http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/michael-owen-interview-really-enjoyed-4729328
Michael Owen signed on the dotted line for Newcastle United with the genuine belief he was about to become a modern-day Entertainer on Tyneside.
Owen admits that had Liverpool matched Newcastle’s £16m bid to Real Madrid then he could easily have returned to Anfield and the club where he became a global icon.
However, it would have been easy for the legendary England striker to stay at Real Madrid and see out the last three years of his contract in La Liga.
After all, every day in Madrid he would look to one corner and see Roberto Carlos then to another and see Ronaldo, share a coffee with Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo or break bread with Iker Casillas, Raul or David Beckham.
Indeed, when Freddy Shepherd ploughed all of Newcastle’s funds into signing Owen – then 25 and seemingly with his best years in front of him – he was signing one of the best players on the planet.
It is a scenario that United fans have almost forgotten about.
But just eight years ago, more than 15,000 fans turned up at St James’ Park – just to see Owen sign for the Magpies.
If it was a statement of intent from Newcastle, for Owen it was the chance to play alongside one of his idols, Alan Shearer, and take over the responsibility of bringing goals to Newcastle.
To the outsider looking in, Owen’s interviews on his career appear to be unkind to Newcastle. Yet Owen wanted to put the record straight with the Chronicle and believes that whenever he has spoken in a good light about the club, the area and the fans, it has sometimes been omitted due to his association with Liverpool, Manchester United and Real Madrid.
Looking back on the day he arrived in similar fashion to Shearer’s own big move almost a decade earlier, Owen told the Chronicle in an extensive and candid interview: “It was a dream start. It has hurt me over the years since I left that every question that is asked to me is always a negative one about Newcastle.
“I am always trying to say positive things about Newcastle – because that’s what I thought about my time up there.
“A lot of negativity came out and the bandwagon rolled on.
“Whenever I say anything decent nobody wants to write it.
“So I mean it when I say it was an enjoyable time for me.
“From the first minute I arrived with the the amount of people that were there to greet me when I signed, it was fantastic. It was unbelievable.
“I got off to a great start in that sense.”
Owen’s home debut ended in a flat 1-1 draw with Fulham on September 10, 2005.
But a week later he and Shearer had lift-off at Ewood Park in a 3-0 win.
Much was made of Shearer’s first face-to-face meeting with Rovers star Craig Bellamy since a bitter series of SMS messages from the Welshman.
Yet by the end of the game it was a case of ‘Craig who?’ as Shearer and Owen got off to a flier. Owen, in a team with the likes of Shearer, Charles N’Zogbia, Shay Given and Emre, said: “After signing it was an absolute dream in many ways.
“Leading up to the turn of the year, one of the big pulls of going up (to Newcastle) was playing alongside Alan Shearer.
“There were plenty of good players in the team at the time.
“I signed when we were in the bottom three, but there were only three or four games gone.
“That didn’t worry me.
“I signed, and then in my second game away at Blackburn, me and Alan basically went on a great run and scored loads of goals together.
“We rocketed up the league and everything from my point of view was just as I had hoped in many ways.”
Indeed, Newcastle were in 10th spot when Owen grabbed a hat- trick in a 4-2 win over West Ham at Upton Park in December, but trouble was around the corner.
United went to Spurs on the last day of the year in 2005 and with World Cup year around the corner it was looking good for Owen. Yet the 2-0 loss wasn’t the worst thing to happen at White Hart Lane that day.
Owen reflected: “I was trying to nip in behind a defender and score a goal but Paul Robinson (Spurs keeper) landed on my foot.
“It put a crack in my fifth metatarsal.
“As soon as it happened I felt a real pop.
“I fractured a bone and knew it wasn’t going to be a quick injury (to overcome).”
Off the field Owen admits he was settled on Tyneside and said: “I was buying a house up there.
“Alan put myself and my wife and eldest child up at his house.
“I found a house of my own and it all got taken care of pretty quickly.
“It was great and I settled down really quickly.
“Everything was going perfectly for a good few months.
“We were in the top 10 at the turn of the year and then obviously at White Hart Lane came that fateful day.
“I always look back on it and think it was a major turning point of my career because it led on to so many other things.”
Still doesnt get it
The fans don't disagree it started well, when things were tough though, you were hiding
