Bournemouth striker Lewis Grabban became Norwich's first signing
of the Summer 2014 pre-season when he joined on 5th June 2014
for an undisclosed fee,
The Londoner came through Crystal Palaces academy, joining
them at the age of 13, and made his senior debut at the age of
17, playing twice in the Carling Cup during the 2005/06 season.
The following season the attacker spent the first half of the
season at Oldham before being given a chance in the Championship
at Palace and scoring his first senior goal in dramatic fashion
with a 90th-minute winner in a 3-2 win at West Brom.
Chances continued to be limited for Grabban at Selhurst Park
though, and a loan spell in the Scottish Premier League with Motherwell
at the start of the 2007/08 season came and went before a loan
to League One with Millwall.
After going eight goals without a game, Grabban finally hit the
goal-scoring trail with three goals in three games towards the
end of the season to earn an £150,000 move to Millwall.
A loan spell at Brentford bringing two goals in seven games.
Brentford had seen enough to bring Grabban back on loan during
the 2010/11 season but five goals in 26 appearances saw him drop
down to League Two with Rotherham on a free transfer for the next
season.
Then Grabbans stalling career finally lifted off, with
21 goals in 41 games for the Millers in 2011/12, which convinced
Bournemouth to part with £300,000 for his services.
He then scored 13 goals in 47 appearances as Bournemouth gained
automatic promotion to the Championship, and then continued to
establish himself as a goalscorer with the Cherries in 2013/14
with 22 goals in 46 appearances.
He is the cousin of former Canary Leon
McKenzie.
Grabban made his Norwich debut in the 1-0 defeat at Wolves on
10th August 2014. He got his first goal for Norwich in the 3-0
win over Watford at Carrow Road on 16th August 2014, following
it up with another in the 3-1 win over Blackburn on 19th August.
In his first season, he made 36 appearances, scoring 12 goals
as Norwich returned to the Premier League with a 2-0 Championship
Play-off final victory over Middlesbrough on 25th May 2015. He
played in the play-off final as a substitute, making a crucial
goal line clearance from Boro's Daniel Ayala.
At the end of August 2015, Grabban was the subject of bids from
former club Bournemouth which Norwich turned down. Grabban then
went AWOL from the club's hotel refusing to play against Rotherham
in the Capital One Cup on 25th August 2015. For that he was suspended
by Alex Neil until after the transfer deadline
window had closed (Bournemouth submitted a further bid).
On 11th January 2016, Bournemouth made a successful £7million bid for Grabban that City accepted as Grabban had made only 9 Premier League appearances that season, scoring once and did not fit in with Alex Neil's plans.
On 31st January 2017, Grabban was loaned to Reading. He had made only 6 appearances during 2016/17 for Bournemouth. He scored three goals in 19 games for Reading.
Grabban joined Sunderland on a season long loan on 26th July 2017. The loan was cut short by Bournemouth on 7th January 2018 with the South Coast side looking to offload him. He had played 20 games scoring 12 goals. Cardiff, Wolves, Filham and Aston Villa were all linked with him. In the end, he joined Villa on 31st January 2018 until the end of the season.
On 6th July 2018, he signed for Notts Forest on a four year deal with the transfer fee rumoured to be £6million. He also attracted interest from Birmingham, Leeds and Middlesbrough.
Although he made 34 appearances in 2021/22, scoring 13 goals, he was not in the Forest team that beat Huddersfield in the Championship Play-off on 29th May 2022 to take Forest back to the Premier League after 23 years.
Unable to agree a new contract with Forest, Grabban signed for Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli on a one year deal on 24th August 2022. he left Al-Ahli in January 2023.
In September 2023 it was reported that he was in attendance as a guest of Bristol Rovers as the Gas played Lincoln City with Rovers seeking an additional forward after missing out on Peterborough United forward Jonson Clarke-Harris on Deadline Day. Chris Martin is also reported to be training with Rovers.