'I sold the Aston Martin the next day. A £25,000 hit on it... All because of Roy Keane'
By his own admission, Peter Crouch's move from Southampton to
Liverpool in the summer of 2005 had gone to his head, with the England international treating himself to a new car - an Aston Martin - after the deal was inked. All it took to bring him firmly back down to earth was a chance meeting with then-Manchester United captain Roy Keane at a set of traffic lights.
Writing in his autobiography,
How to Be a Footballer, Crouch recalls how he had been driving through the village of Hale Barns, close to Manchester, shortly after his switch to Anfield had been finalised. Music blaring, windows down, he then pulled up beside Keane and attempted to say hello.
Crouch pulled up beside Keane's car at a set of traffic lights
"I'm cruising around, trying to convince myself I look like Steve McQueen or Daniel Craig, ignoring the old Peter telling me I've become everything I swore I wouldn't, and I pull up at a set of traffic lights and there's Roy Keane," Crouch writes.
"Ah there's a man who understands my vibe. Fantastic footballer, winner of multiple league titles and FA Cups and League Cups and the Champions League, captain and heartbeat of Manchester United through the most successful period in their history.
"I give him a nod. I give him a wink. I may even point my index finger at him and make a clicking sound at the same time.
"All of it saying, you and me, eh, Roy? Same game, same level. In it together. Rivals yet friends who just haven't met before. Alright, Roy?"
'Keane looked at me like I'm something which has just curled out of the backside of his dog'
Unsurprisingly, Keane was not impressed, making his feelings known without having to utter a single word.
"He looks back at me," Crouch continues. "Even through my shades, I cannot mistake the disgust on his face. It's like he's looking at something which has just curled out of the backside of his dog Triggs.
"He shakes his head and stares back at the road ahead. I'm frozen in my pose, grin slipping off my face, and when the lights change and he drives off without a backward glance I'm left there with the handbrake on and an awful realisation: oh my God, I've become one of those twats."
Crouch sold the car the next day.
The brief exchange was enough to convince Crouch that his new car was not for him.
"I sold the Aston Martin the next day," he adds. "A £25,000 hit on it, and I considered myself lucky. All because of Roy Keane - Roy, as my absent conscience, Roy as a modern-day footballer's spiritual guide."
Crouch remained at Anfield for three years before moving back to the south coast with Portsmouth.
Keane, meanwhile, was in his final weeks with Manchester United at the time. Weeks after facing Crouch at Anfield in September 2005, his contract at Old Trafford was terminated after he delivered a scathing attack on his teammates, deemed not-fit-for broadcast by the club's in-house TV channel, MUTV. He joined Celtic soon after.
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