Peter Crouch

Peter was born on the 30th of January 1981 to Bruce and Jayne. Although he was born in Cheshire, the family moved to Ealing in London just after the birth. When Peter was only four years old, they moved again to Singapore, where they stayed for a year before returning to Ealing. Peter went to Hanwell's Drayton Manor High School and was always known as the tallest there until he left to join Tottenham Hotspur football club on July the 2nd, 1998. He didn't play in any first team games and was loaned out to Swedish club IFK Hassleholm in 2000, where he earned a reputation as a bit of a party animal. In 1999, Peter joined the England Under-20 team for the FIFA Youth Championship, alongside players like Andy Johnson, who now says that Peter is one of his best friends on the current England team. He later joined the Under-21 team and scored once in the European Championships in May 2002. In July 2000, Tottenham decided to sell Peter to QPR (Queens Park Rangers) for £60,000. He scored 10 goals for QPR, but relegation meant that they were forced to sell Peter to Portsmouth for 1.25 million pounds. He scored about 18 goals in 37 starts but Portsmouth was relegated. In March 2002, Aston Villa put in a bid of 5 million pounds for Peter and he joined their team. On his debut match for Villa against Newcastle United, he scored and then scored again 6 games later. Despite this, Aston Villa didn't seem to want him to start many games. Peter began to get frustrated and asked the Villa boss for a loan deal. He was farmed out to Norwich City in September 2003. It was during his spell at Carrow Road that he received his very first red card, against Walsall. Norwich supporters loved Peter and the team game him a Championship medal before he grudgingly returned to Villa in November 2004 just before a game against Southampton. Ironically, Southampton was where Peter went next. Aston Villa sold him to Southampton for a cut-price 2 million pounds. He scored around 16 goals in 33 appearances but when Southampton was relegated, he had to be sold yet again and Liverpool netted him for 7 million pounds. At about this time, Peter made his breakthrough into the 'senior' England team. His debut match was against Columbia. He went through what he describes as the worst stage of his career, going over 24 hours and 19 games without scoring once for Liverpool. But thankfully, the goal drought ended in December 2005 when a goal originally thought as an own goal was awarded to Peter on appeal. He set up captain Steven Gerrard for the second Liverpool goal during the 2006 FA Cup Final against West Ham. He even scored the decisive goal with a very late but spectacular header against Chelsea in the Community Shield match. Peter has managed to keep his place in Steve McClaren's team due to an unbelievable scoring record for both club and country. He currently lives a "quiet" life in Cheshire, hanging out with best mate Steve Finnan in his spare time. Here's to Euro 2008! Show less «