Press conference'A huge moment for our family' - Peter Crouch on return to Anfield
Peter Crouch explained why his return to Anfield with Liverpool FC Legends today will be a particularly special moment for his family.
The ex-striker, who scored 42 goals in 134 appearances for the Reds during a spell with the club from 2005 to 2008, will be part of the latest legends squad for a 3pm GMT kick-off against Chelsea FC Legends.
Presented by official partner AXA, in association with Forever Reds, the occasion is once again set to raise funds for LFC Foundation in support of its charity and community work at home and abroad.
For Crouch, the game will also be hugely meaningful on a personal level.
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Watch on YouTube“It’s unbelievably special,” he said at a press conference to preview the event. “It’s amazing how many ex-players end up supporting the club or want to be a part of the club. It’s something really special.
“With Forever Reds, you see the players all feel connected and that’s to do with the club obviously looking after the ex-players, but all the players I played with have a connection to Liverpool.
“I certainly do. I know I married a Scouser, which helps, but I definitely have a connection to the club and always will. My boys support Liverpool and I take them to games. They were kind of pushed into it a little bit but they absolutely love it, and I’m very pleased that they do because for me I can now be a part of it.
“It will be massive for me, for my little boy to see me – he missed out, he’s only five – so for him to see me pull on the red shirt again and play at Anfield will be a huge moment for our family.”
Crouch was speaking to the media alongside Matt Parish, chief executive of LFC Foundation, and former LFC Women forward Natasha Dowie.
Dowie – who is now a club ambassador – will make history this afternoon as the first female player to participate in an Anfield legends match.
“First and foremost, thank you to the Foundation for making this happen. It’s a big moment for the club, to be the first to involve a woman within the game,” she said.
“Hopefully it’ll inspire lots of young girls, and boys, that are at the game. It’s a different type of feel to the legends games, it’s more of a family feel, so I think it just perfectly matches it.
“For me it has been two years since I played a game but I’ve got a good record at Anfield, played there and scored at the Kop end. So, hopefully I can do the same again.”
In December, LFC Foundation’s plans and objectives for the next five years were announced, with the ultimate aim of supporting 500,000 people every season by 2030.
“We spent the last five years getting out there and doing more, and we probably went at everything, so what we want to try to do now is focus,” explained Parish.
“I think there’s a challenge and there’s lots of need. You see you can help and try to do loads of things OK. So we’re going to try to focus and do more where we can have most impact.
“We’re focusing on health, learning and employment because we think they are three areas where we can move the dial a little bit. Our five-year strategy is quite ambitious.
“We worked with just under 130,000 people last year, that was us delivering and funding others to do. I gave a proposal to our trustees that by 2030 we could be working with 300,000. And they said, ‘Lovely, make it half a million.’”
Crouch was also asked about the progress of the current Liverpool men’s team during the first season with Arne Slot as head coach.
Having suffered elimination from the Champions League and defeat in the Carabao Cup final before the pause for international fixtures, the Reds will return to action next month with a 12-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
He said: “I think it has been an unbelievably successful season, one week of football doesn’t determine… yeah, of course it has not been a great week.
“Paris Saint-Germain, I think over the course of the two legs even the staunchest Liverpool fan would say they probably deserved it. I was at the Carabao Cup final and it wasn’t the Liverpool we have seen this season.
“But if you go back to the start of the season and said you’d have a lead like this and be out of the other competitions, every Liverpool fan would have bitten your arm off. And that’s where they are now and I think we need to take stock of that.
“After Jürgen [Klopp] left, the fact that Arne Slot has come in and done what he has done has just been a revelation. Everyone just needs to be a bit calm about it and look at it in the positive way it should be.”
