Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp has highlighted the influence of former Blues coach Graham Rix in the career of new signing Peter Crouch.
Crouch first arrived at Fratton Park from QPR in 2001, signed by then Blues boss Rix.
He said: "Crouchie was a good young player when he came here the first time and Graham Rix deserves a lot of the credit for that.
"When I came here as director of football, Graham was pushing for Peter to come here. I backed Graham's judgement there and he came in and did a fantastic here.
"Then we got a £5m offer from Aston Villa for him and we couldn't afford to turn that down."