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Were Villa Wrong To Sell Crouch?

With ex Aston Villa striker Peter Crouch scoring a hattrick for England on Saturday, as well as missing a penalty:

Crouch Apologises for penalty: Click Here

and the fact that even the pundits seem split on the player:

Opinions split on Crouch: Click Here

I thought I'd run a poll asking if Villa were right to sell Peter Crouch to Southampton -especially when you bear in mind they later sold him on to Liverpool at a £5million profit and he now plays regularly for England!

Now obviously I'm an expert and could see the potential. WHAT? Oh ok, I didn't think he would ever make the grade but was amazed when we sold him for such a small amount of money, especially when we are always being told how small the squad is by the manager.

So, Peter Crouch, what do you think?

The options are 'he should have been kept and I said so'. 'In hindsight he should have been kept'. 'PC is an average striker'. 'Is a great striker'. 'Villa were right to sell him'. '£2m? What were you thinking DOL?'

One thing you could always guarantee is he would give 100% and he did always try. My vote goes for the in hindsight option, although I'm still not convinced he is a world class striker, so it either shows the lack of depth for England or he'll be a gem this world cup and convince me totally. The latter would be very nice thank you!

Certainly seems that Graham Taylor is having the last laugh after the criticism he got for signing Crouch from Portsmouth.




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Writer: J P Fear Mail feedback, articles or suggestions

Date:Monday June 5 2006

Time: 9:00AM

Your Comments

Crouch wouldn't be in the England squad if he had stayed at Villa. Sven is unsure where Birmingham is, ask Gareth Barry.
still skeggy
Hindsight is a great thing for producing experts, but yes, in hindsight he should have been kept. Then again there is always the question of would he have been as successful here as he was at Southampton? I firmly believe that playing for a big club like ours was a huge weight on a player so young. Moving to Southampton took a huge weight off his shoulders and allowed him to reproduce his form from his Portsmouth days. The way he handled the move to Liverpool is a credit to him, and also to Rafa Benitez.
GaztonVilla
It seemed fairly obvious to me that he had huge potential in his short stay. I was outraged when he was sold at a big loss, and have had zero faith in O'Leary's transfer dealings since. He wasted a fortune at Leeds and has wasted a small fortune at Villa Park.
wittonlanehillvet
It was the loss we sold him at that was difficult to take, I'd never imagined he would become an England striker though. Disagree about the weight on his shoulders Gazton, when he came back with Southampton he was warming up near where I sit, he came over to get his ball back and was asked if he was missing it at Villa. He said he was and asked if he could sit on our bench for the game! Given a run who knows what he might have been able to do? I was never very sure but you could guarantee he would always get involved and give 100%. To sell him for £2m AND NO SELL ON CLAUSE so we got nothing when he went to Liverpool, was just reckless by the board.
The Fear
Mind you, crouch does look at much better player when he's got a good strike partner. At southampton he had phillips and for England he's got Owen. Maybe if Villa had bought Phillips sooner things might've been so different.....
andrew144
With Englands present midfield any striker would look good
alphieblues
villa were right to sell crouch he wasent that good back then, u couldnt wait around for him to come good, its just one of those things
green giant 12
The Fear has it right again! Not have included a sell on clause in the deal for Crouch is typical of the lack of vision from our beloved chairman. The same applies to the Milner deal, where a fee should have been agreed for Villa to have the option to sign him at the end of the loan deal. Maybe we'll regret not including a sell on clause in the Vassell deal too?
DougInABox
Very good point alphieblues, and on the flipside, the way our midfield was set up last season, we'd make any striker look bad. :(
The Fear
At the time I thought that getting 2m for him was an outstanding piece of business from our point of view. Even in his early days at Southampton he wasnt pulling up any trees, and certainly wasnt looked upon as a first choice striker at St. Mary's. I suspect that his real level lays somewhere between the guy who left Villa Park with his tail between his legs, and his current standing as flavour of the month. All credit to him though. He's proved a lot of people wrong.
glensider
I think Peter Crouch is well overated but, only time will tell. If he has a good world cup and proves me wrong then I will eat my words..Although I definitely don't think he's worth his £7m price tag.
scottm_1989
 

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