“I know I can play, but people who haven't seen me and look at me on a ...” — Peter Crouch Quote

I know I can play, but people who haven't seen me and look at me on a football pitch think, 'He's tall, and he's there to head the ball.'

Des Bulpin discovered me and, along with my dad, would be the biggest influence on my career. I remember him telling me when I was 15 that Jermain Defoe and I would play together for England when we were older, and he hasn't been too far wrong.

The death of Cyrille Regis, a giant in so many ways, was such a shock and deeply upsetting.

You should never get ahead of yourself car-wise; no Merc when you're still in the youth team, no Porsche unless you're a Premier League regular.

Because of how I looked, there was definitely a prejudice against me. People didn't think I could play. I could see why: I weighed about eight stone and was six foot bleeding seven.

I've always been really tall and lanky.

I'm not tall.

When you're seven feet tall on set, people give you respect.

I needed to understand the spirit of a tall building, what makes it important, what should I try to achieve in a tall building. It became a very interesting problem, something that I like very much.

He's too short, he's too... tall, he's... just not going to work.