During his football career, Holt played as a forward for a number of non-league and professional clubs, making nearly 100 league appearances for Nottingham Forest before signing for Shrewsbury Town in 2008 where he became top goalscorer.

[3] Holt began his career as a youth player at his hometown club Carlisle United, but joined Workington after being released aged 18.

He scored one goal for Halifax in the Football League Cup against Tranmere Rovers,[5] and also went on loan to Australian club Sorrento for one month in 2001[6] and then to Barrow.

He left in 2001 to play for the summer in Singapore with Sengkang Marine,[citation needed] under the understanding that he would be signed by Carlisle United on his return.

[8] Holt views his time as Rochdale as his major break-through[4] and it made him a target for many[clarification needed] higher league clubs.[who?

[9] However, despite being on the bench for approximately half of Forest's matches in the 2006–07 season, he managed to score 18 goals in all competitions to become the club's top scorer.

[citation needed] On 7 October 2008, in a Football League Trophy second round match against Wycombe Wanderers, Holt scored five goals in the Shrews' 7–0 win.

[citation needed] On 24 July 2009, Holt transferred to Norwich City after Shrewsbury Town accepted an undisclosed bid, thought to be £400,000.

Holt made his debut in the heavy 7–1 opening day defeat to Colchester United at Carrow Road,[18] and scored his first Norwich goals with a hat-trick against Yeovil Town in a first round League Cup tie on 11 August 2009.

[citation needed] He reached the landmark of 50 goals for Norwich City on 2 April 2011 when he scored a hat trick in a 6–0 win against Scunthorpe United at Carrow Road.

[28] Holt started the first game of the 2011–12 Premier League season in Norwich's 1–1 draw at Wigan Athletic, partnering Steve Morison in attack, meaning he had played in all four English divisions.

[32] Holt's impressive opening season in the Premier League earned him much acclaim by pundits and managers alike and even conjured talk of a possible place in Roy Hodgson's first England squad for the 2012 European Championship.

[34] On 1 June, Holt reiterated his request to depart Norwich City via his Twitter account, before signing a new three-year contract with the club on 3 July.

[42][43] Holt made his Aston Villa debut five days later, coming on as a substitute for Gabriel Agbonlahor in the 49th minute, in a 2–2 draw against Liverpool.

[47] Holt made his Huddersfield Town debut the same day, coming on as a substitute for Lee Peltier in the 64th minute, in a 2–1 win over Millwall.

[60] He played three games for Wroxham in the 2019–20 Eastern Counties Football League and scored two goals,[61] one of which was against South Normanton Athletic in the FA Vase.

In August 2018, Holt announced the end of his playing career and that he has accepted a coaching position with Norwich City, working with the academy.