Greenock Morton FC. 1 January 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
23. Grant Gillespie at Soccerway
24. "Games played by Grant Gillespie in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
25. "Games played by Grant Gillespie in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
26. "Games played by Grant Gillespie in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
27. "Games played by Grant Gillespie in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
28. "Games played by Grant Gillespie in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
29. "Games played by Grant Gillespie in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
30. "Games played by Grant Gillespie in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
31. "Games played by Grant Gillespie in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
32. "Games played by Grant Gillespie in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
33. "Games played by Grant Gillespie in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
34. "Scotland - G. Gillespie - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com.