Tottenham and England striker Peter Crouch showed off a few tricks to children at a soccer school in Bushey this afternoon.

The 6ft 7in forward appeared at the Spurs football development course, at Bushey Metropolitan Police Club, to meet the 30 or so children.

After joining them for a skills session, the former Liverpool and Portsmouth striker posed for photos with the wide-eyed football enthusiasts.

Crouch said: “ It is great for the kids and I enjoy coming along to meet them as I was always at soccer schools like this when I was young. My hero when I was younger was Justin Channing of QPR, believe it or not. I have seen some good players here too.”

On the build-up to the Premier League he added: “Pre-season has gone well and I'm looking to starting the new season when hopefully we can do as well as we did last year.”

The week long soccer school was run by coaches from Tottenham Hotspur and another one begins on August 16 – telephone 02083655049 for information.