Peter Crouch Opens Up On The 'Disgusting' Methods John Terry Used To Avoid Bookings From Referees
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Peter Crouch has revealed how former Chelsea captain John Terry would 'win over' referees throughout his career.
The former Liverpool, Spurs and Stoke forward, who scored 108 goals in 468 games in England's top flight, was speaking about officials on the Back Of The Net show on Amazon Prime when Terry's "disgusting" antics emerged.
Terry, a five-time Premier League winner, will go down as one of the all-time greats. In his trophy-laden career, he led Chelsea to four FA Cups, three League Cups and a Champions League.
The centre-back was as fearless as they come; a towering presence at the back. But saying that, he was sent off six times during his Premier League career.
Crouch suggests it could have easily been more had it not been for calling referees by their first name.
"What I saw creeping into the game, during my time, was when the captains would go in before the game and speak to the ref," Crouch said.
"To me, they would always be 'ref'. I have grown up with just 'ref'. Now it's like Mike and James. They are all called by their first names. It's all to get them onside.
"I remember Darren Fletcher was good at it. But John Terry was amazing at it. Just getting around the ref. 'Ah, Mike, you alright? How is the family?' All this.
"Unreal. I thought: 'This is disgusting.' He was crawling around the ref.
"And it meant [the ref] would think twice. If he clattered someone in the first minute, he'd get up and say: 'Sorry Mike.' He would then think twice about booking him. It's little things like that."
"John Terry was the first player to call a referee by his first-name"
- BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) April 24, 2019
Peter Crouch on how players can 'win over' the men in black.
*NEW EPISODE* ' @PeterCrouch ' @Chris_Stark ' @TomFordyce :point_down:
:calling::soccer: https://t.co/VLiVMfWPgH#passthepod pic.twitter.com/qTghPmjUCB
Terry, who has served as assistant head coach under Aston Villa boss Dean Smith, wants to become Chelsea manager one day.
Speaking to The Times, he said: "My ambition is very, very clear. There's an end goal for me and that's managing Chelsea Football Club.
"My team will be winning -- hopefully -- very honest, very organised, very well drilled, very well prepared and with a back four.
"I look at Lamps [Frank Lampard] and Stevie [Gerrard] and the success they've both had. Lamps in his first season at Chelsea, and what Stevies done up at Rangers is unbelievable.
"l probably wasn't ready to go into coaching then. I am now. But I'm not just going to jump into anything. I've turned down two jobs since I've been here [at Villa].
"Decent-sized clubs. But it's going to take something special for me to leave here.
"I've got one more year left at Villa. I'm in a privileged position because I'm in no rush. I want to be a No 1 but I'll get there at some point."
Topics: John Terry, Peter Crouch, Chelsea, Premier League
