Club v Country

[NE5]

Always thought Brian Reade was one of the best writers around,

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/columnists/reade/

 

 

Country v club? It's a no brainer for single minded Michael

Brian Reade 13/10/2007

Back in May, Michael Owen was likening my good self to the most famous part of Sharon Stone's anatomy after I wrote the following:

 

"You should talk the talk about England Michael, when you've walked the walk with Newcastle. As it stands all you've done in two seasons is limp the limp."

 

Which made him want to leave me with a permanent limp, apparently.

 

The reason I wrote it was that Owen had just played his first 90 minutes for his club in 18 months, and instead of describing how great it felt to be repaying the Newcastle faithful, he was talking about how he'd "jump at the chance to play for my country," because "it's a fantastic honour."

 

It wasn't the first time Michael had yelled over the head of his club, when recovering from injury, to let the media know of his desperation to play for England. And, as he closes in on Bobby Charlton's all-time scoring record, it won't be his last. Which is up to Michael Owen.

 

He is very much his own man, and the country will benefit from his singleminded determination to show he is the world-class player he undoubtedly is, whenever he wears an England shirt.

 

But he can't have it both ways as he tried to do this week. He can't attack those Geordies who feel that after playing a mere handful of games for them in over two years, mainly due to a serious injury suffered on England duty, he should think solely of them.

 

They are bound to be resentful every time he races back to the England camp despite their club holding reservations about his fitness.

 

They are obviously going to feel, especially knowing how much they pay him, that he should be putting half-a-dozen club games under his belt before thinking about international duty.

 

And if Owen wants to know why, he should listen to his team-mate Joey Barton, who remarked this week that it's great to win a cap for your country, but after that you should focus on winning trophies for your club.

 

That is how most fans in northern cities think. There is no question where their loyalty lies. And they hope their players feel the same. It's why local heroes like Jamie Carragher, Paul Scholes and Alan Shearer, who ultimately put club before country, are held in such esteem.

 

Owen, born in a small town outside Chester, has never got into the mindset of such fanatics.

 

He says that when he scored against Argentina in France '98, Liverpool fans declared him an England property.

 

But he's wrong. They had seen this wonderboy come through the ranks and were immensely proud of him. He was one of them all right, and they let every England fan know it. But they grew to sense that, unlike Robbie Fowler, Owen had too much love for England. That if push came to shove he would be in two minds. And to a real fan, divided loyalty is a cardinal sin.

 

When their player plays for his country they believe he is on loan to that nation who are lucky to have him.

 

In an England fan's mind the player is lucky to be wearing their shirt, and they have every right to humiliate him if they feel he hasn't performed.

 

That's why fans have struggled with Owen's desire to bust more than a gut for his country.

 

Especially Newcastle fans who knew from the day he signed that he was only there because he'd been backed into a corner.

 

They've never felt truly loved by Owen, and his full-blown affair with England has only served to convince them that they got him on the rebound when his heart lay elsewhere.

 

Owen might not agree, but the Geordies believe he owes them a big debt. And they believe the best way to repay it would be to chase the goalscoring record Jackie Milburn set for them, not the one his nephew Bobby set for England.

 

And I'm sorry Michael, but they have every right to believe that.

 

 

[NSG]

Spot on.

[johnnypd]

finishes with a nice flourish, but shearer holds the newcastle record now!

[The Bonk]

I don't really fucking care anymore, I'm over him and his relationship with the club.  Stay healthy and score fucking goals, the rest will sort itself out. 

 

 

[Guest toonlass]

That piece is totally spot on. I am sick to death with the Owen fitness and England thing. If he crocked himself for another 3 months tonight it wouldn't surprise me.

[pinkeye]

That is one of the first newspaper articles that actually gets it right.  Very refreshing to read a piece that casts some symapthy towards the feelings of the average Newcastle fan, or football fan generally!!

 

Wonder how many people watching the match tonight will realise that the Russia game represents a milestone.........................  Michael Owen will have played more matches for England in the last two years than he has for Newcastle!!

 

Hardly surprising to read on the BBC website this morning that Sam is holding back on any new contract offer for Owen until he has proved his ability to string a few games together for his CLUB, even if that means that we eventually lose him to another team.  To be honest, for me, he can go when ever he wants to.  He certainly won't be any different in his attitude if he played for Man Utd, Liverpool or bloody Middlesbrough, he would still put England first, because seemingly that is a great honour!!!

 

I would have said that playing for your club and having 50k fans cheering because they love you week in week out would be a far greater honour!

 

 

[madras]

i wonder if owen was ever the one to say "no,i'm not fit" when it came to NUFC. could it be more a difference between the medical staffs ?

 

i have no problem with him saying he'd jump at the chance to play for england if the question was "will you be fit for england ?"

 

he's always been bullish about playing for england,just as he's always bullish that he'll score goals wherever.he is also bullish about playing for NUFC but that is glossed over.

[Guest toonlass]

I was listening to something on Radio 5 and they had a physio on and he was saying a lot of time when sportsmen/women have an injury they will push themselves to be fit as quickly as possible and even though they may feel fine the damage hasn't healed properly. That is when other parts of their body get injured as they are compensating for the slight weakness of the original injury. If you look at Owen since his comeback from the injury at the World Cup he is getting niggles all the time and maybe that is the reason why.

 

The lad may just be having a spell of bad luck, but I would prefer to see him have an extra couple of weeks out to fully build himself up to fitness rather than rushing back for either England or us.

[Skirge]

Yet again the media are talking about this, Owen must be fkn sick to death of it all, Shearer was bang on with what he had to say about it all.

In any sport the highest accolade is to represent your Country and its what Owen wants to do, yes his injury record is shocking since he has been here and he seems to get fit when an England game is coming up but I am sure that is purely coincidence!

He cannot keep saying every week that he is dedicated to Newcastle blah blah blah, he has said it and he does not need to repeat himself over and over again.

The fact is he is a World Class player and its obvious and manager of the national football will want to pick him, if there was better options available then maybe he could be rested for longer but there is not and he is needed.

 

Everyone says how sick they are of hearing all about how much he wants to play for England but all he is doing is answering the questions put to him by trouble making, shit stirring journo's.

They love to see wor fans pissed off and they will have a dig any way they can, the more we react to it the more they will do it.

 

[Kitman]

I'm indifferent to England.  I can only support one team through years of constant disappointment.  Hopefully Owen will come back fit and the extra games will help his match sharpness.  Ideally Mclaren will sub him on 70 minutes again.

[pinkeye]

That sums my support to England up as well, indifferent!  I feel no passion, or at least nothing like the passion I feel when I watch Newcastle.  That feeling when the team first comes out onto the pitch has never changed for me since I was a kid standing in the "Corner".

 

I actually felt more for the England Rugby Union Team last weekend when they made it to the final of the world cup and I don't even understand the rules of that game............

 

 

[jack j]

brilliant piec of journalism

[Guest thenorthumbrian]

Agreed, very well written.

If I had a top ten of football Newcastle would be the top 9 and In-ger-land might scrape into the 10th spot if they were lucky.

Owen would probably be the exact opposite.

silly midget.