Jermain Defoe has laid the blame for Tottenham’s 2009 Christmas party controversy squarely at the door of Peter Crouch, but only because of his height.
Then-Spurs boss Harry Redknapp had asked the squad in a team meeting to avoid having a traditional boozy night out at Christmas – only to learn that they’d already enjoyed the festivities. Robbie Keane, club captain at the time, reportedly chartered a private jet to wing the squad off to Dublin, leaving Redknapp furious.
“It will be dealt with, I promise you that,” an angry Redknapp said at the time. “I wouldn’t like to say what I’m going to do but it will be dealt with and then we will move on.”
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He told the media that his squad did not misbehave and that he had heard no negative reports, but “they didn’t ask for my permission so they have to take the consequences, which they will do.”
Speaking to The Players’ Tribune, former Spurs striker Jermaine Defoe opened up on the hilarious Christmas Party incident, blaming his ex-White Hart Lane strike partner Crouch.
Would you like to go on a night out with Peter Crouch? Let us know in the comments section below.
(Image: AFP)
“He doesn’t understand why players go out to be honest,” Defoe began, talking about Redknapp. “He always says to us, ‘right, you can go out but go out your…go out like have a meal, a glass of wine, or go out with your wives and your girlfriends. Have a glass of wine, stuff like that, but I don’t want players going out and getting smashed because you can’t do it in London because you’ll get caught.’
“It obviously came to Christmas, us being us, we [sic] sort of like ‘Okay, what can we do to try and get a Christmas do’ and I think we ended up going to – I think it was Dublin.
(Image: 2012 Getty Images)
“We probably would have been alright but obviously with Crouchy there, you can’t hide, can you so….We got caught, yeah. You know they’ve got the roof bit and he’s standing out like it’s like Crouchy man.
“What are you trying to do to us, we’re going to get in trouble, like we’re trying to hide and that, he’s had a few beers, getting excited and he’s…you’ve got his giraffe going down flipping Oxford Street in London.
“Doing the robot in the car and that. He’s funny.”
Tottenham’s Christmas shenanigans didn’t affect the team too much on the pitch as they pipped Manchester City to fourth spot to qualify for the Champions League.
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