Peter Crouch

Peter Crouch

File:Peter Crouch.jpg
Personal information
Full name	Peter James Crouch
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Position(s)	Centre Forward
Team information
Current team	Liverpool
Number	15
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 June 2006

Peter James Crouch (born January 30 1981 in Macclesfield, Cheshire) is an English international football player, known simply as "Crouchy" to many fans. He currently plays for the English club Liverpool as a striker. His height of 201 cm makes him the tallest man ever to play for both Liverpool and the England national team. Crouch is also well-known for his robotic dancing goal celebration, performed after scoring for England in the pre-World Cup friendly matches in the summer of 2006. In the wake of this notoriety, The Guardian newspaper described Crouch as "fast building a reputation as a cult hero".

Club career

Although born in Macclesfield, Crouch's family soon moved south to London. When Crouch was four, the family moved again, this time to Singapore, although they stayed there for only a year before returning to London. A keen footballer from an early age, he became a fan of Chelsea, and also became a ballboy at the age of ten.

After attending Drayton Manor High School in Ealing, Crouch failed to win a contract at Tottenham despite having played for their youth side. He began his professional football career — following a spell on loan at Dulwich Hamlet in the Isthmian League — with QPR and made an immediate impression at their Loftus Road ground. He scored ten league goals for QPR in the 2000–01 season, but unfortunately, it was not enough to prevent the team's relegation to Division 2 (now Football League One).

Relegation meant that QPR had to sell many of their best players to support their diminished finances, and Portsmouth bought Crouch from them for £1.5 million. Crouch scored 18 league goals in only 37 starts for Portsmouth — benifitting from the crossing of Robert Prosinečki — and that in a side that for much of the season looked destined to be in a relegation battle.

In March 2002, FA Premier League side Aston Villa made a successful bid of £5 million for Crouch. He scored on his home debut for Villa, the equalising goal against Newcastle United, and would net twice in seven games. However, Crouch failed to hold down a regular place in the Aston Villa side in the following 2002–03 season.

Looking for first team football, he was loaned to Norwich City from September to December 2003. Although he scored only four times in 15 appearances, he was highly impressive and remains to this day popular with Norwich City supporters. However, he was also sent off for retaliation during Norwich's 3–1 win at Walsall. His spell at Norwich helped to get Crouch's career moving, for at the end of the three-month loan he returned to Aston Villa, and scored a brace against Leicester City, a late winner at Middlesbrough and the opener at Bolton. Norwich City recognised his contribution to the 2003-04 season that saw them win the First Division Championship by awarding him a championship medal. He was presented with the medal on the pitch prior to City's match against his new club Southampton FC at Carrow Road in November 2004. When he came on as substitute for Southampton later that afternoon, he received a very good reception from the home crowd.

Villa sold the striker in July 2004, selling him to Southampton for £2 million. Crouch, who signed a four-year deal at the club, had scored just six goals in 37 Premiership games for Aston Villa. He made his Southampton debut in a 2–0 defeat at his previous club, Villa, and later scored a controversial winning penalty against former club, Portsmouth, on January 29 2005 in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Despite scoring 16 goals in 33 appearances during the 2004-05 season, his future was cast into doubt when Southampton were relegated from the English Premiership. On July 19 2005, Southampton agreed to sell Crouch for £7 million to Liverpool, on a four-year contract.

Crouch underwent intense media scrutiny due to a goal drought during his first months at Liverpool. For 19 games, spanning four months, he was unable to score. Crouch was praised for other facets of his game, such as his touch on the ball, but his first goal for the club evaded him. The fact that Crouch possessed "good touch for a big man" in fact became something of a media cliche during this time.

The drought finally ended on 3 December 2005 when he scored against Wigan Athletic. Although this first goal was originally given as an own goal, it was later awarded to Crouch on appeal; he went on to score a second goal in the same game. Prior to these goals, Crouch had played over 24 hours of football for Liverpool without scoring. In addition to this, he also had to deal with unpleasant taunts from crowds at matches, as he had throughout his footballing career, who often chanted "freak" at him due to his unusual height.

During Liverpool's trip to Japan for the Club World Championship in December 2005, Crouch added another two goals to his tally in the semi-final between Liverpool and Deportivo Saprissa, with an impressive volley and a well-composed finish under pressure from a defender. On 28 December 2005, his record for Liverpool stood at five goals, including three league goals, after a composed finish against Liverpool's derby rivals Everton. He added yet another goal to his tally on the last day of 2005 with a superb header which gave the West Bromwich keeper Tomasz Kuszczak no chance. He also scored the only goal in the fifth round of the FA Cup (2005–06) against Manchester United, Liverpool's first victory over them in the FA Cup post-World War II. He also scored twice during Liverpool's 7–0 thrashing of Birmingham City on 21 March 2006.

The current Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez, revealed that statistics show Crouch often covers more ground on the pitch in 90 minutes than midfielder Steven Gerrard. On 13 May he repaid this faith by helping his team win the 2006 FA Cup over West Ham, providing a crucial assist for Steven Gerrard to score the second Liverpool goal.

International career

Crouch was capped for the England Under-20 team at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship, with team-mates including Stuart Taylor, Ashley Cole, Andy Johnson and Matthew Etherington. However, the team finished bottom at the group stage, with three losses and having scored no goals. He was later a part of David Platt's England Under-21 team, which went to the European Under–21 Championships in Switzerland in May 2002, where he scored once.

In May 2005, he was handed his first call-up to the senior England squad by manager Sven Goran Eriksson for the team's tour of the United States, making his debut against Colombia. He went on to make two appearances during the

qualifying campaign for England: starting against Austria in a 1–0 victory and coming on as a substitute against Poland in a 2–1 win. In the latter appearance, Crouch's introduction as a second-half substitute was booed by England's own supporters, although he went on to be instrumental in Frank Lampard's winner.

On 1 March 2006 he scored his first England goal, the equaliser in a 2–1 friendly win over Uruguay. He did this whilst bizarrely wearing two different squad numbers on his shirt — #21 on the front (his designated squad number for the match), and the incorrect #12 on the back.

In May 2006, Crouch was included in the 23 man England squad for the

, and is expected to be a significant figure in the team due to Wayne Rooney's foot injury. On the 30th May 2006 he played in a pre-World Cup friendly against Hungary, scoring the third goal in England's 3–1 win. He followed his goal with an unusual robotic dancing-style goal celebration, parodying his own questionable dancing skills which had been captured on a television programme covering the pre-World Cup party held at the home of David and Victoria Beckham. This was almost immediately dubbed "the Crouch" and later the "RoboKop" — the spelling due to the famous 'Kop' stand at Liverpool's home ground, Anfield — and imitated in clubs across England. Two days after the match, Crouch repeated the dance at the request of Prince William during an England training session attended by the Prince.

It was later claimed in The Daily Mirror newspaper that the dance was inspired by the lyrics "dancing to electro-pop, like a robot from 1984" from I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, a song by the British rock group Arctic Monkeys.

On 3rd June he again played for England in a pre-World Cup friendly against Jamaica, scoring a hat-trick and again celebrating the first two goals with his robotic dancing. Between his second and third goals he took a penalty kick hoping to gain a hat-trick, but he put the ball over the bar. England went on to win 6–0, Crouch securing his hat-trick in the 89th minute with a fine finish — his fifth goal in his last three England games.

After his impressive displays in England's friendlies, Crouch partnered Michael Owen in attack for England's opening World Cup game against Paraguay on June 10 2006 and despite leading the line well, Crouch did not score and picked up a yellow card. England did, however, go on to win the game 1-0 with an own goal by Paraguyan captain Carlos Gamarra from a David Beckham free kick.

On Monday 12 June, he announced he would only perform his robotic dance again if England were to win the World Cup, saying "It's not about robotic dancing. It is about scoring goals and winning matches. It's an important time for everyone now."

Statistics

Club Performance

Club	Season	Premiership		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Liverpool	2005-06	31	8	5	3	1	0	8	0	2	2	47	13
Southampton	2004-05	27	12	5	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	33	16
Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Norwich City Loan	2003-04	15	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	4
Club	Season	Premiership		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Aston Villa	2003-04	16	4	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	18	4
	2002-03	14	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	18	0
	2001-02	7	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	2
Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Portsmouth	2001-02	37	18	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	39	19
Queens Park Rangers	2000-01	42	10	3	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	47	12
Total		189	57	14	9	7	1	12	0	2	2	224	69

Career Honours

Norwich City

Winner

• 2003–04 Football League First Division (Level 2)

Liverpool

Winner

• 2005–06 FA Cup

Runner-up:

• 2005 FIFA Club World Championship

External links

• Official Liverpool profile
• Peter Crouch Robot T Shirt
• Peter Crouch Ringtones