Striker Peter Crouch reluctantly left Tottenham for Stoke five years ago after his accountant got a transfer deadline day text saying he was no longer in the first-team squad and would "sit out" two years, a judge has heard.

Crouch said his contract was being ended nearly two years early and asked to be recompensed - and Spurs agreed to pay, Judge Jonathan Richards was told.

Midfielder Wilson Palacios left Spurs for Stoke at around the same time and was also given a contract termination payment, the judge heard.

Judge Richards had been asked to analyse a dispute on whether income tax was due on payments made to players.

Detail has emerged in a written ruling on the case following a tax tribunal hearing in London.

Tax officials said payments should be classed as "earnings" and subject to income tax.

Spurs' bosses disagreed, saying payments were "compensation" for early termination of contracts not "earnings". The judge ruled in Spurs' favour.

Palacios was given £1.5million, the judge's ruling showed, but no figures for payments given to Crouch were revealed.