Peter Crouch and the surprise Portsmouth ‘legend’ whose team-talk gave former Liverpool and Spurs man ‘goosebumps’

And the former Fratton favourite has revealed the leftfield source of the motivational speech, which left him with ‘goosebumps’ in his Fratton playing days.

Crouch told how it was none other than Blues stalwart, Barry Harris, who delivered a rousing motivational monologue, which left him determined to impact the action minutes before it got underway.

The former Spurs and Liverpool man, of course, spent two spells at PO4, serving the club for a season after Graham Rix brought him from QPR in the summer of 2001. After his £5m exit for Aston Villa, the 6ft 7in man returned for a club record £11m in 2008 and went on to spend another successful season at the club under Harry Redknapp.

Speaking on his That Peter Crouch Podcast this week, the striker focusses on motivational tactics from managers and ways they got the best out of their team.

Crouch pinpointed the approach used by the likes of Rix and Redknapp in using Harris to underline what the club means to the people who follow Pompey. And the tactic certainly worked in motivating the players the current kit assistant addressed.

Crouch said: ‘I remember at Portsmouth, with Baz, who's a fellow at Portsmouth - shout out to Baz, who's a club legend by the way. He's been to every game. He's never missed a game basically and he's a bit of a club legend, he used to do the kit and stuff.

‘I remember him coming in and doing a team talk and he kind of, he cried, he was so emotional about it. Then everyone jumped in, put an arm around him and gave him a hug.

‘It just showed a little bit of, that's how much that means to him. He's in pieces and he's talking to you, but you're his heroes.

‘That's every single person out there and what you do is him. It reflects through him and it got to everyone.

‘It gives me goosebumps, because I love Baz and he’s one of the best people you’ll ever meet. That really fired you up - this matters to everyone.’

Harris confirmed how he was asked to give team-talks by previous Pompey managers with a standout moment, before Crouch arrived, speaking before the final-day Barnsley victory in 2001 which kept his club in the second tier.

The 80-year-old told how when being given the honour of addressing players his emotions would get the better of him, as he talked about Pompey and his home city.

Harris said: ‘When Graham Rix was here he used to ask me what I thought - Harry used to ask me for my opinion in front of the players, too.

‘I remember doing it once when we played Barnsley at the end of the (2001-02) season. That was an emotional day.

‘You don’t want to be too clever with players or get involved talking about tactics. So I would say what a great club they were representing and tell them it’s a working class city where not everyone has a lot of money - but they spend it on their football club.

‘I am an emotional person and hopefully the players could see what the football club means to people.’

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