VLADIMIR ROMANOV claimed a Lithuanian taxi driver could have done better at Hearts than Jim Duffy or Graham Rix.

But the two bosses can at least watch with pride as Peter Crouch carries England's World Cup hopes across Germany on his beanpole frame, knowing they put him on the fast-track to the big time.

The Portsmouth pair raised eyebrows when they shelled out a whopping £1.1million to QPR for the then 20-year-old in 2001.

Within nine months though they had turned an incredible £4m profit on the 6ft 7in star who'll be Sven Goran Eriksson's first choice front man with Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen both toiling.

Duffy said: "I was youth coach at Chelsea and Crouch was playing for Spurs against us. He's big and skinny now but was even skinnier then.

"He played against Robert Huth and a lad called Pat Baldwin who's at Colchester now and when the teams ran out I thought, 'They'll be lumping it up to that big guy'.

"But what stuck in my mind was his good touch. They played everything to his feet and he had good balance.

"Spurs sold him to QPR for £60,000 and one of our Chelsea kids Leon Knight - who has just scored a few goals to get Swansea into the play-offs this season - was there on loan.

"So I watched them a few times to see how he was doing and saw some more of Peter.

"But it was Graham who signed him for Portsmouth. He was convinced about him, while I had a wee doubt about his strength because at that time the Championship was physically tougher than the Premiership.

"But we had Robert Prosinecki and needed players to feed on the end of his play in midfield so we went for Crouch and Mark Burchill from Celtic.

"We thought the mix of Burchy's acceleration and Crouchy's touch and ability in the air would work well - and it did. In their first six or seven games together they both scored four or five until Burchy got a cruciate injury."

After working with him Duffy had little doubt the hitman would be big in more than just stature - despite the slaughtering he's taken from punters.

Jim said: "Crouchy's had the last laugh. He's ended the season as an FA Cup winner and is going to the World Cup as England's No.1 striker.

"It's amazing to think he was booed on as a sub against Poland last October, which was ridiculous.

"He's had to turn everyone around throughout his career though.

"He's always had people saying he should have been a basketball player but he smiles through it and never lets it get to him. Peter's a popular lad who loves a laugh with the lads but inside he's shown real strength of character.

"It didn't surprise me he went to Liverpool and again Rafa Benitez didn't sign him as a target man.

"He knew he had a good touch and was a continental-type player. Rafa has Cisse, Morientes and Fowler but the one who's always there is Crouch.

"At first he couldn't score to save himself - 21 games without a goal - but he came through the test."

Not that Crouch is the only face Duff will be looking out for in Germany - SIX stars who passed through his school of football will now grace the greatest show in the world.

He said: "Graham and I brought in Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi as a keeper at Portsmouth. He earned his 77th cap for Japan against Scotland last week.

"In retrospect England wasn't the right place for him. He was a terrific shotstopper but was only 5ft 10in and didn't come off his line too often.

"Maybe Spain or Italy would have suited him more but he was a lovely guy and tried hard to learn English.

"He wanted Japanese noodles as his pre-match meal but that wasn't a problem - Prosinecki had 40 Marlboro and two double espressos for his!

"I also worked with John Terry and Robert Huth at Chelsea and Kelvin Jack and Brent Sancho at Dundee.

"It's nice to see these guys playing at such a high level and they all deserve great credit.

"It's nice to have a played a small part in their development, to have helped them up a rung of the ladder.

"I don't know if there are too many Lithuanian taxi drivers who can say the same thing!"

Taken from the Sunday Mail