PETER CROUCH

Don’t rule Spurs out of title race

BeNeATH the hype and the drama comes the emotion. You may think transfer deadline day is all glitz and glamour but the reality is different.

I had a feeling my time at Stoke was going to end but I only knew in the final 24 hours of the window that the longest chapter of my club career was going to close, presenting a fresh and unexpected challenge.

Moving on deadline day is something I had experienced before. In August 2011, I joined Stoke from Tottenham and one of my abiding memories of that day is Tony Pulis asking his canteen staff to make a curry for us as the clock ticked down while we waited for Daniel Levy to sign off his side of the deal.

So much changes at football clubs but it is the people in the canteen, the security guards, the cleaners and receptionists who you make friendships with — they are the ones who can help create the atmosphere. Stoke, I can assure you, have some brilliant people behind the scenes.

When your time comes to leave, it was tough to say goodbye to them. I knew when I arrived at Clayton Woods and saw Sam Vokes having his medical that was my signal to leave. Good luck to Sam and good luck to Stoke, I was proud to have represented such a great club.

I left with happy memories but I also left with a few pairs of my boots and some shin pads shoved in a black bin bag. I had to rifle through my locker and, bizarrely, I came across a jacket Robert Huth had given me to wear at a Christmas party one year. Safe to say it remained at the training ground.

Part of me was nervous as I made my way north to Burnley. It doesn’t matter how long you have been playing football, the moment you go somewhere new, you know all eyes will be watching to see if you are up to standard.

There was a scheduled stop in Manchester for the most thorough medical I have ever experienced and I soon discovered that the attention to detail they paid in those tests is indicative of the club as whole. The training ground, for instance, took my breath away. I have had some varied experiences with training grounds during my career.

I left Tottenham before they moved to Spurs Lodge. I trained at the Navy Base with Portsmouth, at the old British Gas site with QPR and missed the redevelopment of Aston Villa’s Bodymoor Heath.

But Barnfield, Burnley’s headquarters, is brand new. It’s fresh and vibrant and walking into an environment like that inspires you. Straight away, I knew I had made the right decision and the formalities of the transfer were concluded quickly.

Then it was time to make the announcement. I’m old enough to remember the days of just standing for a picture with a scarf above your head but when I walked into the media room, I saw a toy robot in the corner and immediately asked, ‘What is that?!’

Thank God the media team didn’t want to recreate Santi Cazorla’s unveiling at Villarreal by locking me in a smoke-filled tube, but the video they released was all good fun and I’m told it’s the most viewed video the club have ever produced. THe reaction to the move was not what I expected. There was a banner hanging from a railway bridge telling me to mind my head and then a butcher created a sausage in my honour. He made it Mexican, which was a surprise. I thought I looked more like a jumbo frankfurter! In all seriousness, it is humbling. When people from a town show you that support, you want to make a difference for them and I was delighted that I was able to help us get a point against Southampton (below). People will wonder why, when I’ve played more than 700 games, anxiety is still a factor but it all comes down to this — I love football so much that I want this ride to last for ever. Burnley have given me a chance to play in the greatest league of all again, they haven’t given me a holiday. When I left Stoke on deadline day, it didn’t matter that I just turned 38. I felt like I was 18 with everything to prove. I don’t want to be seen as a passenger. I want to show I can still do it.