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Michael Owen (now retired)

Keefaz

by Keefaz
in Football

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  • 3 weeks later...
Dave

Dave

Posted
Posted

Thought you hated this prick already?

 

Think again.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2477644/Michael-Owen-defends-Newcastle-United-owner-Mike-Ashley.html

Newcastle’s record signing Michael Owen has defended the performance of under-fire owner Mike Ashley ahead of Sunday’s North-East derby at Sunderland.

 

Owen, who spent four years on Tyneside following a £16million move from Real Madrid, believes Ashley has scored ‘par’ at St James’ Park. He says fans who demonstrated against Ashley last weekend should have realistic expectations about a club of Newcastle’s size.

 

Owen admits he didn’t have a single proper conversation with Ashley during their two years together at Newcastle after Sir John Hall and Freddie Shepherd sold the club in 2007.

 

But the former England striker still thinks the Sports Direct multi-millionaire has achieved more than he gets credited for from a set of fans who have consistently shown their dislike for him.

 

Owen says: ‘When people talk about a club of Newcastle’s size, yes it’s a big stage with a big following but they aren’t used to winning trophies every year, are they?

 

‘It depends how you quantify a big club — they aren’t steeped in history in terms of winning the league dozens of times or anything like that.

 

‘I look at them now and see an established Premier League team who you don’t look at and think are going to go down. That could be classified as success in itself.

 

‘OK, they have had the heady heights of qualifying for the Champions League in the past but they have also flirted with relegation and been relegated. To be midway in the Premier League, they are doing fine. I’d say a par score for Mike Ashley.

 

‘He bought Newcastle and put money into the club. They had a fantastic season two years ago, flying high and spending really wisely in the French market. Last season was a bit of a low. This year they’ve been inconsistent.

 

‘We know times have changed from a decade ago when they were the great entertainers and  thousands of fans turned up to welcome big-money signings. It’s a more sensible ship now.’

 

By his own admission, Owen’s career went into decline at Newcastle after he signed from Real Madrid when he was one of the world’s top strikers, in 2005.

 

Four injury-interrupted years later, he left on a free transfer having failed to score in the club’s final 11 games as they plunged into the Championship. ‘I’d had injuries and wasn’t the same player they’d signed four years before,’ he admits. Many fans treated him with suspicion — an outsider who flew into training by helicopter. The same feeling is now aimed at the so-called London Mafia: Ashley, director of football Joe Kinnear and, to a lesser extent, manager Alan Pardew.

 

‘I only saw Mike once or twice at the training ground in two years — that was it. He seemed a nice chap, smiled and said hello. But I never sat down and had a conversation with him,’ said Owen.

 

‘Geordies are Geordies, they like their own. They either want a big name like Kevin Keegan or a local hero like Alan Shearer. Kinnear was a surprise appointment as manager when I was there, and when he came back as director of football. You can only assume Mike Ashley and his team want to surround themselves with people they know.’

 

Kinnear’s appointment was met by widespread astonishment when Owen and the Newcastle players were told about it by Chris Hughton, who had taken temporary charge of the team for a month.

 

Owen probably did not learn a lot about the game from Kinnear compared with Gerard Houllier or Sir Alex Ferguson. But he says diplomatically: ‘There was nothing about him that was confrontational to the players like there was to the Press!’ [Kinnear famously issued a torrent of swear words to journalists during one Press conference.]

 

Compared to the travails at Sunderland, who are bottom of the table without a win and whose new manager Gus Poyet started with a 4-0 stuffing at Swansea, Ashley’s garden at Newcastle does indeed look rosy.

 

Owen thinks today’s result depends on which Newcastle turn up. ‘The worst performance I’ve seen all season was their first half against Everton. Then they beat Cardiff in their next game and did well against Liverpool with 10 men.

 

‘Newcastle have got the ability if you catch them on the right day.’

 

 

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Cajun

Cajun

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Posted

Cliché bingo.

 

From a bloke who fucking captained us (to relegation, which again he fails to hold his hands up for).

 

I know he is a bellend but you would think even he would know a little more about the club than your two bit journalist but reading his shite you'd think he'd never really been to SJP.

 

Prick!

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Wullie

Wullie

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A mid table club that was big enough to sign players off Real Madrid and pay them a hundred grand a week. The problems arose when they turned out to be a boring, self-obsessed whinging little arsehole with no heart and a right foot like a feather duster being waved at a breeze block.

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2sheds

2sheds

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Owen is one of the worst signings we've made, to think so many idiots turned up to welcome him.  :lol:

I remember a certain poster of old who constantly banged on about what a great signing  that's to how wonderful Freddie Shepherd was as a chairman lol
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Cajun

Cajun

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Owen is one of the worst signings we've made, to think so many idiots turned up to welcome him.  :lol:

 

You're going to turn into NE5 if you start having needless digs at people in topics where everyone must share the same opinion :lol:

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Interpolic

Interpolic

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Aye, what idiots, they (including me) should have known how it would have panned out.

 

Agreed.

 

Howay man.  It seemed a very exciting signing at the time and having thousands of people turn up at the ground to greet such a signing used to be one of the things that enticed us to the world as a great club with fanatical support.

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