Downloaded from YTS.MX
[commentator] £7 million. He's appeared in the first team 14 times.
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
He hasn't yet scored.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] Here's the chance
for Peter Crouch to get his first goal.
- [commentator 1] What the hell's this? - [commentator 2] Absolutely enormous.
- [commentator 3] Gangly. - [commentator 4] 6'7", he is.
- [commentator 5] Genetically modified. - [commentator 6] Sort of freakish.
[Sven] He doesn't look like a football player.
- [crowd roaring] - [comm] Listen to the noise
around Anfield. They are willing this in for Peter Crouch.
They want him to score.
- And he didn't! - [crowd booing]
[Peter] It felt like the whole world was laughing at me.
[comm] Even from the spot kick, Peter Crouch can't get on the score sheet.
[Peter] I just wanted the ground to open up
for me to hide somewhere.
[comm] Couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo.
[Peter] The most difficult time for me,
as a football player and a person, I've ever had.
- All right, guys? Good? - Peter.
How you doing? You okay? All right.
- [man] Morning. How's it going? - Yeah. You?
- You all right? - Hi, you all right?
[Peter] Crouch, the journeyman striker.
Blockbuster. But is anyone going to watch it?
[laughs]
You expect these kind of documentaries to be like, Alex Ferguson...
- [clattering] - Oh, fuck.
Sorry, sorry.
It's all right.
- [gasps] Fucking hell. - [crew laughing]
That could have been disastrous, couldn't it?
That'd be a better film. At the start,
that just goes through me and impales me on the floor.
Fucking job done. [laughs]
- [man 1] Okay, let's do this. - [man 2] Are we turning over?
[man 3] Cameras running.
[Abbey] Hello there.
[kids speaking indistinctly]
- [Peter] We having veg? Chilli? - [Abbey] Yeah. You can help me.
Get the cheese out of the fridge, come and grate it.
Oh, I love grated cheese.
[Peter] If you told me when I was a 10-year-old, 11, 12-year-old
that I would get 100 Premier League goals,
and you'll play for England, play in the Champions League,
I'd say you were mad.
Is that gigantosaurous?
Oh, no! Who's this?
There were players that are destined for this kind of success.
I wasn't that person.
Oh, this is good, babe.
Johnny, do you want some of this creamy?
Lib, do you want some of this?
[Peter] I feel immensely proud of what I achieved and very blessed
to be able to live comfortably, do the things we want to do.
But I suppose it's a different kind of success story,
because it hasn't been a plain-sailing journey.
I know that most footballers are saying this and most young lads, really,
it was all I thought about, it was all I wanted to do.
I was obsessed with football.
I remember sneaking down at 5:30 in the morning.
I never used to wake my mum and dad up.
I would put a video in.
Like, all the goals from Italia 90,
and I'd come down and watch them for hours.
[cheering]
- [comm] Platt! - [crowd cheering]
He's done it again.
[Peter] I'd create those scenarios in my mind where I would play
and score the winner in those games.
- [comm] It's all square! - [comm 2] Lineker!
[interviewer] Watching these tapes,
were you dreaming of becoming a professional footballer?
[Peter] I think you do dream about it
but I never, for one second, thought I'd get to that level.
Because I was different.
I didn't look right. I didn't look like a footballer.
I was incredibly tall.
[indistinct speaking]
[boy] Hey, go, Pete!
Oh, no.
[indistinct yelling]
A top footballer has to be able to compete physically
with all the great athletes on the pitch.
That means pace, upper body strength.
Gary Lineker was a really famous archetypal striker.
[comm] And England have equalised!
[Sam] Chris Waddle had that lovely long stride,
very graceful player.
And of course, Gazza,
who had the great explosiveness.
[comm] Oh. Turned over, but wouldn't have mattered.
[Sam] You look at Peter, there's nothing about him that tells you
this is a footballer.
[kid] Go on, Pete!
Disgraceful.
This is where we'd train. The first team would use
these pitches here.
The reserves and the youth teams would be mainly down the bottom.
First time I saw Peter, he walked from the changing rooms through the middle
and we were already out there preparing our session,
getting the markers all ready.
And I looked at this tall lad and thought to myself,
"Is this is going to be our next centre forward?"
He had no chance.
[laughs]
He'd come in. He was probably a bit freakish, if you like.
He was this big, tall, gangly kid.
All arms and legs.
Bambi on ice.
[kid] Go on, Pete! Go on, Pete!
[woman] Oh, dear.
[Harry] First time I saw Peter play,
it was just really strange
seeing someone that tall and so thin playing football.
[kid] Go on, Pete!
[Bob] He never fitted the mould of an average player.
[kid speaking indistinctly]
[Bob] He wasn't good in the air and he wasn't strong and brave
and couldn't knock people out the way. Not that type of player.
[men speaking indistinctly]
[Bob] In terms of his physical attributes,
it wasn't going to happen with him.
[kids shouting indistinctly]
[Peter] Physically, I didn't develop like other people.
People would take the piss out of me 'cause I was tall and skinny.
And the way I'd combat those issues was humour.
I would always be able to come back at them.
But it was hard, because I was like, "Well, why can't I just be normal?"
[Bruce] This is one of the first photos of Pete and his lovely mum.
He was a tiny baby there, up north in Macclesfield.
And then he always sort of had a ball at his feet. [chuckles]
To me, his height was always an irrelevancy. I knew
he would become a professional footballer. That was all I wanted for him.
But I was a little bit concerned that he wasn't going to be
strong and aggressive enough.
[Peter] My dad was a massive influence. He used to take me to games,
but he was quite hard on me.
There was nothing worse than him going in the car, "How do you think you played?"
And I'll go "By the fact you've asked that question, not very well."
And then he'd go into why I'd played badly.
All I wanted to do was encourage a talent and not allow it to go to waste.
I can see it from a parent's point of view but when you're a kid, you can't see it.
You just think "Why's my dad being like this? Why is he being so harsh?"
[kids speaking indistinctly]
[Peter] That was a difficult time.
Football's a harsh place, when you're trying to make it as well.
I remember my dad having fights on the sideline,
my mum not wanting to come to matches.
Yeah. Like, at times growing up, when you're an impressionable teenager,
it can be... it can be tough.
When I was a kid, I always used to cry.
I used to cry at night.
I wished I was just of normal fricking height.
That's where my personality was shaped.
Being funny and being nice was a way of fitting in.
But my dad said to me, erm...
"You're too nice.
"All right? You're too nice to be a footballer."
[Bruce] I had to say that you can't be the nice guy.
In football, you have to kind of turn nasty.
[Peter] I'll always remember, I jumped out of a tackle and my dad was fuming.
And obviously he said to me after
that I was too nice,
and he went very harsh with me about it.
He left me at Tottenham. Erm.
We lived in Ealing, and I left...
he left me there.
I had to get home myself, you know.
You know, that was a lesson that...
was a harsh lesson to learn.
You have to be very, very tough to play professional football
at any level.
He wasn't naturally that.
There are some naturally aggressive boys,
and he wasn't one of them, so, yeah.
It's a ruthless business.
[Graeme] Professional football was a hostile environment.
[fans cheering]
You had so many incidents that had happened through the '80s.
You still had trouble on the terraces.
[Margaret] Football is renowned for its sportsmanship.
There are some people who are upsetting the whole thing.
Fans were chanting obscenities for most of the game
rather than watching the game.
Walking into the stadium,
it was like a war zone. [sighs]
People say, "Don't take no notice of the crowd.
"You don't hear them. You can switch off."
That's not the case. You hear it all.
- [cheering] - [Graeme] Certainly, if you had
any point of difference
as a football player, fans would pick up on it.
That would be the world that Peter Crouch was trying to get into.
Yeah. Got a million pictures here, man.
The dreadlocks,
something I was very, very proud of.
From the age of 19,
I was having to deal with abuse.
[audience laughing and clapping]
- Just chuck it in the bin, lad, will ya? - Okay, boss.
[audience laughing and cheering]
People felt like it would be okay to mock my appearance
and say, you know, "He's got a pineapple on his head."
[audience laughing]
[Jason] It was so disrespectful
on so many levels.
[Luke] Here he comes,
number 36, Chadwick.
Of course, this was before any of the problems started.
I suffered with a lot of abuse
because of the way that I looked.
Lots of spots on my face, teeth that stuck out.
When there's players that look slightly different,
the fans will see it, the media see it.
Anthony Hopkins now says he's unlikely to play
the part of Hannibal Lecter for a third time.
But where else will they find someone
whose face instantly inspires that much fear and terror?
[audience laughing]
I wouldn't go out of my house. I felt like everyone was laughing at me.
[Graeme] I didn't fit that stereotypical footballer mould.
I come from a different background to most of the other players,
you know, coming from Jersey,
having a slightly more posh accent.
I had rumours spread about me during my career
erm, about being gay.
Anyone that was seen as being different, fans would pick up on it.
[Peter] All I wanted to be was a professional footballer.
But I'll be honest with you, I had no clue what that involved.
About here you would have the noisiest, the most vociferous,
the most vocal supporters all gathered here.
We used to call Peter a 20-foot chicken.
I mean, there was this gangling, tall character, his skinny chicken legs.
[chuckling] He just looked so totally out of place.
It would be very abusive in those days, yes.
We'd probably have crowds of 200-300 people.
As a player, you're going to hear the comments made.
[Peter] I just got prejudged.
It was a misconception that I can't be any good, really.
I remember signing my first professional contact at QPR.
I think I signed a 3-year contract on peanuts.
60 grand was my transfer fee.
It wasn't, you know, a lot of money in football terms.
But I just wanted to go and play.
[Sam] I first covered a game
that Peter was playing in in the Championship.
I was reporting on London clubs in the second tier of English football.
[man shouting indistinctly]
[Sam] I think, early in his career,
the opinion was that he was a bit of a curiosity.
He was immediately noticeable. People talked about him,
because he looked different
to every other footballer on the pitch,
and every other footballer that you expect to see.
[Peter] Getting in the first team was one thing,
experiencing the level of abuse was
something that was new to me and another eye-opener.
[Peter] It was my first season in professional football,
and we went away to West Brom.
[crowd cheering]
[Bruce] I was standing behind the dugout
and Pete started to get stripped off to come on
and the bloke next to me went,
"What's that lanky wanker going to do?"
When I came on, and I can hear the crowd laughing at me,
I could feel it,
purely because of the way I looked like. None of them had seen me play.
[Bruce] I could see he was shocked.
And he shrank.
He was hiding on the pitch and you can't hide on the pitch.
[Peter] There was another time away at Gillingham, I got absolutely abused.
I think everyone in the crowd was singing songs about me.
[interviewer] Can you remember some of the things people were saying?
Er, yeah, "Freak." "Does the circus know you're here?"
[shouting]
[Peter] It was like I was a joke, you know?
[Jason] And they home in on you.
Once one realises who you are, and they start chanting,
that's a situation you can't escape from.
[booing]
[Jason] Not many people survive that.
You have concerns and you think, maybe will he be too nice this game?
[Graeme] You had to be somebody that could deal with all that negative energy,
because if you didn't, there's no way you were surviving.
[Peter] I thought to myself "Why am I putting myself through this?"
I'm just a young player trying to make it in the game,
and, erm, you know, I didn't want this attention.
I would go to the player's bar afterwards
and good or bad, and I always told him like it is.
And I said, "Pete, you have to put up with this,
"if you're going to be a footballer".
I'm sorry, but there's no hiding place in football.
If you're on that pitch, you've got to perform.
Otherwise you're gone. It's as simple as that.
[Peter] "Crouch, the laughing stick."
When you look the way I look
and you're not playing well,
you can become a figure of fun
because of the way you look.
That's why I had to play better than everyone else.
When it's commenting on your physical appearance and stuff,
there is absolutely no need.
"Woe betide the footballer who is both freakishly tall
"and Heskey-ishly inept in front of goal."
- God. - [Abbey] That's not nice.
[Peter] That followed me around. It was, like, you know, "Freak".
I'll be honest with you, it hurt a lot. Erm...
[Abbey] This is the person I love.
It makes me so sad.
Especially because I know he's such a good person.
There was one particular journalist who constantly said "The Beanpole Hitman,
"The Lanky Striker".
It was almost like a constant put down all the time.
And, er, I'll always remember my dad pinned him up in the toilet
in the World Cup at Baden-Baden,
and just said to him, "How would you like it
"if I described you as that fat [beep]?"
And he went... and he went
"I wouldn't like it, no." He went, "Well, stop fucking doing it then."
I remember my Dad printed out, like, some things people were saying
and it wasn't nice. It was horrific.
I think he was doing it to fire me up,
but I think it had the opposite effect.
"All Elbows and Ugly.
"Because he looks ridiculous, is a streaky player,
"his pixie cheekbones, despite being 6'7", reads as posh and soft."
It's literally like an assassination of me, innit?
That would make me feel like shit
and it would make my mum cry.
It would make my family angry.
- I could have quite easily... - Given up.
...sort of crumbled there.
But that's not your character.
You're a strong character
and I think to overcome this...
like, I am absolutely furious with these.
- I've never seen them. - I can tell you're getting angry now.
I wasn't sure if that was going to be my life.
There were times where I felt like I might give up.
The only good thing, in some respects, was, er,
people still wanted to sign me.
I went to Portsmouth.
And I was a record signing there. They signed me for 1.5 million.
When I was at Portsmouth, I was Director of Football.
We paid a million pounds for him, it was a lot of money at that time.
A million pounds for a basketball player. Crazy.
[chuckles]
Obviously my height is a big asset, erm,
but I like to think I can play as well. I like to think I can score goals.
We had a big guy who couldn't run.
[comm 1] He really is absolutely enormous.
[comm 2] Genetically-modified, he must be. [chuckles]
But I thought, "He's got something."
[comm] Crouch arriving! Brilliant save!
[Peter] I felt I had to play better than everyone
because I looked different.
He had good control, and he was a very, very skilful player, you know.
His touch was fantastic.
[crowd cheering]
[Harry] You wanted him to use that height to be in there, to finish opportunities.
Get him in the right position in the box, he'll score goals.
- [comm] In towards Crouch! - [crowd cheering]
[comm] Peter Crouch puts Portsmouth into the lead!
I played a few good games, scored a couple of goals.
I felt good.
[comm] ...on for Waterman. This is Crouch, onside!
Peter Crouch levels for Portsmouth!
This mountain of a centre forward, he's not a mountain in terms of his girth,
but he is in height, Peter Crouch.
He's another Niall Quinn. You watch him. I'm backing my money now on him.
[crowd cheering]
[Sam] What Peter had managed to show us that he was a goalscorer
and he was someone who was going to get better.
[Peter] I think I was on about £6500 a week,
£7000 a week.
And I bought myself a flat on the marina
and I literally was moving out of home for the first time.
He got his first flat in Portsmouth and we're all dead excited about it.
'Cause we thought "This is incredible. Our friend's got his own place."
[Peter] I had no clue what to do with my money.
I had no clue about life.
I was living on blow-up furniture.
I mean, I had a bed, I had no sheet on it.
I remember my mum coming down after a couple of months,
she was like, "Is this how you're living?"
I was like, "What do I need?"
[lighter clicking]
[Greg] I remember once going around there and he actually said,
"I've learnt how to cook a pasta dish". We were all gobsmacked.
But I think it was just some pasta and a jar of pesto.
Yeah, totally undomesticated.
I had no real life outside of football,
but it was one of the best times of my life.
[interviewer] Did you have a love life?
Er...
not... not really, no. Er...
He wasn't your stereotypical footballer with sort of ladies on each arm.
It was quite the opposite of that.
He'd go out after matches, and try chatting up a few girls
but the levels for success were variable, I've got to be honest.
I wouldn't say I was a ladies' man, let's put it that way.
I couldn't pull a hamstring until I was about 21, you know.
Erm, it took me a while. [laughs].
[Peter] What do you want to do with these shirts, babe?
Like, they can't just stay up here.
[Abbey] They need a private place in the house.
I've had your England caps framed,
but I do think it's nice for you to be able to see them.
[Peter] There's some good memories here. Some mad ones though.
This looks so old!
That is old. That was under-21's.
[Abbey] What I find more alarming are these shorts.
- They must've been like hot pants on you. - I know.
I haven't seen you in a kit for so long, babe. Put that on.
What's this one? This was 2010.
- Gorgeous. - This was when they were going old school.
- It's quite retro. Like the '60s. - Yeah, like Bobby Moore kind of retro.
- What year was it? - '66.
Yeah, you can tell.
Oh, it's making me sad.
Good times.
Do you know what I haven't got, a Villa shirt.
I don't know. It was a strange time, that Villa time.
That was probably my most difficult spell as a footballer.
[presenter] Big man, big price.
At close to £5 million,
he's certainly the most expensive player
the Villa side has ever bought.
[Peter] I knew Aston Villa were interested,
and then bang! 5 million quid.
It felt like fortunes.
[man] Back, back, back, back, back. Come on, guys!
[Sam] I think, physically, the doubts were probably still there,
but Peter has suddenly become a player that other clubs are looking at.
[Peter] It's been a bit of a rollercoaster but I'm glad I'm here now.
I believe there's more to my game than just my height obviously.
I think I've got quite a good touch for someone of my height.
- [comm] Crouch, finds the back of the net. - [crowd cheering]
Playing in the Premier League, it's every footballer's dream.
It's where the money is.
It has a massive profile. It's watched all over the world.
It's all kind of pressure.
The night before we signed, we had this serious conversation
where I said "I don't think you're ready for this",
and he said, "I don't think I am either, but what do we do?"
[Peter] You think you've made it.
It's a Premier League team, they're spending 5 million quid on me,
but the trajectory didn't keep going.
- [comm] Crouch. - [crowd gasps]
Young man who's battling to establish himself at this level.
[Bruce] When he signed for Aston Villa, I knew he wasn't ready
'cause he hadn't grown into his body at that point.
[Peter] I wanted to be a player and I wanted to be the best I could be.
[comm] Not much impact from the tall striker.
[Peter] And I thought, "Have I blown it?"
[comm] The jury is still very much out on him.
[Peter] I ended up getting dropped.
I came off the bench the odd time but very rarely played.
In all honesty, I was angry.
You've got a decision to make. Do you sit out your contract,
hope the manager gets sacked
and someone else comes in who will give you a chance,
or do you move?
[Peter] So, I knew I had to get out from Villa.
Smile at me, that's right.
[Peter] I signed for Southampton.
[reporter] How will you reflect on that period of time at Aston Villa?
Erm, it was a little bit frustrating at times
'cause you always want to be playing as a player,
and I felt I had to move on to further my career.
He played for so many clubs by the age of 25, it was ridiculous.
[reporter] How determined are you to be first choice?
Ah, well, I've not come here just to be on the bench
or the stands. I'm looking to play.
For whatever reason, it was the same sort of thing.
I didn't play as much as I thought I would.
[Graeme] I got to know him really well when he signed for Southampton in 2004.
He spent a lot of time in and out of the team,
and that's difficult for a player, when you're at that age.
You're then looking for a coach that says,
"You're my first choice in this position."
[Barry] Things can go wrong in the blink of an eye in football
and if it doesn't work out,
you can disappear pretty quickly into obscurity.
[Peter] I was thinking to myself
"Oh, my God, this Premier League dream is just a dream.
"I've failed at Aston Villa,
"I'm failing at Southampton.
"I didn't know where I was going.
"Maybe Premier League wasn't for me."
I felt like I needed to change people's opinions.
I just needed someone to believe in me.
[rain pattering]
[car door opens]
[Peter] Grim, innit?
- [Harry] Peter! - [chuckles]
- Great day for a game of golf, innit? - Oh, my God.
- What are we going to do, mate? - How are you?
I'm all right, Pete. What are we going to do?
I don't know. Get in there and have a coffee, I reckon.
[Harry] What's this documentary all about?
I don't know, to be quite honest. [laughs]
Cheers. Lovely.
Pete, it'll be great.
You've had an amazing career, played for great clubs,
played for England.
I suppose it's been a bit different, Harry. It's been like,
you look at Stevie and Michael Owen and all,
- just, bang! Their career's mapped out. - All football superstars.
Yeah. You knew they'd play for England when they were kids.
For me, I suppose, it was a bit more up and down, wasn't it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Oh! - Oh, this is grim.
- Oh, hang on, Pete. - [chuckles]
- [beep] - Oh, that'll help. Yeah, forward.
- We're off. - Lucky I didn't put it in reverse.
Here we go. What's happening here? They give us a dud that run out of petrol.
[both cheering and laughing]
- Nice, Peter. - Yeah.
[interviewer] How would you rate his golf, Harry?
A bit like his football, really. A bit of a slow starter.
- [Peter] Well... - But now he's improved his golf.
[Peter chuckles]
Oh, yes, Harry. Nice.
I don't know if I've told you this, but before you came in
I didn't know where I was going.
I was struggling confidence-wise.
I'd just struggled at Villa,
erm, signed for Southampton,
thought it was my last chance in the Premier League,
and then I didn't play half of the season. And then you came in,
- changed my fortune completely. - Yeah.
- [cameras clicking] - [men speaking indistinctly]
[presenter] At 2:00 pm, Redknapp agreed an 18-month contract
to manage Southampton.
I've got a big challenge on my hands, you know?
And to keep the team up is gonna...
is gonna be a big task, but I feel we can do that.
I've never been relegated from the Premier League
and I don't intend to start now.
[Harry] When I went to Southampton,
we were struggling at the bottom of the table and Pete was already there.
They'd bought him from Aston Villa for good money, big money,
but he was sort of out of the team at the time.
[Peter] Harry came in, said, "What's going on? I don't understand."
I could see it genuinely that he couldn't believe I wasn't playing.
They're a good group of lads. I've gotta get confidence back into 'em,
and start believing they can win.
Peter wasn't always everybody's first choice.
It depended how you wanted to play.
I saw Crouchy as being a very important player for me
so I brought him into the team.
Anybody with any sense,
to getting the best of you, you're playing to your strengths.
That's all I wanted to do when I came in.
I knew what you could do from your time at Portsmouth, working there,
and it was a no-brainer for me. You needed confidence
and get playing.
- Yeah. - You know
- it's all about confidence, innit? - Yeah.
When someone believes in you,
- that's what we all need, innit? - Yeah.
- It can make such a difference. - Yeah.
He just told me that "You are a fantastic player" every day
and that was all I needed.
[crowd cheering]
[Harry] He wasn't a very powerful header of the ball for a big lad.
So we just worked on him. Lots of crosses, lots of heading drills.
He was, for me, the one big hope we had of winning a game.
[comm] Here we are. The start of the Redknapp era at Southampton.
[comm 2] Big decisions by Harry Redknapp in his team selection.
He takes a chance on Peter Crouch.
[comm 3] His first Premiership start of the season.
[Harry] We all thrive on people believing in you, thinking you're good.
Pete was no different. He needed someone to believe in him
and I certainly did.
[crowd cheering]
[comm 1] Peter Crouch, with his first goal for Harry Redknapp.
[comm 2] The new-look strike force has delivered
for the new Southampton manager.
[Peter] And that was where things just took off.
I knew I was a Premier League player from that moment.
[comm] There's the header. It's Peter Crouch!
[crowd cheering]
[comm] Header did come in and it does provide the equaliser!
[Peter] I was scoring every week. I was playing well.
[comm 3] Crouch climbing, oh, and it's in!
[Peter] I felt at the peak of my powers.
For the first time, I felt my height.
Terrific performance. Is it the start of the Harry miracle?
Firstly, you watch the Southampton performance today,
you realise Harry Redknapp's got them organised.
They've scored two goals and Crouch played really well.
[interviewer] Okay. We're rolling.
You seem to be playing with confidence at the moment.
Yeah, that comes with games.
I've had a run of games. The manager's come in and played me straight away
and I've played pretty much every game
and with games and goals comes confidence.
And I'm feeling really good at the moment,
going into every game full of confidence, like you say.
[Peter] It was the first time that someone had believed in me at that level.
I think it was the first time I felt like the main man.
That's when I knew that season...
- that I'm the number nine now. - Yeah.
But all the style of play that we had revolved around you, really, didn't it?
I think I scored 16 goals after Christmas.
- Yeah. - I don't think
before or since I've scored that many goals after Christmas.
- So there's obviously something you did. - Mmm.
I always felt I had the ability, but I didn't have a manager
that believed in me at that time
and, obviously, that person was you and I've got a lot to thank you for.
Do you know what, Pete, I had no doubts. I still remember seeing you as a kid,
and your career just pushed on from there didn't it, really?
I was playing well. I was going into games knowing I'd score.
[comm] Welcome to St. Mary's.
It's points Southampton need here against Liverpool.
I became aware of Peter Crouch
when we played them basically for Liverpool against Southampton.
Playing against Liverpool, one of the biggest clubs in the world,
it's a completely different level.
At a club like Liverpool, demand is to win every game.
A draw isn't good enough.
[Jamie] We're a lot more powerful, stronger, physical team,
more aggressive. Peter Crouch wasn't that.
[comm] He's been in good form, Peter Crouch.
It has been a bonus for Southampton.
[Barry] For as long as I have been interested in football,
Southampton have always been on the verge of [chuckling] relegation.
[comm] Southampton have to put an end to that winless streak that they're on.
They seem to swirl around the plughole, just constantly.
[comm] Ten games without a win.
Harry needs to get his first win as manager and instil some confidence.
[comm 1] Crouch is trying to get behind Sami Hyypiä here
but a good shout by Jerzy Dudek.
Nobody expected Southampton to win that game.
[comm] Crouch, playing the one-two. Prutton's in here behind!
And Southampton are ahead!
[comm 2] It's a lovely lay-off from Crouch.
It's been a great start for Southampton.
[Steven] When Pete's on fire and he's at it,
defenders and teams find him really difficult to deal with.
[comm] Nilsson, Crouch waiting in the middle in space.
Must be two, it is!
Southampton are in a kind of dreamland here now.
It must have been an incredible feeling for him.
[comm] There's a feeling that he might be finding his niche at last.
[comm 2] Looks like he's getting his confidence.
[Jamie] The fact that he scored a goal against Liverpool, it was massive.
It was probably a bit of an eye-opener for all of us in the team.
- [crowd clapping] - [referee blows whistle]
[comm] It's Southampton two, Liverpool nil.
[Jamie] He probably wasn't a player you'd think would be on the radar
of a club of Liverpool's size and stature.
Peter Crouch had stood out.
It was obvious the way Rafa Benítez spoke about him after the game
of how highly he rated him.
They play a very good game
and all the team worked hard, but when you talk about the strikers,
sometimes it's not only score goals, it is to play well and he played really well.
Things just took off and there was, you know, a bit of sort of buzz around me.
I remember that the first time I saw him play was in Southampton
and I was surprised. His technique was very good.
[crowd cheering]
I remember towards the end of the season that year, there was a trip to America
with England. I got called up. My first call-up.
- [crowd cheering] - [England national anthem playing]
[Peter] When you're stood there and you're singing the national anthem,
it doesn't get any better than that.
I remember my agent called me, said, "You sitting down?"
I was like "Yeah". He goes, "Liverpool are interested in you."
- [Harry] Oh! - I don't know if you remember,
when I came to see you when Liverpool had come in for me.
They wanna sign me, and you said,
"Ah, you know, great opportunity for you."
I'd spoke to Harry and he said, "Incredible." Like, "Go for it."
And then I remember Southampton turned down the offer.
So I called Harry and I said, "Well, what's going on?" He said,
"That's amazing for you, but it's not for me, is it?"
I said "What?"
I wanted to keep you, but I knew if you got that chance, you gotta take it.
- I had to go, you know. Yeah. - Of course. Absolutely.
Liverpool. What a move. You were going.
I was always sad to lose him.
Always thought he was a really good player and a great guy.
If they pay the right money, he has to go, and Liverpool paid good money for him
and so he had to move on, unfortunately, you know.
Sport now, and Peter Crouch has agreed a four-year contract at Liverpool
after the club settled on a fee with Southampton thought to be £7 million.
- [Peter] Hi. - There you are.
- [Peter chuckling] All right, mate? - How are you?
- All right? - You well?
- Yeah. Good, mate. How are you? - All good. All good.
[Peter] Good. Good to be back?
- [Steven] I always feel good coming here. - Yeah.
Every time I come in, I just get a good feeling.
- Do you miss it? - I do, I do.
When you think about the memories we had here, you know.
When did you realise like, Liverpool's bigger than big?
The size of it. I think, the moment I came here, you look around at the empty stadium
and I went into the trophy room and you look at the history here,
it was when the nerves started.
[crowd cheering]
[Steven] Liverpool, they're one of the biggest clubs in the world.
[fans chanting]
[Steven] When you come in, it's off the scale.
You want to play for a top team, and you want to experience that buzz
of playing in front of the Liverpool fans.
So that pressure, that expectation, that responsibility is at a greater level.
[Jamie] When the news came through that Peter Crouch was joining Liverpool,
I thought it was a strange signing.
Wasn't someone I'd associate we'd be after.
I was absolutely gobsmacked.
[chuckles]
I won't lie.
Is he good enough to play for Liverpool?
I think a lot of people thought he wasn't.
[comm] I think a lot of the Liverpool fans were surprised
when Benítez went for Crouch.
The eyes and ears of the whole world are on you when you make that step.
[comm] They see a tall, rather skinny character
who's obviously a little gangly.
Everyone's interested in you off the field, on the field.
I won't make any bones about it, it's difficult to break into the side,
but I'm confident I will do and when I do, I'm sure I'll stay here.
Lots of players I've seen fail because they can't cope
with the pressure of playing for Liverpool.
If I thought people were laughing at me early on in my career,
now I'm on a global scale.
[Steven] This is just still pictures, is it, yeah?
- [man] Yeah. If that's all right? - Okay.
Straight down the barrel for me.
- [camera shutter clicking] - [man] Lovely.
To come here was beyond my wildest dreams. I think I wanted it so badly and I wanted
- to make an impression, I tensed a bit. - When you put
that much responsibility on yourself,
it's natural that you'll become tense, you're going to try too hard.
It was right from the minute go. Like, the minute I kicked off, I was
- putting myself under it. Yeah. - Under it.
[comm] Peter Crouch left Tottenham for just £60,000
having failed to break into their first team,
comes back a £7-million striker.
- Towards Crouch. - [referee blows whistle]
- Who's offside. - [crowd booing]
I think when you sign for a club, all eyes are on you the first few games.
[comm] Carragher, goes long looking for Crouch,
- who's done well here! - [crowd groans]
[comm] And then couldn't get any real purchase on the shot.
You're thinking "It'll come".
[comm] Tallest player ever to represent Liverpool,
still seeking his first goal for the club.
Crouch is central, there's the cross, there's the header.
Should have been what might well have been a winning goal.
- It just wasn't happening. - [fans cheering]
[comm] Oh, nicely done, Peter Crouch!
Should have been his first Liverpool goal.
[comm 2] Should've been and he knows it.
It didn't become a drought till it was probably six, seven, eight games.
But you're thinking, "When's this going to come?"
There were times, I'll be honest, I'm thinking
"Gosh, maybe I should get back to Southampton."
[chuckles]
- [comm] On by Zenden, now Crouch. - [crowd groans]
[Steven] You doubt yourself, question yourself, "Am I good enough
- "to be at Liverpool?" - How long is he going to last?
[comm] Let's just say, Peter Crouch, yet to settle into the game.
[Barry] If you're a footballer who isn't performing, you get dropped.
[comm] He's still waiting, Peter Crouch, for that elusive first Liverpool goal.
You might get another chance and if you continue to not score,
you will be sold.
If you keep not scoring, you will drop down divisions
and eventually no one will want you.
Ten matches, that's not good enough,
and Peter Crouch, he needs a goal.
He's a player that thrives off confidence,
and you can sort of sense in the way he's playing, he needs to score.
At the time Rafa kept playing you, backing ya, I think that's important
because if you were took out of the starting 11 and become a sub,
it would have been even more challenging and more difficult.
But he was very astute. I think it was very much a case
of "I'd seen enough of you before you come in"
and training on a daily basis, that it was only a matter of time.
If he plays well for us, if he works hard for us,
always he will have my support.
[female presenter] Peter Crouch had 10 attempts on goal at Anfield tonight,
but is still searching for his first for Liverpool.
There was a lot of people who had an opinion on Peter,
and the longer it was going on, the more difficult it was going to be.
[comm] 792 minutes as Liverpool play without a goal for Peter Crouch.
A lot of people were thinking "Liverpool made a mistake."
- [comm] Peter Crouch! - [crowd groans]
- Crouch is central again. - [crowd gasp]
- This time it might be. - [crowd gasp]
[Peter] It felt like the whole world was laughing at me,
and, you know, it was a difficult period for me.
Crouch is a wonderful striker if you don't want your strikers to score goals.
- [presenter] And Peter Crouch... - [Mark] Not talking about Peter Crouch.
- Why not? Oh. - He's boring. Doesn't score, does he?
- Erm... - [Mark laughs]
[Peter] I felt like I'd become a laughing stock on a global scale.
It wasn't just QPR where people were laughing at me
because I... the way I looked. Erm...
I was getting ridiculed from every press outlet,
every newspaper.
[Jason] Some players have gone seasons without scoring a goal.
I went 20 games in a season that I'd won the league.
The reason that I stayed in the team,
all my stats were good, my assists were good.
I was a team player.
I'm in the middle of this goal drought but I'm still getting picked.
Rafa's still picking me, and Sven's still picking me for England.
[Barry] England fans saw his inclusion as a bit of a joke,
but Sven clearly had faith in him.
Managers know what they can do,
they see what they're doing in training each week.
But it [chuckling] might have been better if he'd left him out
because it didn't really go so well.
[Peter] During that time, I remember playing a game at Old Trafford.
I thought "I'm on the bench, I'll never get on."
And then I do get on.
[stadium announcer speaking over PA]
- ...Peter Crouch. - [crowd booing]
[comm] Crowd not too enamoured, it sounds.
I was at that game when he got booed by the fans.
I thought it was crazy. Like, he'd done nothing wrong.
That's not fair.
[Bruce] It did shock me, but his mum, it upset a lot
because she knew this was the pinnacle of his ambition,
and it had been taken away from him, so she was really upset.
Is it because he's tall or he doesn't look like a football player?
I never understood that, but that was a surprise, and not a good surprise.
Getting booed by your own fans is difficult to take
when it should be such a proud moment.
Everyone outside of Liverpool was against me.
England fans thought I was a joke.
[crowd booing]
[interviewer] They just didn't rate you as a player?
Didn't rate me as a player, didn't think I should be near the England squad,
let alone coming on when we need a goal.
It was difficult.
All I can do is, when given a chance, is just try and impress.
[Sven] It's very sad and it's unfair,
but as a player, I always told the players,
"Don't worry about things you can't do anything about.
"If I'm criticising you, then you should be worried.
"But go out, do your job and do the best you can.
"And if you do the best you can,
"you will never be criticised by me."
[Peter] The most difficult time for me, as a football player
and a person, I've ever had.
I got to the stage where I didn't want to go out.
I didn't want to see people.
[Greg] He was much quieter then. We wouldn't see him as much.
Because of that, I didn't get much insight into what was happening.
[Peter] I tried to hide. I just put myself in a bubble.
I didn't want to see anyone. I didn't want to speak to anyone.
He was living on his own in a flat in Liverpool at the time.
To be on your own after being booed by 56,000 people, a difficult place to be.
[Peter] The closest to depressed I've been...
was then.
Do you remember the pen, Portsmouth, Kop end?
I remember the opportunity come for you to try and get off the mark.
I said, "Can I have it?" You were like "Yeah."
- [referee blows whistle] - [comm] Penalty, is it? It is.
I think, at the time, I was the penalty taker for that game.
[Peter] I'm like, "Stevie, you got to let me have a pen."
I wrestled the ball off Steven Gerrard, our captain, our talisman.
- [crowd roaring] - [comm] And here is the chance
to popular acclaim at Anfield,
for Peter Crouch to get his first goal. Well, what a responsibility.
[Peter] I'm going against the manager's orders.
I've taken the ball off one of the finest players you've ever seen.
I'm doing it in his home club. He's the captain.
Even now I'm thinking, like, "How did I have the balls to do that?"
[comm] £7 million, he hasn't yet scored,
now he's got a chance with the spot kick.
[Peter] I could feel the anticipation.
[crowd roaring]
[comm] Listen to the noise around Anfield.
- They're willing this in for Peter Crouch. - [referee blows whistle]
They want him to score.
And he didn't!
But even from the spot kick, Peter Crouch still can't get on the score sheet.
[interviewer] When did you know you were actually going to take the penalty?
Was the decision made on the field?
No, I made the decision, to be honest.
Obviously, I'm desperate to score at the minute.
So I'll take any chance I can. I'm not going to hide.
Next time there's a Liverpool penalty,
are you going to pick up the ball again and say "I'll take it"?
Er, probably everyone else will say "No, don't",
but I'll be there again, I'm sure of it.
[Steven] I remember Rafa pulling me over that situation after the game
and saying, "You should have took the penalty."
So I had to deal with the consequences as well as Peter, unfortunately.
It was like "This can't get any worse.
- "I've just missed a pen." - [laughs]
[Peter] I wanted the whole ground to open up
for me to hide somewhere.
[Greg] It was a lonely, difficult time, possibly sad time for Peter.
But in one day everything seemed to change.
I'm nervous. I don't know anything about football.
- [interviewer] You don't need to. - I'm really bad.
[interviewer] When was the first time you became aware of Peter?
I remember seeing Pete for the first time in the paper.
He'd been at Liverpool for a while and I think he'd had a bit of a dry run,
and, erm, I remember looking at him, thinking he kind of needs looking after.
He looked quite vulnerable and just like, he needed me to rescue him.
A bit of a crush on him.
I'm not a football fan. It was just him
and the way he looked. He's blonde
and tall and gorgeous.
[comm 1] For the record, it's 18 games for Liverpool
without a goal for Peter Crouch.
[comm 2] Peter Crouch's position is very difficult
because you got to keep being brave mentally,
and not be frightened to miss,
and that's easier said than done.
[comm 1] Looking for Crouch.
[comm 2] I've got a feeling he's going to score today, I really have.
I remember chesting the ball down on the half-way line, turning,
then I had the freedom, everyone was backing off,
- for good reason. - I made a great run.
- You did. - One of the best runs I've ever made.
I ignored everyone and just had a shot from 25 yards.
[comm 1] Peter Crouch, maybe setting a shot.
It's deflected.
- Oh, and it's over the line! - [crowd roaring]
Lift-off for Peter Crouch!
And at last Peter Crouch has broken his scoring duck for Liverpool.
It was the shittest goal I have ever seen,
and I've been watching football for a long time.
But it was arguably the most important of his career.
[Steven] Can you remember
- this proper lift off in the stadium? - Oh, my God.
- The roof come off. Everyone was... - It was electric, wasn't it?
...delighted for you
because everyone knew you were feeling it, you were desperate to score and do well.
[comm 2] Told you he was going to score today, didn't I?
- [comm 1] You did. - [comm 2 chuckles]
For the rest of the game, it was that song, weren't it?
- That song, yeah. - That song.
[crowd singing]♪ He's big, he's red
♪ His feet stick out the bed
- [comm 1] Off the mark at last. - ♪ Peter Crouch, Peter Crouch! ♪
[Peter] It was such a relief.
And that was that. I was off and running.
[Abbey] I think if he was ever low on his confidence,
I think that was the turning point. That was his lucky day.
[chuckles]
- I'm scared. I'm not going to get it in. - Go.
- Oh, my god! - Whoa!
- Nailed it. - No way.
[interviewer] When did you first become aware of like, each other?
Yeah, we met in Liverpool, didn't we, in a bar?
Yeah. It was actually that night,
just after I'd got my first goal.
You asked me for my number when I was going to the loo and then...
Yeah, but you came over to me, which was something bizarre.
For me that was obviously pretty ground-breaking.
Someone as beautiful as Ab coming up to me and then chatting to me,
I was thinking "Wow, this doesn't happen down south."
[Abbey] I remember he scored that day.
I just said "Oh, well done for scoring" or something ridiculous,
- and then we just got chatting. - I remember you said,
"I knew you'd score". Something like that.
Yeah, I was just saying a flippant comment as I was...
- I didn't stop for a chat. - You were all over me though.
- No, I wasn't. - You were.
She was just that, beautiful and funny, and I couldn't believe my luck, you know.
Erm, she couldn't believe hers.
[Abbey] And then he asked me for my number,
so I gave it to him. Then when I come back from the loo,
he was talking to another girl,
and I was like, "You just asked me for my number!"
She came over and goes,
"Give me my number back." I was like, "What are you talking about?"
We've just met. Like, we're only talking.
Er, I should have known then she was a lunatic.
We spoke on the phone, didn't we, that night for ages.
[interviewer] How old were you two when you got together?
I was 19 and he was 24-25.
And now we're like old.
God. You joking? 'Course we're not.
You're only as young as the woman you feel.
Old then. You're old then!
I was so young when we met.
And that I was still living with my mum, and he had his flat.
So when I moved in, it was literally like walking
into one of The Inbetweener's rooms.
He had like, no bedding,
PlayStation things hanging out the TV.
His nan used to live around the corner,
so she used to come and make him his dinner, but I think
my predictions were right. He did need someone to come in and look after him.
I was well-paid and obviously I playing for Liverpool,
but I didn't really have a... I was just living like my mates.
And they were living like students.
But that's part of the charm of you though, I think.
'Cause you're still like that now. You're not really driven by fancy things.
I like to think of me being...
you know, like a rough diamond
that she polished.
- [comm] And Crouch scores for Liverpool! - [crowd roaring]
Who's laughing now?
[Peter] After I met Ab, it all changed for me.
Now I've got this new confidence where I'm like, I can play.
[comm] There's Crouch and it has crept in!
[Greg] Pete had gone from basically having no luck with ladies at all
to suddenly dating a supermodel. We were like, "Wow, that's impressive.
"How have you managed that?" It was incredible.
I was off and running. I couldn't stop scoring after that.
[comm] Crouch! Oh, what about it!
What a fabulous finish!
The worst time sort of became the best time of my life.
- [Abbey] Hey, dad. - Hiya, babe. How are ya?
I'm good.
- All right, Pedro! All right, la? - How are you, mate?
- You okay? - Hey, gorgeous girl. You all right?
- Yeah. You okay? - Yeah, I'm good.
- You okay? - Yeah.
Whenever I'm in Liverpool, I always make a date to see Geoff.
You never told me that you'd copped off with Pete.
I was actually tarmacking a carpark in Blackburn
...and all the lads started having a go.
"Your Abbey's going out with Crouchy" and I went "Oh, as if."
I was so scared to say "Oh, Dad I've got a boyfriend, he plays for Liverpool."
- He would have killed me. - No, I just thought "Well, this is good",
but I really didn't think it'd last. I just thought
next week it'd probably be Pierce Brosnan or...
Pierce Brosnan! He's your age! What the hell.
He's a great fella and yeah, I'm thankful to have a father-in-law like him.
Were you worried about meeting me dad knowing he was like...
I'll be honest, I was less worried
because I'd started scoring by then.
I think having that support network,
having family that believes in me was massive.
It gave me a load of confidence.
My dad came to every single game I've ever played,
but when I come up to Liverpool, he looks after me almost like a dad,
and I feel very blessed to have that.
My dad knew I had ability, so he was hard on me.
But when you're a kid you just think "Why is my dad being so harsh?"
[interviewer] In hindsight, do you think there were times
when you were a bit too tough on him, pushed him too far?
No, I don't. I question myself sometimes about that.
I think "Was I too tough? Did I do that?" I don't think so.
I think I just tried to fill in the gaps that he had in his armoury.
I can see it from his point of view now. I'm a father now.
My little girl is doing swimming and she's doing well at it.
And I just think if someone's got a talent,
you need to criticise them so they improve.
So, with me, it was like,
if it was something that he could see that was a weakness,
he's only telling you what you're doing wrong.
[Bruce] I would've done anything to help him achieve his dream.
I think that's as a job your dad, is to try and facilitate your kid's dreams,
and that's all I did.
You hope to give them a set of values that they take through life,
and if that set of values enables them to achieve what they want to achieve,
I don't think there is anything better for a parent.
I wouldn't have made it without him so I'm thankful that he was like that.
[Bruce] When he started as a kid, you have hopes and dreams,
but you never allow yourself to get that far ahead
that you can actually see him, you know, picking a cup up.
You hope but you don't think it could become a reality.
[crowd jeering]
[comm] Anton Ferdinand has got to score
to keep West Ham in the competition.
If he doesn't score, Liverpool have won the cup.
- They have won the cup! - [crowd cheering]
Liverpool have won the FA Cup for the 7th time!
[Peter] The most emotional I've ever been on a football pitch was
when I was standing there with the FA cup in my hand
because that was me and my Dad's thing, was the FA Cup.
We always used to stop whatever we were doing and watch the FA Cup.
[Bruce] To see Pete picking a cup up, it was something he'd always dreamed of,
so I was very proud of him.
You don't realise really maybe when you're playing
how much it means to everyone and erm,
obviously, you can see today it means everything and it means a lot to the boys.
...FA cup finals, five!
[Peter] All the adversity came flooding back in that moment
where I've got a 100-year-old trophy in my hand.
That was... that was special.
The Liverpool fans really liked him. In the wider world as well I think
the media could see him as a Premier League footballer.
But it was the England fans, I think, that he still had to win over.
- [man speaking indistinctly] - Hi, mate. How are ya?
- [man speaking indistinctly] - What's happening? You all right?
[man] This way, boys.
One more, boys and then I'm going to bring the standbys.
[Peter] Going into that World Cup, I was on fire.
[man] All this way, please. This is it now.
[Peter] I was scoring goals for Liverpool, I'd overcome the difficult period.
I was with Ab. I was ready.
- [man] Glad to be back, yeah? - Yeah, I'm buzzing.
Really looking forward to it.
Getting chosen for the squad, I mean, look at the squad. It was phenomenal.
Like, you go into training,
David Beckham, Frank Lampard,
Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney.
If you look at that England squad, they are expected to win.
[Peter] We haven't won a major competition since '66.
There was talks of it being a golden generation.
So being amongst that squad felt like a huge honour.
I am different to the other strikers we have here in England,
and hopefully, like you say, I can bring something different.
[Sven] Peter was important for that tournament.
We didn't have a lot of strikers on high, high level,
but Peter Crouch was one of them.
[interviewer] Rooney and Owen have played in big competitions,
Peter Crouch hasn't. How do you know he's going to cope?
He will cope with it. I am sure.
He will be nervous. Of course he will.
His first World Cup, but he will cope with it.
[men speaking indistinctly]
[Sven] To play for England, that's a dream for every young boy.
To put on that shirt, that means a lot.
But the pressure is there, of course it is.
And they know that if you don't perform,
the critic will be very tough
and the chances to be picked again is not very big.
[fans cheering]
[Peter] And you feel that kind of pressure at a World Cup.
[speaking indistinctly]
[Peter] But because I was in such a good place in my life,
for the first time,
I felt confident.
[speaking indistinctly]
[Peter] I just had to prove to the country...
that I was a credible footballer.
[stadium announcer] Old Trafford, this is an England international.
England v Jamaica.
[Sven] In the preparations before the World Cup,
we had a friendly against Jamaica.
This is a fantastic chance for Peter
to show that he can do it on that level.
- [crowd cheering] - [referee blows whistle]
[comm] Here they go.
[Peter] Throughout my whole career, I just got prejudged because of my height.
[comm] Peter Crouch coming in far side, heads it back.
That was something that stuck with me that I was determined to prove wrong.
[comm] Oh! And a goal for England.
Peter Crouch got the first touch.
I started thinking about all the people that doubted me, booed when I came on.
[comm] This is Beckham to Carragher.
Can they pull one back here? Crouch is there!
And it's number two for Peter Crouch today.
[Peter] All the things that have gone into making me a player, being ridiculed,
getting stick and getting laughed at,
and here I am, you know, not a care in the world,
scoring goals and having a laugh doing it.
[comm] Owen to Crouch.
Oh, he has got his third goal!
[crowd cheering]
[comm 2] I also think it's the best goal of the day.
[Sven] To score three goals for England,
that's fantastic.
He showed the critics that he belongs to this team.
I remember being at home in bed...
and seeing Pete do this robot dance, and I was like,
"Oh, my God. What's he doing?"
[comm] He's doing the robotic dance.
[Greg] I remember laughing when he was doing it, 'cause I was pleased
everyone's seeing the real Pete that we knew.
[Abbey] I think the robot was obviously him just feeling confident and comfortable
and it kind of gave a glimpse into his personality.
[Greg] He was saying "I don't care what you think of me, how I look or appear.
"I'm happy in myself. Things are going well."
I think this is the humour he was using as a kid to diffuse situations in school,
but now he's using it to make the nation fall in love with him.
From being booed to getting the hattrick and performing "The Robot" is
a big sort of middle finger to people who've given him a load of crap before.
[cheering]
He did well, Crouch. He was a target man when he came on.
He'll be a useful addition to the squad.
He got more fans because of that than he had before that.
[speaking indistinctly]
[reporter] England finally started their World Cup journey this morning.
They were met by a pastiche of Peter Crouch's now-famous robot dance.
They call it "The Crouch" now. We used
to call it "The Robot" when I was in school.
[fans cheering]
I love it. It's almost become part of me, almost as much as my height.
And I suppose it's shaped me in a weird way.
[fans cheering]
[Peter] I was so far away from when people were laughing at me
because of the way I looked.
I felt so confident in my own skin. I was playing well.
I was playing for England, for Liverpool.
I'm now in a place where I can express myself, you know.
I can have a laugh as well as being taken as a serious footballer.
[comm] One big leap from Peter Crouch!
[crowd roaring]
[Peter] I would never have done that if I wasn't at what I considered
the top of my game at that time.
[Sven] I remember Prince William came to see one of the training sessions.
When the prince comes, everybody's quiet
and shows respect to the Prince.
[Jamie] Prince William is chatting away about the World Cup, how it's going to go,
and I've just gone "Crouchy, show him your dance."
I said "Shut up." I was like, "Don't. Please don't."
[players encouraging Peter indistinctly]
[all cheering]
[Jamie] And all of us were just in absolute stitches.
[Sven] The Prince, he was laughing.
I think he had tears in his eyes.
Yeah, well, when the future king's asking to see it,
I couldn't really turn him down to be honest.
Peter, how do you think your tournament has gone so far?
Oh, I'm really enjoying myself, erm, Wayne, at the moment.
Obviously, never thought I'd ever play in a World Cup
and I'm really enjoying myself.
There's been a lot of talk about the robot and it's been played down a bit lately
and there's been a few reports saying that it's not going to get performed
until the final.
Can you give us any more exclusives really about that?
[people laughing]
[fans chanting]
[comm] Portugal are one kick away from the World Cup semi-finals.
Cristiano Ronaldo.
[crowd cheering]
And England, as usual, lose on a penalty shoot-out.
[reporter] England are out of the World Cup
after losing their quarter-final to Portugal on penalties.
It's frustrating. We thought we could've gone further but it's one of those things.
[Sven] That loss, for that generation,
the tournament, we should have won,
because we had experienced players.
[Steven] I have regrets like probably the majority of the players do
because you've got to play like a team, you've got to bond, you've got to try
and complement each other, and we did at times,
but we'd never done it enough on a consistent basis.
But Peter used to connect the dressing room
with his banter, with his personality,
and he was just someone who you wanted to be around.
There's never a dull moment when Crouchy is in the room.
[Sven] For Peter, that World Cup was very, very important for him.
To be more accepted amongst the fans and the press.
[chuckles softly]
There is some absolute belters on here.
That's the actual volley that I did at the World Cup,
that I got wrong, came off my toe, went the other way, which is not ideal.
[comm 1] Here's Crouch!
[comm 2] Atrocious finish.
[interviewer] There are so many pictures of that
like, turned into a meme and then it just went viral.
Oh, my God. Viral.
It's basically, "Peter Crouch can do anything."
I mean, look, here I am synchronised-swimming.
Incredible. Here I am break-dancing.
Here I am hurdling.
[chuckles]
That's my favourite.
This is the wind turbine. They put me on a wind turbine.
There's me going around on a propellor.
[continues laughing]
I'm all for it. There's some absolute belters here.
I was in a good place then. If that had been early on in my career,
maybe it would've gone, "Oh, not another thing like that",
but people were accepting me.
And now when people were laughing,
they were laughing with me rather than at me.
I'd gone from this figure of fun to people having fun with me, if you like.
The inventor of "The Robot", it's Peter Crouch, everyone!
Crouchy, everything tells me that you should be rubbish at football,
and yet you are brilliant because of this, "The Robot".
[audience laughing]
Given the abuse he got, I don't think I would ever have expected him to be
the towering media figure that he's become.
I carry cards. "No, the weather isn't different up here."
- [audience laughs] - "No, I don't play basketball."
"I'm so glad we had this conversation."
- [Jonathan laughs] - [audience laughing]
[Jamie] He's a brand. Who would've believed that
when he couldn't score for 18 games!
[man] Harry, Peter, this way please.
[Harry] People would have doubted him at times.
[man] Peter, Harry, down here.
He proved all the doubters wrong, for sure.
[comm] Crouch! Oh! An absolutely majestic finish!
[Harry] There's nothing you can't like about Crouchy, really.
He's not afraid to laugh at himself as well.
"What would you be if you weren't a footballer?"
- A virgin. - [audience laughing]
[interviewer 2] You strike me as being suddenly a bit of a cult hero.
[Peter] Yeah, I think maybe that stupid dance helped a bit
and [chuckles] I'm not sure if I'll be doing that again,
but if you can play and win
and do it with a smile on your face, I think it's the best way.
[Sam] By now, he's a different kind of player.
He's one of the senior players. There's a confidence about him.
[cameraman speaking indistinctly]
[Sam] And big clubs are still signing him.
He was a great player for me at Tottenham.
[comm] And his header finds the net!
[crowd cheering]
Peter Crouch, whose career began here, has taken off
with his first Premier League goal for them.
He now holds the record for the most headed goals,
but when you're 6'7", you're entitled to it, really.
[reporter] This is a statement signing for Stoke City.
Peter Crouch has agreed to join Stoke City.
[all cheering]
When he gets to Stoke, he's coming towards the end of his career.
[reporter] Do you mind flying the flag around the world for Stoke?
No. God, it's a pleasure, a privilege.
Most players retire in their early 30s. Some even earlier.
[comm] In comes Crouch!
Peter Crouch, with his first Stoke City goal.
[Sam] He ends up staying there years longer than
any of the clubs he's been at previously.
[comm] Crouch! Oh, what an effort!
That is just sensational!
[Sam] He scores a lot of goals.
- [comm] It's towards Peter Crouch! - [crowd cheering]
It's a trademark Peter Crouch goal.
[Sam] And amongst those goals, are
some really brilliant, technically-accomplished goals.
[crowd cheering]
[Sam] But he'd got one thing left to prove to himself.
[comm] Peter Crouch has scored 99 Premier League goals.
He's a goal short of a century in the Premier League.
[Peter] I got to 99 and I thought "This will be me."
Like, "This will be just my luck to go 18 games again without scoring."
[fans chanting]
[comm] Arnautović, in behind Holgate,
here's Crouch!
[crowd cheering]
A century of goals in the Premier League for Peter Crouch!
People asked me at Stoke, "Will you please bring it back
"when you score 100 Premier League goals?"
and I promised a few people that I would.
[crowd cheering]
[comm] And the celebration is back.
Huge smile on his face.
[comm 2] And Crouch to get his 100th Premier league goal.
Full credit to him.
[Sven] If you score that many goals, of course you are a hero.
He showed the critics that he belongs.
[interviewer] And of course, the celebration,
you planned that, didn't you?
[chuckles] Yeah, I've been under so much pressure to pull out "The Robot",
so... to be honest, it was a bit rusty, more than anything,
but er, yeah, obviously, I think I'll put that one away now.
[interviewer] What was it like when you had to retire?
Er, well, it was tough. It's all I've ever known is football.
So, like, erm, making that decision to just end it is a difficult one.
[Abbey] I like having you at home more, but you did sell it to me a lot different
to what you said "Oh, when I retire, we can go to the gym together,
and go for lunches and...
We do do that, just not as often as I'd like, to be honest.
There was a moment when you were coming to the end of your career,
you definitely did change in your personality.
I knew you had something on your mind when you were thinking
"God, what am I going to do after football?"
- Yeah. I know. - You know?
'Cause plenty of ex-players told me, the moment you retire,
it's like, you just... no one remembers, you know.
So I wanted to sort of do things while I was still current
to keep myself involved.
I played football every single day of my life.
I left school at 16, retired at 38, that's 22 years.
I sort of retired on my own terms.
Most players, to be honest, retire because of an injury.
[speaking indistinctly]
[Peter] I started my podcast and it just seemed to really take off and do great.
Hello and welcome to another episode of That Peter Crouch Podcast
with me, Peter Crouch. Chris Stark
and Statman Dave with me as usual. All right, boys?
- I'm all right. I've got a question. - [Peter] This is where we do the podcast.
Great fun. It's like my favourite thing I do.
Just have a laugh. We come to the pub, have a few beers, pretend we're working.
[interviewer] What's Abbey's feelings about that?
Erm, I leave the house, and she's got four kids
and like, I'm going to work, and we come to the pub, have a few pints
and have a laugh and talk about football.
It's not work, is it, really?
We thought we'd do a podcast today all about superstitions
which, I know with you, are massive.
Yeah, they were. When I was a young player, I had loads.
Like, I would pray.
- I didn't know you were religious. - Well, for goals I am.
[all laughing]
[Peter] At first I was like, "Why are people listening to this?"
Talking about my life doesn't feel like it'd be that interesting,
but...
you know, to people that haven't been inside the dressing room,
I suppose it is incredibly interesting.
So, Crouchfest, lads.
We're pretty close.
How's the organisation, the prep going?
We're beavering away, aren't we, Chris,
and like loads going on.
[Sam] In the latter stages of his playing career
and then into retirement, Peter Crouch, he realised that
he's a popular figure, he's a relatable figure.
[Peter] What Crouchfest is is I suppose a reflection of me as a person.
[Sam] He's comfortable being himself, he's turned it into a great second career.
[singing indistinctly]
Wembley has never seen this shit before.
It's just mad. I can't believe that it's this big.
I'm nervous, because when I was playing football
I knew what I was doing. Like, here, I'm totally out of my comfort zone.
[Chris] Not many people could achieve what he's achieving.
We haven't even announced anything on the line-up. All they know is
it's Peter Crouch.
The fact that that is all people expect,
I think, speaks volumes about how people see Peter
and how loved he is.
And I think, when he steps out tonight,
I think he will really feel the love.
I think everyone loves him. He's more relatable, I think,
than most footballers.
We in?
Very inspirational guy and growing up, I was sort of a lanky kid,
but then Peter Crouch playing football, I was like "I want to be like him."
I met him a couple of years ago. I got him to sign my arm,
so then got it made into a tattoo.
Just my hero, mate.
He's so funny, he's so witty.
[Barry] At the start of his career, the only thing that made him stand out was
the fact that he looked weird
and probably shouldn't have been a footballer.
To have the career he's had,
he's a lot better than people gave him credit for.
He went on to great, great things
and as we've got to know him over the years,
there is genuine affection for him now.
He's almost a national treasure, isn't he?
[presenter] And now, it's time for the big one.
The very big one.
That Peter Crouch!
[audience cheering]
Crouchfest, hello!
[crowd cheering]
This is, you know, surreal. Like, the amount of people here, erm,
it's taking my breath away, really.
I actually feel like I'm going to cry right now. Proud doesn't even...
I can't... I can't even tell you the words I feel right now.
You know, because to me, he's just like my Peter, and my husband at home.
- Did you ever do "The Robot" at Wembley? - [crowd cheering]
Do you know what?
I've never done "The Robot" at Wembley.
- Whoa, hold on a minute there, Wembley. - Never done it. I've never done it.
[Abbey] Seeing all these people with all this energy
and they're here for him.
This is the person that I love and that I go on about
and I think is worthy of this but it's mad to see everyone else feeling the same way.
[crowd cheering]
[Peter] I suppose that young lad, like, who got stick as a player,
I never thought I'd be headlining at Wembley arena.
I'm being me and it's nice to be able to be confident enough.
[Bruce] I could go through all the goals, all the cups, all the caps,
but the thing I'm most proud about is his strength of character.
He's overcome all these obstacles that have been put in his way
and I'm really proud about how he is as a man.
If I was a bridesmaid, I would just be so happy to be the bridesmaid,
- I would wear anything. - Bollocks.
[Abbey] Oh?
It's blown our minds that it's gone in at number one and it's so popular.
It's just real. Like, we're just a normal couple.
[Graeme] Fortunately for Peter, he was able to adapt.
That takes a certain type of intelligence as well.
[Jason] I can't give Peter enough credit for the fact that he's able to endure
and still push through,
'cause you do come through it. That's what it's about.
[Luke] We all have to go through challenges.
By the looks of it, it's given him great resilience to go on and have
a fantastic career.
[Steven] I've got the upmost respect for him, as a footballer for sure,
but more importantly as a human being.
You look at his career, his family, his wife.
He ain't done too bad, has he?
[interviewer] When we started filming, you said,
you didn't believe that anybody would be interested in
watching it. Like, now, how do you feel?
Like, there's far better players than me, there will be far better players than me,
but erm,
I suppose I was one of a kind in a way
because of...
I'm pretty different, I suppose, to the average player.
As a teenager you just want to fit in,
but then like, I wouldn't be me without my height.
I'm really proud of that and I think,
in spite of the things that have held me back,
they've now become a secret weapon, if you like, or a superpower.
[interviewer] So a couple of people might watch this doc then.
I hope so.
I'm not that arsed.
[pop song playing]