Stoke City and Burnley saw very different versions of ex-England international: View
Peter Crouch is a cult-hero in English football, but his final two clubs in his long career definitely got two very different versions of the man
‘Two metre Peter’ – also known as Peter Crouch – is considered as a unique legend among a host of English clubs for his goal-scoring talents despite an ungainly appearance.
However, fans of the club he ended his long career with may wonder why they didn’t get the same player as every other club.
As Crouch entered the twilight of his career, he made a trip over the Staffordshire border to join Lancashire-based club Burnley from Stoke City, as part of a player-exchange deal with Sam Vokes.
However, while at the Clarets, the forward failed to find the net, and many Burnley fans were left perplexed, as they had not only gotten rid of a goalscorer in Vokes, but they had replaced him with a player who had only netted one goal during the season in which he made his move, and was clearly not the same player as many remember him to be.
Peter Crouch was a cult hero at Stoke City
Stoke City is the club that Crouch spent the longest time at in any one point of his career. He cost the side a club-record breaking fee of £10 million, with the possibility to rise to £12 million and joined after the start of the 2011/12 Premier League season.
In his debut season for the Potters, he appeared 40 times across four competitions, and apart from drawing a blank in two EFL Cup games, he netted 14 goals in all the others, which included two in Stoke’s short-lived experience of the UEFA Europa League.
He would also surpass 100 league goals personally in a January match against Blackburn Rovers, and it was this form saw him win the club’s Player of the Year award and also backing from then-manager Tony Pulis to make the England squad for Euro 2012.
Unfortunately for Crouch, this fantastic season would not be replicated across the remainder of his seven seasons at the Bet365, as he would never achieve as many appearances as the 40 previously mentioned, nor would he get near to his goalscoring tally of 14, with the closest being 10 in the 2014/15 season and 2016/17 season.
