Were you online at the time? I remember every United and every Everton fan on the old 606 streaming over all day long to post taunts about Crouch. Everton even had a campaign to try and get him set up as sportsman of the year. Liverpool fans by and large liked him from day 1. He wasn't scoring goals for a while but we could immediately see his value. Most rivals were non-stop bashing him though.
Always found him a bit of an enigma ... Intelligent footballer with good feet and a quick mind ... if lacking a bit in pace ... Could finish - but not as good in the air as he should have been with his height advantage - partly because he didn't always jump ... better defenders outjumped him and he would invariably end up having to foul to compete ... Easy to ridicule from an opposition fans perspective because he could look ungainly at times ... Underestimated in terms of his ability to link up play ... Great dancer
New winter balls that are to be used in the prem ... please log in to view this image ... much easier to see in a purple patch ....
This sums it up for me on the England side of things "Because we've got other players like Rooney and Kane" ... good save Nev
Didn't he go something daft like about 28 games in a Liverpool shirt without scoring? As I remember it that's what sparked the pisstake campaign