11:00, 25 Dec 2025<\/p>\n
![\"Peter](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2_GettyImages-56326189.jpg\")
Peter Crouch played for his fair share of Premier League clubs but named Newcastle as one he would have loved to play for(Image: Ross Kinnaird\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Peter Crouch admitted he wished he signed for Newcastle<\/a> despite having agreed a deal to join bitter rivals Sunderland<\/a>.<\/p>\n The former Premier League striker played for a host of clubs in England’s top flight, enjoying stints at Portsmouth, Aston Villa<\/a>, Liverpool, Spurs<\/a> and Stoke City. However, a potential transfer to St James’ Park never came about, much to Crouch’s displeasure.<\/p>\n A move to the North East looked to be on the cards in 2009 when he had agreed terms to sign for the Black Cats. The ex-England star visited the training ground, met then-Sunderland boss Steve Bruce and even looked at houses in preparation of a move from Portsmouth.<\/p>\n It was during his journey home that Crouch, 44, received a call from former boss Harry Redknapp, who had plans to sign him for Tottenham Hotspur. The pair had previously teamed up at Portsmouth and Southampton and Redknapp got his way, with Crouch moving to north London for a fee of \u00a310million.<\/p>\n Years on from the transfer drama, Crouch asked to name one club he wished he played for and he offered a swift response<\/a> and unequivocal answer. “I reckon there’s something special about being Newcastle’s number nine,” Crouch said.<\/p>\n “Whenever I go up there, I feel like it’s a football city and when I think of the old centre forwards that have played well for Newcastle, you’re like the hero, aren’t you? If I had scored goals for Newcastle… Even the music before the game they play up at Newcastle.<\/p>\n “I’ve always enjoyed playing as an away player there. They understand football. They live and breathe it. If I had gone in just after that Alan Shearer phase, I would have been at a good age then, but these things don’t work out.<\/p>\n “It’s all hypothetical, but if I had to pick one club to play for, it would have been Newcastle.” The prestige of being Newcastle’s leading striker is one Shearer experienced for a decade and something he dreamed of experiencing while growing up supporting the club.<\/p>\n Speaking in 2019 at NBC\u2019s Premier League Mornings Live event, the former England striker said: “I grew up in Newcastle supporting and going to St James\u2019 Park.<\/p>\n “The No. 9 is an iconic number for the people of Newcastle United<\/a>. Jackie Milburn was my dad\u2019s hero, Malcolm McDonald, all these No. 9s that have had it, and I just felt that if I was going back there I\u2019d love to have that No. 9 shirt.<\/p>\n “That\u2019s the reason I asked Les, and he kindly said I could have it. It wasn\u2019t a deal-breaker, it wouldn\u2019t have mattered if he\u2019d said no, but he very kindly said yes. For me to wear the No. 9 shirt was a great honour.”<\/p>\n It’s quick and easy to join. Just click this link and select ‘Join Community’ to get started.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Plus you can follow our new Newcastle United channel<\/a> right here – just follow this link<\/a><\/p>\n Your informational will be hidden, you’ll only ever receive messages from the Chronicle Live sports team, and you can leave any time you like. For more information, click here<\/a>. You can read our Privacy Notice here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One member of the Premier League 100 club admitted he wished he’d represented Newcastle United Fasika Zelealem Senior…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[94,11492,79,8900,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-654384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-newcastle-united-fc","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-sunderland-afc","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115781160651411727","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Peter](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1_Peter-Crouch.jpg\")
Peter Crouch admitted he wished he signed for Newcastle(Image: GETTY)<\/p>\n![\"Premier](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2_GettyImages-2210120222.jpg\")
Alan Shearer donned Newcastle’s number nine shirt for 10 years(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Newcastle-United-FC-v-Liverpool-FC-Premier-League.jpg\")
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