Another one bites the dust

It would be fair to say that, when the news came through as we headed off to that daft qualifier at TNS three summers ago that the 6 foot 7 hitman had put pen to paper, most Kopites were not exactly doing cartwheels.

Rightly or wrongly, there was a feeling that having won the biggest prize in the game our sights should be being set a little higher (no pun intended).

What quickly became apparent however, particularly during his first tortuous 18 games without a goal, was that there was more to the Macclesfield-born forward than meets the eye.

With the critical murmurs of the Anfield crowd, along with the media spotlight and the inane abuse from the 'freak' spotters in grounds up and down the country (the phrase 'takes one to know one' springs to mind) cranking up the pressure on the then 24-year-old, he never allowed his head to drop.

Only the hardest of hearts could not have felt for him when he bravely stepped up to take a penalty against Portsmouth as his goalless stretch extended into November only to see it palmed out for Bolo Zenden to score and, when the duck was finally, fortuitously broken a few weeks later against Wigan Athletic, his length of the field celebration from the Anfield Road end to the Kop with Jamie Carragher hanging off him illustrated how much it meant to everyone involved.

Football being football, what happened next was entirely predictable.

Another goal, this time brilliantly taken within four minutes, and within two months, treasured strikes against Everton at Goodison and Manchester United at Anfield, the latter bringing the club's first FA Cup win over their East Lancs rivals in 85 years.

A couple of costly early misses in the Champions League exit to Benfica aside, FA Cup glory against West Ham in Cardiff, a modern-era club record of 82 league points and a season's tally of 13 goals crowned a respectable opening season, with 18 in all competitions the following campaign painting a picture of a player learning the ropes and adapting his game to playing at the highest level.

And yet by this point it was already becoming clear that the unreserved faith and support shown in the player by Rafa Benitez was starting to dwindle, as shown by the paltry 12 minutes he got from the bench in the Athens defeat to AC Milan.

A tally of 11 goals in 2007/08 has to be placed into the context of the paltry 21 starts in all competitions

What changed then to cause this fall from grace in the manager's affections?

Was it the change of tactical tack that saw first Dirk Kuyt and then Fernando Torres being played as a lone striker, a role that never really seemed to bring out the best in Crouch?

Was it the more gregarious public profile that seemed to be adopted on the back of his robot-dancing, and occasional goal-scoring, exploits with England alongside his liason with Scouse model Abi Clancy?

Or was it simply that the weaknesses in his game - fundamentally, his inability to make his natural advantage really count in the air - showed no sign of really improving and having him there as the aerial 'option' merely encouraged his team-mates to simply lump it long Duncan Ferguson-style as soon as they crossed the halfway line?

Whatever it was, it has been clear for some time that Crouch no longer figures in the manager's long-term plans and it is to the player's credit that he has managed to keep the frustration he must have been feeling at his lack of involvement last season largely under wraps and that he hasn't exploited the new change in player contract law that could have allowed him to buy out his contract and walk away for free.

Whether he was ever quite good enough for what we've been trying to do since Istanbul is open to debate but he gave all that he had during the majority of his spell and, in this day and age (NB Turkish Cup Final is in May if you were wondering, Harry), that has to count for something.

Some of his hold-up and touch play was sublime at times and the acrobatic volleys against Galatasaray and Bolton, along with the stellar strikes against the auld enemies, will live long in the mind's eye.

Thanks for the memories big fella.