Crouch calls time on colourful career

First he retired 'The Robot'...and now Peter Crouch has announced his own retirement from football at the age of 38. 

Crouch joined Premier League Burnley from Stoke City in January and made six Premier League appearances off the bench for the Clarets last season. 

However, he has now decided to bring the curtain down on an eventful career spanning over 20 years. 

If you told me at 17 I’d play in World Cups , get to a champions league final , win the Fa cup and get 100 @premierleague goals I would have avoided you at all costs.
It’s been an absolute dream come true 🤖

— Peter Crouch (@petercrouch) July 12, 2019

After starting out at Tottenham, where he went on loans to non-league Dulwich Hamlet and IFK Hassleholm in Sweden, the 6ft 7" forward carved out a fabulous career that saw him enjoy spells at QPR, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Portsmouth and a further stint at Spurs, among others. 

Crouch scored 108 Premier League goals, one of an elite band of 28 players to net 100+ top flight goals (here's a quiz!) from 1992/93. He also won 42 England caps netting more than a goal every two games for the Three Lions - 22 goals in total - and memorably celebrated his strike against Jamaica with his trademark 'Robot'. 

Writing in the Daily Mail, Crouch spoke about reaching the end of an "incredible journey". 

"I have had 23 years to prepare for this moment but, now it is here, you realise nothing can prepare you at all. The time has come to refer to myself as a 'former footballer'; this incredible journey I have been on since I was 16 is over," Crouch wrote.

"My ambition was to play until I was 40, so it is scary saying the word 'retirement'. It has left me emotional and it feels weird not to be preparing for a new campaign but circumstances over the last couple of seasons have made me realise that this is the right thing to do."

https://t.co/JNgjCAANQd

— Peter Crouch (@petercrouch) July 12, 2019