One this day in 2005, one player made his debut for Liverpool and he would go on to entertain us more than a lot of other players ever could. His everyman approach, mixed with his under-rated talent endeared him to the Kop from almost his first kick, yet he it would take him a good few months to score his first competitive goal. This man, this near myth, this legend is the robot himself, Peter Crouch.
Signed from Southampton before it was cool to sign for Liverpool from Southampton, Crouch took a whopping four months to score his first goal for the club, doing so with an attempt that was, on first look at least, given as an own goal, yet later awarded to him because by this point everyone was feeling a bit sorry for him. He also scored his second goal for the club in the same game, ensuring that whatever happening with his first strike he made his mark for the club on that day. Wigan will go down as the team he finally broke his deadlock against, and also one of the few teams in world football that Crouch hasn’t played for.
Although his career with Liverpool ended with a season that consisted of less football than he would have liked, the player actually had a decent scoring record for the club. He scored 22 goals in 85 games and also racked up the second highest number of appearances for club he has played for, behind his current club Stoke City (which is hardly surprising considering his manager for most of that time was Tony ‘go long!’ Pulis) – a feat that he should be proud of, with the cliché of “being decent for a tall guy” not giving him enough praise for the technique and ability he had with the ball at his feet.
Crouch will always be remembered for his ‘perfect’ hattrick against Arsenal, a memorable game which saw us go home 4-1 winners and saw the big man take home the match-ball for the first time for the club. During the 2006/07 season he also played in the Champions League final, coming on for midfielder Javier Mascherano, but failing to inspire another comeback vs AC Milan once again.
Although he was only at the club for a short period of time, Liverpool is the only team the 6′ 7″ striker won silverware at. He provided an assist in the 2006 FA Cup final for Steven Gerrard and went on to lift the trophy, then later that season he scored in the 2-1 Community Shield final win against Chelsea.
A journeyman he was, but his time at Liverpool will always be remembered fondly, and there were plenty amongst the fan-base who didn’t want to see Crouch leave the club when he did, but it was true that a player with his quality would want more game-time that he was getting with Fernando Torres understandably an almost ever-present ahead of him.
Although it will probably be his robot goal celebration that Crouch will be fondly remembered for (it’s more of a laugh looking back on it now than it was at the time), we shouldn’t forget the song that was born from his height and took flight on the Kop, proving once and for all that if your name has the right amount of syllables, we will come up with a song for you.
You were big, you were Red, and your feet stuck out of bed, Peter Crouch, Peter Crouch.
Thanks for the memories, big man.
