When I started out nobody told you how to do an interview. That’s how I ended up on the front-page of a newspaper dressed as Rodney Trotter with a Reliant Robin.
That picture has haunted me for a long time. I was only 19, playing at QPR and it was taken just outside Loftus Road. Still, when it came to interviews I just tried to be myself. I always felt the more you were fed lines the worse you came off.
Young players have a lot more pitfalls than I did. They have more money and the pressure of social media. If you say something stupid on Twitter at 14-years-old and then play for England five years later, that stuff’s going to be dragged up. But you’re a different person.
I don’t envy the young lads. We were getting changed in portacabins and washing our own kit, but I still miss having a few beers on the bus home and going to the fish and chip shop. That’s gone right out the window, obviously.
Roy Keane gave me the evils when he saw me driving an Aston Martin. I was playing really well for Liverpool and England at the time, but that made me feel like a bit of a twat. I’ve always been surrounded by good people who rein me back in.
I came from a good family and a nice area, but I went to a rough state school. Being tall and looking the way I do, I was the target of some stick. But I’ve always been able to give a bit back and make people laugh. That helps.
It’s weird, I’ve only kept in touch with two or three players from all my clubs. People who I’d give a hug and a kiss.
Spending time in Sweden on loan was one of the best things I ever did. The football was a bit shit, mind. And my old manager said I spent more time in a pub called the Red Lion than anywhere else.
Why don’t more English players move abroad? Everyone wants to play in the Premier League, and the money’s incredible. I’ve had a few sniffs at foreign moves and I would have liked to, but I really can’t complain.
Peter Crouch was in conversation at Esquire Townhouse with Breitling. Check out the full event here.
