peter crouch - fact file
1998 - 2000 & 2009 - 2011 forward
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MIDDLE NAME : PETER JAMES CROUCH
Born on 30th January 1981 in Macclesfield, Lancashire, England. Height : 6' 7" (2.01m) Weight : A tall striker when he was in the Spurs Under-18s, Peter Crouch didn't make the first team at Spurs initially, having to move around for starting experience, but returned to White Hart Lane to play alongside fellow former trainee Ledley King, as he was part of the squad that helped Tottenham qualify for the Champions League for the first time. Although Crouch was born in Macclesfield, his father moved to Singapore when his work as an advertising executive made him relocate for three years. Moved back to England and settled in Ealing, London, attending Drayton Manor High School. As a boy he was a promising tennis player and was also a ball-boy at Stamford Bridge. An academic child, Peter passed 10 GCSEs and gained an NVQ in leisure and tourism, while in Tottenham's youth team and although he began as a trainee at Spurs, making it as far as the Under-18s, it was felt that he was not what Tottenham were looking for and he never made the first team. The striker had one spell out on loan to Dulwich Hamlet in 2000 and scored one goal (on his debut against Billericay Town) in seven appearances for the Ryman League club. Peter joined QPR for £60,000 and made his debut in 2000, but despite scoring ten goals for Rangers, this could not stop them being relegated to Division Two. He left Loftus Road after a year for Portsmouth costing £1.25 million in 2001. Scored 18 goals in 37 games for Pompey, which brought him to the attention of bigger clubs and earned him an England Under-21 cap. Aston Villa for ked out £5 million for the forward and he scored on his debut against Newcastle United at Villa Park. Crouch went on loan to Norwich City from September to December 2003, when he wasn't the manager's first choice, netting four goals in fifteen games up front alongside Darren Huckerby, as the Canaries went on to win the First Division title. Unfortunately, they could not afford the fee to buy him permanently, so he returned to Villa Park and scored six times in 37 games for Villa before he was bought by Southampton in 2004 for £2 million, where he scored 16 goals in 33 games as the club were relegated to the Championship. Crouch was picking up rave reviews and he made his England debut against Colombia in 2004 in the Giants Stadium, New York, USA fittingly, as he is the tallest footballer who has played for England at 6'7". Scored his first England goal on 1st March 2006 against Uruguay at Anfield and got a hat-trick (despite missing a penalty) in a World Cup 2006 warm-up match against Jamaica at Old Trafford. Peter also went on to score England's first goal in the 2006 World Cup in the group game win against Trinidad and Tobago. He scored a good ratio per game for his country, although many have come against lesser international sides, with his robotic dance goal celebration against Hungary in 2007 making him a cult figure and singled him out in comedian James Corden's England team talk for Comic Relief in 2009. But he fell out of favour, despite his international scoring success, with many calling for his return when the team lacked a forward focus. In August 2005, Crouch was signed by Liverpool for £7 million. He didn't score in his first 19 games (over four months), but became a fan favourite, although he did not have a great fan in manager Rafael Benitez, who went off him and thus he was not a regular first choice. Although he was in and out of the side, he was part of the Liverpool side that won the 2006 FA Cup, but never really fitted into manager Benitez's plans and left Liverpool for Portsmouth in an £11 million deal on 11th July 2008, although he was briefly linked with a return to Tottenham before making the move to the South Coast. Just over a year later, with Pompey in financial difficulties, they were forced to sell players to raise cash and Spurs bought Crouch for an undisclosed sum to team up with Harry Redknapp and Jermaine Defoe again. The two sporadically played together in the side, as Redknapp mixed and matched his four strikers, but Crouch hit a respectable 11 goals in his first season back at White Hart Lane and it was his hat-trick in the home leg of the Champions League qualifying play-off against Young Boys of Bern that saw Spurs into the group stages for the first time. Peter scored twice against Andorra in a Euro 2008 qualifier and became the first ever player to hit 10 England goals in a calendar year. Is married to model Abigail Clancy in July 2011, despite being the subject of tabloid stories when he slept with a prostitute in 2010. Have a daughter Sophia Ruby born in March 2011.
With a wealth of strikers available to him and
brining in Emmanuel Adebayor on loan, Harry Redknapp sold Crouch to
Stoke City on the final day of the Summer 2011 transfer window for a
reported £12,000,000. Continued to score and play a role under
Tony Pulis and then Mark Hughes. NICKNAME : "Rodders" when he was at QPR for his resemblance to Rodney Trotter in "Only Fools and Horses"; Crouchy;
Career Record
Career Record
Honours
Milestones |
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While at IFK Hasselholm, he was given a
Renualt Megane as a club car and with a team-mate also on loan there,
they drove to Malmo and Gothenburg to find some nightlife. When at QPR he bought a green VW Polo. Took an advanced driver's test when 17 to bring the cost of his insurance down. (The Sunday Times - InGear 09.03.2008) |
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Had an on-off relationship with model
Lauren Pope in 2006 and then was involved with controversial model Abigail
Clancy, who was exposed as a cocaine user by the tabloids. Got
engaged to Clancy in 2009 and were due to marry in 2011. In 2006, he enjoyed travelling and wanted to go on a round the world trip when he finished playing. He also enjoyed tennis. Was so tall that he was advised to sleep diagonally on the 6' 6" beds provided in Germany for the England 2006 World Cup squad. The biggest influence on his career are his parents, who took him everywhere to play when he was a youngster. |
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2009
Peter Crouch was worth
£6m and was =27th richest man in British sport on the young
rich list
(Sunday Times). |
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2009 Favourite ground : Anfield Played for IFK Hasselholm (Sweden) – on loan from Spurs in the summer of 2000, playing eight games. Loaned to Dulwich Hamlet March-April 2000 when at Spurs, playing six games and scoring once. When at Villa, went on loan to Norwich City September to December 2003 Scissors kick goal v Galatasaray in the Champions League in 2005 is favourite goal Hero was Gianluca Vialli of Sampdoria in Italy. First goal in his second spell at Portsmouth was against Spurs !! Enjoys tennis. Recently started golf lessons. Loves Italy with Venice his favourite destination. First goals for Liverpool came four months with a brace against Wigan Athletic. Broke his nose against Sheffield United when playing for Liverpool in February 2007 and was sidelined for a month. Scored perfect hat-trick – left foot, right foot, head against Arsenal at Anfield in March 2007.
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2010
Enjoys
playing computer games, watching films and TV when on his own, but likes
to get out and has started taking golf lessons. |
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2010 In the Sunday Times Sport Rich List, Crouch was named as the =23rd richest man under 30 with a fortune estimated at £7 million. Was rated fifth best striker in the Premier League according to Opta statistics for the season 2009-10. |
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2011 In the Sunday Times Sport Rich List, Crouch was named as the =27th richest man under 30 with a fortune estimated at £6 million. |
| What they said about Peter Crouch |
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David Pleat (THFC Director of
Football) ... 19.08.2000 (THFC programme)
"We also sold our young centre forward Peter Crouch - to QPR - who with time and good coaching may develop into a regular league player." |
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| What Peter Crouch said about ... |
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... what he would be if he
wasn't a footballer ... .. ()
"A virgin." |
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Appearances
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | European/European Cup Winners Cup/UEFA Cup | Football Combination | Metropolitan League | South-East Counties Division 1 | South-East Counties Division 2 |
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