We hated him too. He was finished by the time he played with us. He so wanted to be accepted by us that he exaggerated his celebrations when he played against United (whereas most ex players scoring against their former club would be very subdued).
So was Carragher. There's some big BS story he made up about how his fellow Everton supporting mates took the piss out of him when he joined Liverpool, so he immediately decided to switch club and support Liverpool with all his heart and soul from that day on. I believe it happened around 1990 when, purely by coincidence, Liverpool briefly had the ascendancy in English football again...
Couldn't give two ****s. We didn't want him, he was over the hill and with unrealistic wage demands for his level. Back then, before Chelsea and City got rich, Liverpool were the only club willing to pay over the odds for players like that so the move made sense. Same with Owen to Utd - if they're the only club willing to offer you a decent deal then you take it. Why shoot yourself in the foot for a club which isn't interested in signing you, and actively got rid of you the first time around. It's not like a Torres or RVP situation where he deliberately ditched us for a rival club.
Yeah I was just wondering, I knew he was with you a long time but didn't know what his relationship with the fans was. It seems there wasn't one.
Tbh I think it's more about the fan than the club. I can't say I have any sort of animosity towards Liverpool - I never really want them to win anything, but it doesn't really bother me at all if they do unless it affects us in some way. Chelsea as a club do have that sort of drooling lunatic fan more obsessed with whoever they've chosen as rivals than their own team (Ossie, StanDiMan and FFP boy spring to mind). That sort of person will always hang on to any rivalry they can, or invent a rivalry where one doesn't exist just to stir up the kind of animosity that keeps them going.
Actually there was a pretty good relationship - he was a good player for us who did a job in midfield and showed plenty of passion on the pitch. Many fans were properly pissed off when we just up and sold him with no real replacement coming in. But once he moved on that was it - no point looking back. And by the time he came back we had Scholes and Keane in CM and Ince was definitely on the slide, so we weren't really interested. If he was still a top player and we needed a CM then maybe there would have been some annoyance. But ultimately I think you'd have to be pretty churlish to say "We don't need you and don't think you are good enough to play for us, but we demand the right to tell you where you can and cannot play".
I've got no issue with Ince, I actually quite like him. He was part of the initial United renaissance and a great player in that period. It's not like he joined Liverpool directly and, as has already been said, by the time he came back he was on the wane and did nothing with them anyway. I'm baffled by this tendency to 'hate' ex players because they have the temerity to get a job somewhere else. It's their livelihood. Unless they don't do a Tevez of course and slag off the hand that once fed it.
We can't dictate where they play of course but I'll never be happy with Owen playing for Utd and refuse to now forget he did. He was thinking of himself and not the club that brought him through the ranks, he calls himself a Liverpool fan? Show me a genuine Liverpool fan who would play for Utd...actually you can't because they don't exist.
As I said earlier, leeds, historically were rivals of ours back from the 70's, but the fact that the club had a deltmown and have spent the last decade in the lower leagues have cooled that rivalry somewhat. QPR tried to stoke up a rivalry with us, and like wise some of our fans (one in particular) took to antagonising them in return, but to be honest, they are of such little relevance to us, being a yo yo team who we most likely wont play in the league again for another decade. Closest thing to rivals we have is probably Arsenal and Spurs, who, thankfully, are much more interested in each other than they are us.
Perhaps, but then were Liverpool thinking of Owen, the lad who chose to join them for free ahead of Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal, scored over a hundred goals for the club, helped you win several trophies and qualify for the 04/05 CL before being packed off to Real as soon as he didn't fit in the new manager's plans? He could've forced a move to Chelsea, Arsenal, Utd or any club in Europe in his time at Liverpool, and probably won a heck of a lot more as a result. But he stayed with the club until he was told he wasn't needed. I've always felt it's a bit hypocritical for fans to insist on 100% loyalty from the player to the club, no matter how badly the club under-performs relative to the quality of the player, then to turn around and insist there should be no loyalty the other way as soon as the player is deemed surplus to requirements. If I was a Utd player for eight years and that happened to me then I'd probably reconsider the strength of my support for the club. EDIT: Although I do agree it's a bizarre decision for Liverpool to appoint Owen as an ambassador. Particularly when there's so many former Liverpool players in the media constantly talking them up already. Can only assume Owen has been chosen due to his high profile rather than his actual connection with the club - more FSG 'business sense'?
And yet some Leeds fans still insist they have a major rivalry with us, despite most of our fans not even knowing what division they are currently languishing in (I'm gonna guess Championship?). Because they've just got to have some big acrimonious rivalry they can hang their hat on in order to feel important.
That's not what is expected at all, players move on that's life but if you're as he says a Liverpool fan you know that playing for Utd is not an option, he knew what he was doing and was thinking of himself as that's what Michael Owen does. ‘Sir Alex phoned me on Wednesday afternoon, invited me to have breakfast with him next morning during which he told me that he wanted to sign me,’ Owen revealed. ‘I agreed without a moment’s thought. This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I intend to seize it with both hands. I am now looking forward to being a Manchester United player. ‘If you can’t beat them, join them,’ Owen said, smiling. ‘I won a lot of trophies with Liverpool but to win the Premier League is the pinnacle of anyone’s career. I’m very proud today.’
But at the same time: "I left Newcastle and the first thing I did was phone Carra [Jamie Carragher] to ask him to speak to the manager. "However, at that time Liverpool wasn't an option, they didn't want me. I tried my best to get back, but had to have a look out as to who wanted me and who was the best team to sign for." "The three teams that were seriously in for me were Hull City, Everton and Manchester United. I could have gone to Hull I suppose, but in my mind I had to play at the best level possible. Liverpool didn't want me, so I signed for Manchester United." Ultimately, if it's a choice between Utd, Hull and Everton, particularly for a player in the twilight of his career, then I think any but the most die hard Liverpool fan would choose Utd. Particularly after he'd been ditched by Liverpool in 2004 and rejected again in 2009 - how badly do you expect him to screw his own career and sacrifice his last meaningful chance of decent earnings and success for the club which obviously has no interest in him. I think that hits to the heart of it. Most LFC fans wouldn't have given more than two ****s about Owen joining Utd if he hadn't won the league title. And fair to say most Utd fans would have been more angry about Ince joining Liverpool if he had actually won anything with then.
I can agree. I can fully understand situations like Spurs hating on Sol Campbell, because he let his contract run down and went to their fiercest rivals for free. Or Arsenal fans hating Ashley Cole, for speaking to Jose behind their back and engineering a move on the sly. But most these hatreds just baffle me
That's not what he was pissed off about. He negotiated a deal with Arsenal, despite a much higher offer from Chelsea. They offered him £60k pw to stay and he turned down £100k pw and agreed to sign. That's why he goes off on one when he's then told £55k pw is their final offer. He should've been a lot more image conscious and realised that the book was only going to make things worse, but he's an idiot. I think that most people would probably get a bit pissed off in that situation though, if you ignore the actual figures. Your job offers you 60% of what a rival firm does and you agree to it. They then cut nearly 10% of your wages off and tell you to like it or lump it. How many people would stay after that?
Yeah I can imagine. I dont blame ANYONE for leaving to seek higher wages, what normal person wouldn't do that? Pisses me off when fans moan about club loyalty! This is their job ffs. What is unforgivable though, and understandably in the eyes of Arse fans, is that instead of handing in a transfer request, he went behind Arsenals back and had a sly meeting with Jose and his agent, thats ****s not on. Still, we got years of awesome service from him, as the best LB in the world at the time. So can't complain too much
Relatively speaking to a footballer it is To us it seems like a fortune. Like I said, he should have handed in a transfer request and done it the right way though, instead of being snide.
