Michael Owen gets injured; rejoice!

[Guest sittingontheball]

Though it is regrettable, I think the current situation was pretty much unavoidable. The only time we could have sorted this out easily in the past was when he was still injured, which would have meant a massive gamble on how much he would recover. Having recovered and proved he would and could play in a different role so late in the day, I really don't think he would have signed anything this past summer for a club like Newcastle. Even before Keegan went, there must have been friction behind the scenes.  Look at Keegans comments at the end of the season.  With a year to go, I think Owen had too many aces. His agent will already have a pretty good idea of who's interested in him, though there may be a few less now the credit crunch has arrived in force.  That said, as HTT suggested, I wouldn't be surprised if a top four club is interested. He's still good enough for them.

 

If the club had more nous and gave the impression that the Milner money and more is the pot, I think we could have called Owen's bluff and got him to sign at x wages by the transfer window, assuming he wanted to, under the threat that we were serious about getting someone else.  We could even have fed some patsy in a press a line about a big bid for Roque Santa Cruz, for example. I don't think the club is clever enough to do that though.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Alan Hansen seems to think he'd have nothing to gain by signing a contract at this point, and I have to agree. He'd be better off waiting until the end of the season, if he plays well he will be much more in demand then.

[Baggio]

Louise Taylor Alert

 

Just as Jonathan Ross can expect to see his next BBC contract re-negotiated downwards, Michael Owen must already be bracing himself for a pay cut.

 

If Ross is definitely not worth £6m a year, Michael Owen cannot truly warrant commanding his current basic wage of £105,000 a week at Newcastle United — or anywhere else. With bonuses and assorted add-ons, the erstwhile England striker often pockets more than that but, come June and the expiry of his present four-year deal at St James' Park, things are surely going to change. Radically.

 

Newcastle today finally offered Owen a contract extension but it is unlikely to be anywhere near as lucrative. Should, as is widely anticipated, he turn it down, there will be plenty of suitors out there but not many, if any, prepared to pay £100,000-plus a week for such an injury-prone player.

 

Owen has registered 29 goals in 51 starts for Newcastle since arriving from Real Madrid. It is a splendid scoring ratio but averaging slightly more than a goal every other game is not too much use when you have barely packed a season's worth of starts into three-and-a-half years at a club. Clearly, chronic bad luck has played a part — and particularly with the cruciate ligament rupture which effectively erased an entire season of his Tyneside career — but Owen's groins and hamstrings continue to give cause for concern.

 

After missing the entire pre-season programme due to problems in these departments the striker has suffered a series of niggles this campaign and Joe Kinnear, Newcastle's latest manager, has echoed the words of one of his predecessors, Sam Allardyce, in stressing that the former Liverpool player needs to be "wrapped in cotton wool".

 

Significantly, a previous contract offer from Newcastle rejected by Owen at the outset of this season was merely a one-year extension, offering a basic wage of about £80,000 — which would only be fully payable if he managed to partake in 80% of first-team games.

 

That is something a 29-year-old seemingly as delicate as porcelain has failed to do since arriving at St James' Park in the summer of 2005 for £16m. Other clubs may be able to pick him up on a free transfer next June — Newcastle insist they will not sell Owen in January — but even so may also want to make his remuneration primarily appearance-related.

 

Owen supplements his daily training sessions with private workouts with his own sprint coach but the extraordinary surges of pace, which proved the hallmark of his youthful game at Liverpool — and placed excessive strain on those vulnerable hamstrings — can never be recaptured.

 

Of course Owen is far from slow — he stills boasts a defender-confounding change of pace — but, at the same time, he is no Gabriel Agbonlahor these days and in a game increasingly obsessed with genuinely jet-heeled, ultra-athletic strikers, that counts against him.

 

What he remains brilliant at — and this is the sphere in which he is infinitely superior to Agbonlahor — is finishing. While the Aston Villa striker still gets caught offside too often, Owen boasts the knack of unnerving defenders by constantly drifting between onside and offside positions while remaining able invariably to defy the linesman's flag.

 

Blessed with rare, instinctive positional sense, his consummate ability to be in the right place at the right time, and somehow second-guess complex angles and ball trajectories, allows him, from time and time, to accelerate behind defenders. Once one-on-one with a goalkeeper, Owen stays poised where others freeze.

 

The only trouble is that, as with many specialist poachers, he can spend large parts of games looking a mere passenger before suddenly pouncing. In these days of ProZone stats and constantly monitored work-rates, that alarms some managers.

 

Kevin Keegan, who believes Owen would make a good midfielder, re-invented him as a "link" player, attacking from his deep position in the hole and playing off Mark Viduka; it worked very nicely for a time last season. While Kinnear believes Owen is unsuited to that role, casting himself as a sort of Nick Barmby figure may prove the best means of extending his career much beyond 30. The only problem is finding the right manager at the right club with the right finances and the right team-mates.

 

It's a tricky equation but presuming he rejects Newcastle's offer, where might Owen go next summer? Rafael Benítez is on record as saying he does not intend to bring him back to Anfield and Sir Alex Ferguson surely has enough trouble trying to keep Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez happy to risk adding a fifth dimension to Manchester United's attacking calibration.

 

Although Owen's scoring ratio is better than anyone in that quartet's, bar Ronaldo, he is arguably too much of an old-fashioned opportunist to fit into United's ultra-flexible, kaleidoscopic attacking game which is all about the front four constantly inter-changing positions and creating opportunities for each other.

 

There have been rumours that Chelsea want him but these have been rubbished by other sources and it is certainly hard to envisage Owen and Nicolas Anelka as complementary attacking partners. Indeed the player Chelsea arguably need is Middlesbrough's fairly prolific but infinitely more versatile and unorthodox forward Tuncay. Boro are duly fearing a bid from Stamford Bridge for the Turkish talent in January as are Wigan for Amr Zaki. Indeed offer several clubs a choice between Wigan's Egyptian hitman and Owen and you suspect most would opt for Zaki.

 

Arsenal could arguably do with Owen and he might enjoy playing off Emmanuel Adebayor but he does not exactly fit into Arsène Wenger's young, fast, comparatively good value, one- and two-touch passing blueprint.

 

Harry Redknapp apparently fancies him as a glorified Jermain Defoe at Spurs but Tottenham may be unwilling to match Newcastle's contract offer. Everton, who Owen supported as a boy, are desperate for a fit striker but they remain strapped for salary cash and, in any case, lack as many goal creators as Newcastle, where Jonás Gutiérrez, Obafemi Martins, Mark Viduka, Charles N'Zogbia, Shola Ameobi and Damien Duff are all around to service Owen's penalty-area hunger.

 

A club in the north-west would, though, be handy in terms of access to Owen's principal home and racing stables near Chester, but the Manchester City manager, Mark Hughes, appears to have his heart set on a reunion with his old Blackburn centre-forward Roque Santa Cruz. City's Emirati backers would have no problem paying Hollywood wages but, once he has secured Santa Cruz, Hughes requires midfielders and defenders.

 

No matter; Dave Whelan, the Wigan Athletic chairman, remains a staunch Owen fan as does the club's manager, Steve Bruce. Even better, he could be re-united with his favourite England partner Emile Heskey. But could Michael Owen — whose wife, Louise, was spotted in tears on the day he joined Newcastle — ever bring himself to sign for Wigan?

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2008/dec/15/newcastle-united-michael-owen-transfer

[Guest michaelfoster]

Newcastle have offered England striker Michael Owen a new contract to extend his stay at St James' Park.

 

Owen's current deal ends in the summer of 2009 - when he could walk away from the Magpies for free.

The 29-year-old has scored 29 goals for Newcastle since joining the club from Real Madrid for £17m in 2005.

 

Magpies manager Joe Kinnear has already said Owen will not be sold in the January transfer window - even if he cannot agree terms on a new contract.

Owen scored in Newcastle's 3-0 win over Portsmouth on Sunday and Kinnear said afterwards: "Michael knows I want him to stay and we won't be accepting any offers for him.

 

"There is no point in taking any money for Michael when he can score 15 or 20 goals a season for us." It is understood the Magpies have presented the terms of the deal to Owen's representatives and are now awaiting their response.

 

 

Along with goalkeeper Steve Harper, midfielder Nicky Butt and striker Shola Ameobi, the former Liverpool striker is one of several

Newcastle players who are out of contract at the end of the season.

 

Last week, Kinnear conceded he was not confident of persuading Owen to stay beyond the summer.

 

"I'm pretty confident about everybody else but Michael is a different kettle of fish," he stated.

Owen has previously pinpointed boardroom "turmoil" as the reason for his delay in agreeing a new contract. He reiterated his stance on the issue earlier this month, telling BBC Sport: "I haven't spoken to the club about my contract, despite all the speculation in the papers.

 

 

"I can't do anything until I sit down and start negotiating."

After former manager Kevin Keegan's controversial exit in September, owner Mike Ashley put the Magpies up for sale but has been unable to find a buyer.

 

"We had a few meetings earlier on in the season and things were going fine," explained Owen. "Then the manager left - as did someone on the board who we were negotiating with - talks haven't picked up since."

[Guest BooBoo]

Jesus the vile Louise Taylor knows no limit.

 

Who in their right mind would seriously choose Zaki over Owen? Zaki's a three month wonder, Owens one of the Premier Leagues most successful strikers.

 

The last paragraph of her piece is simply a disgrace.

[fredbob]

But could Michael Owen — whose wife, Louise, was spotted in tears on the day he joined Newcastle — ever bring himself to sign for Wigan?

 

What a cunt Taylor actually is.

[Mowen]

I hope he stays, it'll take me ages to think of a new name.

 

If he does go, how about 'Sameobi' as your new username?

 

Or Jenrique.  No, wait, that sounds like a female R&B singer.

 

It's a conundrum, that's for sure.

[Willow]

But could Michael Owen — whose wife, Louise, was spotted in tears on the day he joined Newcastle — ever bring himself to sign for Wigan?

 

What a cunt Taylor actually is.

 

she needs a damn falcon punch 

[Fenham Mag]

 

No matter; Dave Whelan, the Wigan Athletic chairman, remains a staunch Owen fan as does the club's manager, Steve Bruce. Even better, he could be re-united with his favourite England partner Emile Heskey. But could Michael Owen — whose wife, Louise, was spotted in tears on the day he joined Newcastle — ever bring himself to sign for Wigan?

 

 

IIRC she was so overwhelmed with the greeting we gave him and his family. What a c**t she is.

[Syrette]

Disgusting journalism.

[Dokko]

Totally ridiculous this woman makes me wish her dead.

 

 

[Ash]

But could Michael Owen — whose wife, Louise, was spotted in tears on the day he joined Newcastle — ever bring himself to sign for Wigan?

 

What a c*** Taylor actually is.

 

Agreed.

 

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2008/09/18/louisetaylor.jpg

 

Just fuck off.

[Decky]

Looks like that bloke off Never Mind The Buzzcocks

[S.S.R.]

But could Michael Owen — whose wife, Louise, was spotted in tears on the day he joined Newcastle — ever bring himself to sign for Wigan?

 

What a c*** Taylor actually is.

 

Agreed.

 

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2008/09/18/louisetaylor.jpg

 

Just fuck off.

 

Gail Platt's ugly sister.

[Pilko]

If Owen does stay, it'll be because no-one else will take him on the wages that he's asking for.

[midds]

Disgusting journalism.

 

And yet she got the boardroom shenanigans bang on this summer. We refused to believe her iirc. 

 

Wonder who her source is this time?

[fredbob]

That sort of journalism isnt fit for the daily sport.

[gray]

Luckily, there's a comments form at the bottom of the article

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2008/dec/15/newcastle-united-michael-owen-transfer?showallcomments=true

 

[Thespence]

But could Michael Owen — whose wife, Louise, was spotted in tears on the day he joined Newcastle — ever bring himself to sign for Wigan?

 

What a cunt Louis Taylor is, you can tell the skanky bitch is fucking distraught that there is no more Roy Keane press conferences so she lashing out at her usual target (Newcastle United).

[Cajun]

Can we have a t-shirt that says "Louise Taylor is a cunt!"

[Syrette]

Fair play to the Guardian for not moderating their comments to the point of deleting anything critical. Some of those comments are strongly worded - and rightly so.

[Dokko]

Can we have a t-shirt that says "Louise Taylor is a cunt!"

 

[Teasy]

Disgusting journalism.

 

And yet she got the boardroom shenanigans bang on this summer. We refused to believe her iirc. 

 

Wonder who her source is this time?

 

Hardly, all she did was print any negative story she could think of and one or two ended up vaguely close to the truth.  If you throw enough shit some of it will stick as the saying goes.

[Dokko]

I've been very pessimistic about Owen's contract for well over a year, but in that year i've never felt as confident as I do now that he'll sign a new one. I still give that 10% chance though.

[STM]

Not even going to give the time to discuss her.

 

As for Owen, i believe he would leave if the right club/offer came along but i don't think the top four will want him and the others couldn't afford him. The only club that i feel has a chance is Manchester City but i believe they will have bigger fish to fry.

 

Hopefully he will agree a new contract and it will be the start of better times at the club.