Peter Crouch is well-known English footballer who plays for the English ‘Premier League’ club ‘Stoke City’ and the England national team. He happens to be one of the most expensive British footballers of all time. He has scored 100 ‘Premier League’ goals - one of the 26 players to achieve this feat! Peter started his football career with the youth programme of the club ‘Tottenham Hotspur’ and in July 1998, he was signed by the same club. In March 2002, he was acquired by the ‘Premier League’ club ‘Aston Villa,’ following which he moved to ‘Southampton’ in 2004. In 2005, he transferred to Liverpool and after playing for ‘Liverpool’ for two seasons, he joined ‘Portsmouth’ for one season. In 2009, he moved back to ‘Tottenham Hotspur’ and in 2011, he finally joined ‘Stoke City,’ and remains with the team to date. After his magnificent performance in the first season with ‘Stoke City,’ he was named ‘Player of the Year,’ justifying his club record exchange fee of 10 million pounds.
Peter James Crouch was born on January 30, 1981, in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, into an upper middle class British household. His father worked in advertising and when Peter was 1 year old, the family moved to Singapore for work. After three years of stay in Singapore, the family moved back to England, as his father rejected a job offer to work in Australia.
Peter grew up in Wembley, a locality with a lot of enthusiasm for football and Peter too was bitten by the football bug. With a thin and small frame, and low self-confidence, Peter refrained from playing for the most part, but due to his love for the game he became a ball boy. He performed the duties of a ball boy at Stamford Bridge and his parents felt he was very enthusiastic about it.
During his middle school days, he decided to play the game and joined his school’s team. He became a master of head goals and after making a name at the school level, he started exploring professional training. Peter joined the youth programme of ‘Tottenham Hotspur’ for some time and trained rigorously while waiting to sign a professional contract with them.
The big day came in 1998, when ‘Tottenham Hotspur’ offered him his first professional contract. The club had signed him, but he wasn’t included in their team right away; he was loaned away to smaller clubs so that he could gain some on-field experience. Without ever playing a match for ‘Tottenham’ he was transferred to ‘Queen Park Rangers,’ a first division club.
Peter made the best of the opportunity and performed very well in his first few matches for ‘Queen Park Rangers.’ During the 2000-01 season, Peter scored ten league goals ‘Queen Park Rangers.’ Due to financial troubles, ‘Queen Park Rangers’ loaned him to ‘Portsmouth’ for the 2001-02 season. He scored 18 goals in 37 games, and was dubbed as a highly competitive player by Graham Rix, the manager of the team.
In 2002, ‘Ashton Villa,’ made a successful attempt to acquire Peter, but following an average performance, he was loaned away to smaller teams, before Ashton finally decided to transfer him to ‘Southampton.’ During the 2004-05, he scored 16 goals in 33 appearances for ‘Southampton.’
‘Southampton’ club was eventually relegated from the ‘Premier League’ and Peter was sold to ‘Liverpool.’ He made his debut for ‘Liverpool’ in the 2005 season, but his start was very bad as he couldn’t score a single goal in the next few matches. In December, he scored his maiden goal against ‘Wigan Athletic’ and minutes later, he scored another. In an ‘FA Cup’ match against ‘Manchester United,’ Peter scored a goal to give ‘Liverpool’ their first victory over ‘Manchester United’ in more than 60 years.
Peter emerged as a star player for “Liverpool’ in their ‘FA Cup’ victory; they defeated ‘West Ham United’ in the finals. He further ensured victory for his team in the ‘FA Community Shield’ final in 2006. In July 2008, plagued with injuries and ignorance by the team management, Peter decided to move back to ‘Portsmouth.’ Peter scored 16 goals in 46 games in the 2008-09 season.
In July 2009, ‘Tottenham Hotspur’ acquired Peter from ‘Portsmouth’ on a five year contract. During the 2009-10 season for ‘Hotspur,’ Peter’s performance reached an all time high and he scored two hat-tricks for the team.
In August 2011, he was purchased by ‘Stoke City’ on a four year contract and at the beginning of the 2012-13 season, he scored five goals in the first seven matches. He ended the season with eight goals in total, while his team was placed at the 13th spot in the final tally.
For the first few months of the 2013-14 season, Peter was not picked-up in the playing eleven, but he made his comeback in October, and scored ten goals in 38 matches and became the top scorer for his team. In January 2015, his contract was extended for two more years.
In August 2016, he scored a hat-trick against ‘Stevenage’ and a new deal was signed to keep Peter with the team until 2018. In early 2017, he scored four goals in the first five matches and by the end of the 2016-17 season, Peter had a tally of 10 goals in 29 appearances.
Peter has been part of several British youth football teams. He represented England in the 1999 ‘FIFA World Youth Championship.’ He has also been a part of national Under-21 squad that reached the finals of the ‘European Under-21 Championship’ in 2002.
He made his debut for the national team in 2005 during English team’s tour of the United States. He was also a part of the national team for the 2006 and 2010 ‘FIFA World Cups’ along with ‘Capello Era’ and ‘UEFA Euro 2008.’
His fans and teammates have given several nicknames to him. He is often called ‘Crouchy’ and ‘RoboCrouch’ due to his style of celebration after scoring a goal.
Peter was in a long term relationship with model Abbey Clancey. The couple got engaged in July 2009 and got married in June 2011. They have three children together: two sons and a daughter.
Peter faced fine for over speeding in November 2011, and in October 2012, his driving license was suspended for six months.
Peter has penned a book titled ‘Walking Tall- My Story.’
