Witnessing Owen first hand, many of you already knew that he was at the club only for the money. Someone who seemed more concerned with his horses than your position in the league table. Him confirming all this in his new memoirs should just strengthen your resolve. You were right, and he wasted a big opportunity to cement himself in toon legend. Don't let his comments upset you, let his comments safeguard his legacy as someone who spent half his career wanting to be rich rather than a footballer.
I think realistically even if he truly wanted to play for the Toon and put everything into it he would have max gained ten, maybe less, appearances for the club. He was absolutely finished after that England injury. Complete waste of money. Delusional to think he was Liverpool standard.
On the flip side we did have Antoine Sibierski and Peter Løvenkrands that cost next to nothing, not on silly wages either, but gave their all for the club. They were respected by the fans and appreciated accordingly for it.
According to Wiki, 26 Goals in 71 games for Newcastle. about 1 in 3 games. Not bad really, when he actually played. How much would you need to pay for a Premier League striker nowadays who could guarantee that return?
Off another forum but I'm sure, allegedly accurate... ‘My name is Michael Owen. I’m an Everton fan and achieved my dream when I signed for the greatest club in the World – Liverpool. I loved it at Liverpool but then found out if I ran down my contract they’d have to sell me on the cheap (£8m), so I’d get loads more wages because of what the biggest club in the World – Real Madrid – had saved on the transfer fee. I didn’t realise Real Madrid was quite so Spanish, so I wanted to come home. I told Liverpool I would do them a favour and come back but bizarrely they weren’t willing to pay twice as much as they sold me for 12 months later. I did Newcastle a big favour then by signing for them, they insisted I had to be paid £120,000 a week. Happy to say I hated everything about the place and the people but no way I was going to leave and miss out on £20m in wages. It cost them Geordies around £40m altogether but I did start 58 Premier League games in four years, when I took the odd bit of time off from my horses and flying around in my helicopter. I didn’t like it when that Shearer bloke came in though, he kept going on about me playing some games and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I bet he feels embarrassed now about the way he went on, at the time he just couldn’t get it into his thick Geordie head that there was no way I could risk playing, not when there was any chance of getting injured and signing for the biggest club in the World, Manchester United, especially when as a free agent I could get cracking wages. Anyway, it all turned out great, I got a move to the club I have always loved and even better they only made me start six Premier League matches in my three years, meaning I could sit on the bench and check out the horseracing results. I did hear something about Newcastle might have got relegated but not really sure about that, after that last kickabout at Villa Park I just got in my car. I loved my time not playing at Old Trafford and then I got a similar offer at somewhere called Stoke. It was even better playing for this greatest club in the World, they didn’t even expect me to get off the bench very often, no Premier league starts and only 93 minutes on the pitch, what a perfect result. I was the greatest England player ever but my last game came when I was 27, they must have lost my phone number. People say everybody hates me and I have no friends, that the fans of every club I played for hate me. That is a massive lie, I did have a friend once, when I was seven, for a day. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed earning money for nothing. The End.’
If by career you mean a job that earns you a living, and affords you the opportunity to live in luxury and have the kind of lifestyle that most people would die for then I totally agree....he's made for life I would say. From a footballing perspective though I wouldn't say he's had a glittering career, sorry he won the league with Man Utd in 2011 having played 11 times for them (most from the bench). He's played virtually half the games that Shearer, Giggs, Gerard played over a similar career period, granted his goals to game ratio is pretty decent. He's just coming off as a massive ****ing **** now, the vast majority of our fans hated the little ****ing cretin to start with, he's just proving us all to be right, oh apart from you of course who will argue until you're blue in the face that black is white and vice versa.
Yeah he only played for liverpool real madrid and man united and dod well in world cups ... terrible An easy feet for a footballer obvs... im sure hed have been happier with a job on the tills in tescos
Paul Konchesky, Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing recently played for Liverpool, doesn't make them superstars. And Masimo Taibi, Djemba Djemba and David Bellion played for Man United, and it didn't prevent them from being ****. Did well in world cups? Like the 2006 one when he didn't score in 2 games then got crocked after 51 seconds in the third game? Or all the ones after that he never went to, cos he'd become a has been by the time he was 26? Liverpool hate him, we hate him, and Real, Man U and Stoke don't even remember him. Hardly a glorious legacy.
Yeah his 'legacy' is not exactly stellar. He just peaked at 17-21 is all. Take his first spell at Liverpool out of it and he achieved very little. Real Madrid couldn't wait to offload, a disaster at us, Stoke and Man U - meh just a bit part. England - his record looks good. Again a tale of two halfs. By the time he left Liverpool for Real his legs were already gone. To be fair to Owen when he clarified his comments today, he quite clearly stated he'd become an average player by the time he got to the last 7 years of his career. Obviously Newcastle fans take the easy route and blame him for everything. The reality is he should never have been signed and the blame for the whole debacle lies firmly at Freddie Shepherds door. Owen has a massive ego, as does Shearer, so when books start to come out and a few truths get into the public domain which people would prefer weren't, then of course its going to blow up into childs play with fans taking sides.
Fair few facts in there to be fair like. You can't argue with facts, or stats. As you well know though, 23% of stats are completely made up. Dunno why he cant just retire from the game gracefully. do his media stuff and keep his ****ing gob shut. He's made a cracking living and lifestyle out of playing football...neebody gives a **** about who he likes and dislikes. Never in the papers for all the wrong reasons, no scandals or sex/drink/drug stories (that I can remember at least), quite why he feels the need to start having a pop at people now is beyond me....apart from wanting to peddle his book of course. He's a grade a ****ing snowflake and wouldn't say half the **** he's spouting about in his books to peoples faces. As for Liverpool hating him, probably a bit harsh although there will be sections of their fanbase who probably do. They didn't want him back though when he left Real Madrids so he'll probably start having a pop at them next, although he's already started with Stevie G. Wonder who'll be next?
so those players are comparible ?? the only facts are that he was good enough to play for the best clubs in the world and did better than most England strikers in major competitions to compare his career with the players listed is ridiculous look at his goal scoring records ffs
His goal scoring was ****e appart from his Liverpool career, and his career from 24 onwards was a massive disappointment after what his early promise had suggested. You can't really argue that his career didn't fall off the cliff post Liverpool.