Profile of Peter Crouch on Famous Like Me

Peter Crouch, (born January 30, 1981 in Macclesfield, Cheshire), is an English football player renowned for his height (he's 6' 7"/2.01 m). He currently plays for English club Liverpool F.C. as a striker.

A Queens Park Rangers F.C. youth player, when QPR's then-manager, Gerry Francis, went on to become manager of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. in the summer of 2000, he made Crouch one of his first signings. The same happened when Francis returned to QPR, again making Crouch one of his priority signings.

He made an immediate impression at Loftus Road, weighing in with a number of crucial strikes. He netted ten League goals for QPR in the 2000/01 season. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to prevent relegation to Division 2 (now Football League One).

Relegation meant that QPR had to cash in on their best players and Portsmouth F.C. swooped to sign the talented youngster for £1.5 million.

Crouch was ordinary at Fratton Park but still manage to expose defenders of ordinary ability. Netting 18 League goals in only 37 starts, and that in a side that for much of the season looked destined to be in a relegation battle, was enough to have the big clubs watching. He also earned a call up to the England U21 side.

In March 2002, FA Premier League side Aston Villa F.C. made a successful bid of £5 million. Crouch scored on his home debut, the equalising goal against Newcastle United, and would net twice in seven games.

Crouch was also part of David Platt's England U21 side that went to the European Under-21 Championships in Switzerland in May 2002.

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 F.C. from September - December 2003. Although he only netted four times in 15 appearances, he was highly impressive.

At the end of the three-month loan, he returned to Villa Park with renewed confidence - and would go on to net a brace against Leicester City, a late winner at Middlesbrough and the opener at Bolton.

Despite this, Villa cashed in the striker in July 2004, selling him to Southampton F.C. for £2million. Crouch, who signed a four-year deal at St Mary's, had scored just six goals in 37 Premiership games for Aston Villa.

He made his Saints' debut in a 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa. He scored a controversial winning penalty against Portsmouth F.C. on January 29, 2005 in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

In May 2005, he was handed his first call-up to the England squad by Sven Goran Eriksson for the tour of the United States of America, making his debut against Colombia.

Despite scoring 16 goals in 24 appearances during the 2004/2005 season, his future was cast into doubt when his club, Southampton F.C., were relegated from the English Premiership. On July 19, 2005, Southampton agreed to sell Crouch for £7 million to Liverpool F.C., on a four year contract. He is Liverpool's tallest ever player.

He went on to make a further two appearances during the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign for England: starting against Austria in a 1-0 victory and coming on as a substitute against Poland in a 2-1 victory. In the latter appearance, he was controversially booed when coming on to the pitch by England's own supporters.

Clubs

• Liverpool
• Southampton
• Aston Villa
• Spurs
• Portsmouth
• QPR

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Peter Crouch