Peter Crouch Opens Up About His Dark Times & Crying Himself To Sleep

I seen things that I'd never seen before. You know, the proudest moment of my life has been taken away. Because of that. people that know me would say I'm a nice guy, but on the pitch I had to be a different person if I wanted to succeed. The top level players that I've played with, Lampard, John Terry, Steven Gerrard, I think look like they don't enjoy it. Constantly battling for the next thing. Were they intense? Yeah.

Um yeah, a big reason why I'm a person I am. I played for England in the era where it felt like there was a huge pressure. You know, we had an opportunity to win World Cups and because we didn't it was heaped on players. I've got my mum, my dad, friends in the crowd. And then you come on and get booted by 70,000. It's it's hard to come back from that. My mum was quiet, my dad had to have a fight, I was thinking about giving up football. I think I wasn't seen as what an England striker should look like. I was so scared. I was just wanted to hide away. In that phase you were turning to drink more than you should have been. But I needed to at that time. You're not seen as people. It's like you're well paid, so you have to endure this abuse. You know, you put yourself in a position to be shot at, but like what I've seen with certainly Harry McGuire, the criticism goes beyond criticism. It's gone too far.

I'm so proud to represent my country, but So Where do I need to start? in your story to really understand

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