PETER CROUCH was laughed at by fans when he first started playing because of how he looked.
The England and Premier League legend went on to have a successful career at club and international level.
GettyPeter Crouch was laughed at by fans at the start of his career[/caption]
However, he was abused by supporters when making his senior debut as a 19-year-old.
Signed by QPR for £60,000 in 2000, Crouch was largely unknown when he lined up as a tall and skinny teenager.
He has now recalled the reception he had from the crowd in his new Amazon Prime Video documentary That Peter Crouch Film.
Crouch explained: “Getting in the first team was one thing.
“Experiencing the level of abuse was something that was new to me and another eye-opener. It was my first season in professional football and we went away to West Brom.
“I came on and I could hear the crowd laughing at me, I could feel it, purely because of the way I looked like, none of them had ever seen me play.”
The former striker was later abused by home supporters during a trip to face Gillingham.
He added: “There was another time away at Gillingham where I got absolutely abused, I think everyone in the crowd was singing songs about me.
BETTING SPECIAL – BEST NO DEPOSIT CASINO OFFERS
“‘Freak’, ‘does the circus know you’re here?’, it was like I was a joke.”
Crouch went on to score 12 goals in 47 appearances for QPR to earn a £2million move to Portsmouth a year later.
Across his career, he would score 106 goals in 467 Premier League appearances, featuring for the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham.
The 42-year-old also won 42 England caps, scoring 22 times for his country and playing at two World Cups.