Chris Hughton has revealed the part he played in the towering career of Peter Crouch.

The Albion boss says a loan spell abroad for Crouch as a youngster for Spurs was a turning point in his rise.

Crouch is back in the Premier League at the age of 38 with tomorrow's Amex visitors Burnley after joining them on transfer deadline day last week from relegated Stoke.

The lanky ex-England striker had an immediate impact for Sean Dyche's side, coming off the bench to earn a late penalty converted by former Seagull Ashley Barnes in last Saturday's 1-1 home draw with fellow strugglers Southampton.

Crouch is expected to make his away debut at some stage for Burnley against Albion - and that will rekindle memories for Hughton of the role he had in shaping his future when on the coaching staff at Tottenham.

The Argus: Hughton (above) revealed to The Argus: "I probably have to speak personally, because I remember taking Peter when I was first team coach.

"I remember going to watch him play. We sent him on loan to Sweden with one other lad and that was almost the turnaround for him, because before that although he was always tall he wasn't so dominant in the air.

"I can remember watching him play and played a game, the team got a lot of crosses in, and that was almost a turnaround.

"He then went on to some good loan moves, Portsmouth and what have you.

"For that type of player to play the level he has played at and still doing at his age, you want him to play as long as possible."

Crouch has quickly been embraced by Burnley supporters. A local butcher has welcomed him with a sausage named in his honour - Crouchie's Red Hot Robot - a reference to his robot goal celebration when he was playing for England.

A warning sign declaring "mind your head lad!" was posted on a bridge near Turf Moor before the Southampton game.

Crouch's podcast series for BBC Radio Five Live has also been widely acclaimed.

Hughton said: "I think he is very good for our game, a brilliant ambassador. I know he has got this wonderful podcast, so I'm really pleased for him.

"He's a good lad, but you can't play to that age unless you are dedicated to what you do and you want them to play as long as possible.

"If I am looking at what they've (Burnley) got in (Chris) Wood and Ashley Barnes, they've got a lot of good ammuntion up front. It's just good to seeing him play as long as possible."

Albion have their own 'golden oldie' in Glenn Murray. The 35-year-old ended a lean streak by scoring twice in the 4-2 defeat at Fulham last month.

The Argus: He repeated the feat as a substitute in extra-time against West Brom at the Hawthorns on Wednesday night in the FA Cup (above), lifting his tally to four goals in three games and 12 in total for the season.

Hughton said: "He certainly made the right impact, but that's what you want when you are bringing substitutes on. You want them to affect the game, particularly at a stage when the game had opened up.

"We didn't create the number of chances we should have considering the balance of play. We conceded a poor goal, sometimes you need a bit of luck or quality that's going to change things.

"Glenn's very good at doing that."

Murray has scored 99 league goals across his two spells with Albion and 106 overall, which is 17 behind Tommy Cook's club record. Can he break it?

Hughton said: "As regards the distances he covers and high intensity runs, I cannot imagine it's too different now to any other stage in his career.

"He is one who looks after himself very well. I think he's been fortunate with injuries since he's been (back) with us, been fit right through that period.

"How long (he goes on) I don't know. The most important thing for us is he's doing it at this moment."