Peter Crouch still gets emotional talking about 'the worst professional experience of his life'

Peter Crouch laid bare the “worst professional experience of his life” which came while he was at Liverpool.

Crouch’s post-career exploits have seen him become a much-adored public figure - he is the star of one of sport’s most popular podcasts, while his television work has endeared himself to an audience beyond the world of football.

However, life has not always been easy for the former England striker. In an interview promoting a new documentary, Crouch detailed what it felt like to be framed as a national laughing stock during a four-month run without a goal.

After completing a £7million move to Liverpool in 2005, Crouch went through an 18-match barren spell that saw him become the target of criticism from opposition fans and the media.

Indeed, after a missed penalty against Portsmouth in his 15th appearance for the Reds Crouch claimed he wanted the Anfield pitch to swallow him up.

Nevertheless, the striker stressed that he felt tremendous support from the Merseyside faithful when the rest of the world seemed to be laughing at him.

Peter Crouch’s worst professional experience

Speaking ahead of the release of ‘That Peter Crouch Film’, a new Amazon Prime documentary charting the ups and downs of the forward’s career, Crouch said via the Mirror: “It was the worst kind of professional experience of my life.

“I signed for Liverpool after watching 2005 Istanbul, one of the greatest finals you’ll ever see, signing for a club and thinking I just need to get off to a good start.

“And then obviously not, not scoring for as long as I did. I felt like I was being totally ridiculed outside the city of Liverpool.

“No other club would be able to cope with having signed a player just after winning the Champions League who hasn’t scored in the manner that he did.

“It was like I was one of them and all the other influences, all the other people laughing and taking the p*** … it was like a siege mentality that Liverpool have got and I felt special to be a part of that.

“Inside the city, I felt the love. Outside I was ridiculed, my mum and dad stopped buying newspapers, and I stopped watching TV. It was hard professionally but I got so much benefit and strength from coming through it.”

Crouch has become hugely popular in his post-playing career (Alamy)

Crouch added: “All due respect to the clubs I was at before - QPR, Southampton, Portsmouth, even Aston Villa - when you go to Liverpool just after they’ve won the Champions League the focus is on them anyway.

“It just went from people at the local paper and local fans to being global. In the UK it was back page of your newspapers, not just the local ones. Every game was its own thing and I was the new star striker. Jamie Carragher said they could have gone Shevchenko, Eto’o, players like this.

“All of a sudden they end up with me and I can’t score. It was hard and I don’t think anywhere outside of Liverpool would have tolerated that. But they did and I’m thankful for that every day.”

Topics: Football, Transfers, Peter Crouch, Liverpool

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.