Hodgson sets out Crouch stance Stoke striker refused to be on stand-by for Euro 2012

Roy Hodgson says Peter Crouch refused to be on a stand-by list for Euro 2012 and will only hand the striker an England recall when he merits a place in his 23-man squad.

Crouch has scored 22 goals in 42 appearances for England, but was not included in Hodgson's original party for the summer's European Championship.
He declined to be on stand-by for the tournament and was subsequently overlooked for this month's World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine despite injuries to Wayne Rooney and Andy Carroll.
Hodgson insists there is nothing personal behind the 31-year-old's omission, revealing he tried to buy Crouch when he was manager of Fulham.
"I did try to sign him at Fulham and I selected him for the Euros as well," said the England coach.

"I'm not going to bring him in to fill up the bench. The day Crouch gets into an England squad is when I think he should be in the original 23."
Roy Hodgson Quotes of the week

"He was on a stand-by list but he made it clear that, unless he was in the squad, he didn't want to be considered.
"I'm not going to bring him in to fill up the bench.
"The day Crouch gets into an England squad is when I think he should be in the original 23."

Bent hope

Hodgson has adopted a policy of drafting young players into his squad when injury strikes, as he has done on this occasion with Raheem Sterling, Jake Livermore and Adam Lallana all called up as cover.
But while it seems unlikely Crouch has any kind of future at England level, Aston Villa striker Darren Bent should not give up hope just yet after also being ignored.
"Darren was injured for the best part of last season and the new one is only two or three games old," said Hodgson.
"He's a player we'll be following. I've not dismissed anybody."