Crouching striker's careening career comes full circle
It is the early 1980s and an extremely tall British boy is delighting his nursery school teachers in Singapore. Not only is the blonde-haired lad friendly and cute, he is also communicating with everyone in Putonghua.
'Zao an, laoshi (good morning teacher),' he says and everyone smiles. But it never crosses anyone's mind that this skinny son of a commercial copywriter would go on to become one of the most recognisable players in the English Premier League.
Peter Crouch spent three years - between the ages of one and four - in the island nation after his father Bruce took a posting with an advertising agency. The England and Tottenham striker does not have clear memories of his stay in Asia - but browsing through family photos helps prompt vague recollections.
'I don't remember too much of it, but Mum and Dad only speak fondly of the place and it looks lovely,' he says. 'My first words apparently were in Mandarin, believe it or not. But I didn't keep it up, which is a shame.'
We are speaking - in English - at Tottenham's training base at Chigwell in Essex on the edges of greater London. A recent tabloid scandal involving the beanpole forward has the Spurs' PR team on medium alert but when questions turn to his younger days, Crouch relaxes and is happy to share.
Turning 30 in January, the hard-working Crouch is in the prime of his career, leading the Tottenham line in the Premier League and in their first Uefa Champions League campaign. His hat-trick against Switzerland's Young Boys in August ensured qualification for the group stages and next week, in Matchday 3, he will take a trip to northern Italy to face the holders, Inter Milan - coached by his former Liverpool manager, Rafa Benitez.
Under Benitez, Crouch's six goals during the 2006-07 campaign helped take Liverpool to within reach of their second European Cup in three seasons. But against AC Milan in the Athens final, he could not prevent the Italians from winning 2-1 as he came on as a second-half substitute.
'Having worked with Rafa before, I know what he wants to get from his teams,' Crouch said. 'I'll give any experience I have to this side and hopefully it will help. It's going to be difficult, but I genuinely believe we have a good chance.'
The delicious irony of Crouch being one of Spurs' elder statesmen in Europe is not lost on the player who once wondered if his high-level professional career was over after a two-year stint as a Tottenham junior failed to see him in the first team.
He was loaned out to obscure clubs like Dulwich Hamlet from the Isthmian League and Swedish bottom-feeders IFK Hassleholm before being sold to Queens Park Rangers for just ?0,000 (HK$746,900) in the 2000-01 season, when they were relegated to England's third tier. After no fewer than seven moves - including crossing paths twice with Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth - Crouch found himself back where it all started in July last year. 'It feels slightly strange,' he admits. 'The club's moved on quite a bit since I was a kid in the youth team and used to clean David Ginola's boots.
'What player Ginola was - I saw first-hand how he carried himself around the dressing room and everywhere else. You learn from people like that. I had a great experience here as a youngster and it stood me in good stead coming back.'
Written-off, ridiculed and repeatedly underestimated because he did not look like a conventional centre forward, Crouch's persistence has paid off for both club and country. At international level, he has an enviable scoring record with 21 goals. Against Montenegro at Wembley on Tuesday night, as the tallest man (at 2.01 metres) to play for England, he earned his 41st cap.
'His story is inspirational because of how rarely it happens,' said Oliver Petersen, a former Spurs' trial player alongside Crouch who gave up on professional soccer to pursue a media career. 'Guys released in their late teens from EPL teams normally drift out of the game or into the lower leagues. Few come back like he did and go on to play for England more than 40 times.'
His manager Redknapp, whose faith in Crouch was repaid at three clubs, must get a lot of the credit.
'I've worked with him a few times and he's always got the best out of me as a player,' Crouch said. 'I think it's his belief in players - he makes you want to achieve things.'
After Tottenham paid a reported GBP10 million to bring Crouch back to White Hart Lane, he scored a crucial goal against Manchester City in a late season encounter that helped clinch fourth spot - and a Champions League berth - for Spurs.
With back-to-back Champions League matches against Inter plus some tricky Premier League fixtures starting with today's trip across London to face undefeated Fulham, Crouch realises that Spurs' ability to hang with the big boys may come under severe scrutiny over the next few weeks. But what no one will question anymore is whether this daddy longlegs of the Premier League deserves to be there or not.
