The former Liverpool and Spurs player added: “I totally understand the buzz, and when you’re in it every single day, it’s hard to get out of that.”

How to Be an Ex-Footballer - Penguin Books UK

Peter Crouch has been chatting to Ed Sheeran about standing out. “He’s very recognisable, I’m very recognisable. We both know how it can be a help and, let’s face it, a hindrance,” he says with a sigh. For the singer, it’s his ginger hair; for the former England striker, it’s his incredible height. You stroll up to a nite club as player league player and you’re straight in, no queuing, no paying, no hassle, people want to buy you drinks. They want to be your friend… then you finish and your invisible, no one cares. You go from 50’000 people singing your name every week to struggling to get a table in pizza express’ Speaking about how some former players move into management, and how he didn’t, Peter said: “There are times when I think I’m missing out. When I saw Scott Parker getting promoted, I feel like I’m never going to have that buzz. I’m never going to have that team around me and that chance to win a game or win a trophy again. That’s never going to be there for me. There’s something inside me that feels a bit hurt by that.”

Speaking about one ex-pro who changed paths, Peter recalled a trip to the cinema with his wife, Abbey Clancy. “We were watching the film The Theory of Everything. Amazing film, but I just wasn’t expecting a Chelsea centre-half to be in it! I was sitting with Abbey and it was a great film and then the doctor came in, and I said: ‘That’s Frank Leboeuf!’ And she said: ‘I don’t care.’ And I said, ‘No, seriously, that is definitely Frank Leboeuf!’ And she said, again, ‘I don’t care in the slightest.’ Otherwise, it’s a really interesting look into a number of other peoples post-football careers and pretty touching at times too. The host of That Peter Crouch Podcast concluded: “And people will always try and put you down, but as long as you’ve got that inner belief, and keep having that, and good people around you, you’ll always be okay. Talking about what we learn at school, the former Liverpool and Tottenham player said: “I don’t know why we’re not taught about mortgages or bank accounts, but we’re taught Pythagoras Theorem. I’ve never used that in my life, but I’d love to know these other things, life skills, if you know what I mean.”

How to Be an Ex-Footballer - Penguin Books UK How to Be an Ex-Footballer - Penguin Books UK

Crouch uses each of his chapters to discuss a different subject. Where in previous books this would have been topics such as teammates, managers or tactics and told from his own personal experiences; in comparison and as mentioned in the title, this book focuses on the period once the money stops, the crowds go silent and the boots are hung by their laces to answer the question “what does a retired footballer do?”. For the unprepared it can be daunting prospect hanging up your boots. It is sobering to learn that ‘around 40% of ex players go bankrupt in the first 5 years after quitting, a 3rd get divorced.’I'm not a big book reader, I'm just not. And I've skimmed through this already and thought 'I'm gonna really, really, really, really like this. Seriously, I'm really gonna like it -- Chris Moyles So walk with me into the dressing-room, to find out which players refuse to touch a football before a game, to discover why a load of millionaires never have any shower-gel, and to hear what Cristiano Ronaldo says when he looks at himself in the mirror.