When Michael Owen started playing football he was a natural, having been blessed with all the components to potentially become a top level English star, breaking numerous goal scoring records in his youth and being tracked by all of England’s biggest clubs. Liverpool nurtured him astutely; he was nicknamed by fellow Liverpool youth players as ‘the chosen one’ and ‘the golden boy’
Soon enough Michael had made an impact for the club, after making his debut at the tender age of only 17 years old he terrorised defenders with his blistering pace and coolness in front of goal.
Following on from his explosive start Michael guided Liverpool to a historic treble in 2001, Owen was then let loose on the international scene with England and became one of the most talked about players in the world.
After winning the coveted European Player of the Year Award and with Liverpool on the slide looking for a new manager he decided to take the plunge and join the ‘galacticos’ of Madrid. Whilst in Spain although scoring almost one goal in every two starts statistically, Michael’s family desperately missed home. Liverpool Football Club the destination he craved, ‘if I had a choice Liverpool would be perfect’
Whilst everyone seemed to pin Michael once again as a Liverpool player, the shock was confirmed that Michael would be signing for Newcastle United, who offered considerably more money to Real Madrid than Liverpool.
Reds fans fumed at the fact he did not even try to play hard ball with Madrid and force his dream move through, with Michael again denting his relationship with the fans who adored him by saying ‘he feared for his England career’
After a Mixed Newcastle career in which he scored goals when fit but was never actually fit enough to make a good number of appearances on Tyneside, he was once again in limbo as to where to resurrect his career.
Again Liverpool rumours were rife, this time though fans were truly divided equally to whether they would have him back again. As a free transfer surely Michael would have created millions of pounds marketing wise to pay for his contract wages, to me it was a no brainer!
However with his poor injury record and previously choosing England over his club career, Benitez decided not to push forward a move as he was to do with Robbie Fowler, another Liverpool legend.
Michael was then stuck with choosing to join some lesser appealing clubs than his previous C.V. boasted. Eventually Michael accepted Sir Alex Fergusons offer and crossed the hot coaled divide between the North West giants.
In doing this Michael must have known that any fond memories kopites had would surely be extinguished, or at the very least, tarnished. Michael further added flames to the fire with comments stating ‘everything about the club is top notch, from the top right to the bottom, it is second to none’.
After Manchester United took Liverpool’s crown as the most successful English league champions, he said ‘it is great to be part of this history’
In my opinion I would have accepted Michael back at the end of the season again as a free transfer. But once a further comment came out about how it was ‘the pinnacle of his career’, despite him not making much impact to earn the medal. Mentally, I washed my hands of him for good!
ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more.
To have a peak at the top SEVEN available FREE TRANSFERS this summer, click here.
Or to have a look at 10 ways a football lover can spend this summer, click here!
Michael Owen is a typical modern day footballer, money grabbing, greedy, egoistical, no loyalty, over rated, self centred bastard
He never was (and most certainly never will be) a Liverpool legend. And no, he won’t ever be forgiven. We like our footballers to be loyal at Liverpool, and Owen legged us over by dragging his feet on the contract he swore he was def going to sign (meaning that we got nothing for 10 years investment in his talents, bar £8m and Nunes!). Since then, he’s gone from bad to worse… And is now happy to warm the bench for utd’s reserves and bleat about winning trophies that had nothing to do with him. He was a good player as a teenager, but is now nothing more than a predictable mercenary. It’s sad really – he could’ve had it all.
Who cares what you think and how often you wash your hands? The Judas was gone and forgotten after joining Madrid and his horrible first press conference. Money grabbing little Englander.
Michael we adored you as you well know what Liverpool supporters are made of.
You became a mercenary and on top of that a JUDAS.
You will only be remembered for the way you ill treated the club. Hope you rot together with the PL medal you much undeservedly won.
Those who believe in LIVERPOOL WILL NEVER WALK ALONE
I agree mate
Michael who?
he was never a legend like fowler. for that reason it doesnt bother me as much because hes not important to liverpool
Scum
here here
YOU MUST THINK OF PAUL INCE.
THAT’S LIFE.
who said he ever was a legend? ok we loved him when he played for us but legend is to strong a word maybe voronin is a legend aswell? nar he is just someone who played for liverpool like owen,
Well said m8!!
if hes honest, he knows he has gone backwards since leaving liverpool. bench warmer for real madrid, and the mancs.he thought the grass was greener, on the otherside yet it was him who was green.money mike u sold your soul and all that u had at lfc, for what.. you,ll allways regret you sold out…forgive you.. i feel sorry for you..you will walk alone…
He always was an Evertonian at heart And all their scum eventually ends up as manure.
Just remember this to the day you die :
You might have got a PL medal by sucking up to Whiskey Nose & groveled the get an odd game but
YOU WILL NEVER WIN A CHAMPION’S LEAGUE MEDAL- EVER.
Gerrard, Carra & the rest of the boys made the 2005 final THE BEST EVER. It will never be bettered.
I am sure the were all laughing at you for leaving for R.Madrid to win a CL medal . IRONY
Walk on , walk alone always, stick to horses, grass & manure.
judas u walk alone…
Why even bring this up then?
With hindsight, I am glad he signed for NUFC instead of LFC. So, too when he went to the $cum.
So why rehash this when clearly no player is bigger than the club?
Owen is an important player at United, didnt rate him before he came to us, but now i see his worth. Glad to have the guy in our colours and he seems glad too 😀
He destroyed his standing with the supporters and in a moment like Torres went from hero to zero – he could have been a Liverpool legend but instead he’s a footnote in the Mancs history
Owen screwed LFC into the ground by hanging on till the last day of the window and then leaving us with no chance to replace him. He was sold for millions below his true market value at that time because he refused to sign a new contract. He wanted a CL medal. He might have got one had he stayed. But the single biggest factor is this: EVERY true Liverpool fan or player knows that the one club they can never have anything to do with is ManUre. It’s a given,understood, no arguments. Breach that and you cut your ties FOREVER. Could you imagine Stevie G doing that? No. Would Dalglish manage ManUre? No. These are true Liverpool Legends. Owen is nobody.
Totally agree. People seem to forget that when Owen left (for peanuts), he gave us no chance to replace him. He almost wrecked our season (bar winning the CL) before even it started. From that time on, i couldn’t give a damn about that mercenary. How he could proudly boast a championship medal when he had a very minimal input proves he lacks self esteem as well. I’m sure there were other players who made more significant contribution and didn’t get the medal. He played into Fergie’s manipulative hand : an ex-Pool player winning the league with manure when we couldn’t even compete for it. But, that will change in the coming seasons….hopefully.
Usually, i skip articles about him. This time, he was not mentionned in the title, and i was a bit curious too.
I bet he’s proud of his PL winners medal that he earned from the bench.
If I bought one off ebay I’d be just as proud of mine.
he was a kick and rush. his best moment was for England against Germany, I never saw , nor did anyone for the pool. he has had a Lucy career. the only season fergie likes him ‘s horses. both are wrapped up in horses. owen will give him his stables for another season. if it was anyone else with so few appearances they would be gone.- selling john o shea and keeping owen , is complete lunacy in my opinion.
“kick and rush” what planet are you on ! he was quality and if he wasn’t there would not be an article such as this !!!
He WAS a legend as a Liverpool player. Undeniably. He single handedly won us an FA Cup Final we were dead and buried in and scored countless goals throughout his career here. The way he ran down his contract in the end was the worst thing he ever did to Liverpool.
When you are getting your name bandied about with the likes of Stoke and Wigan and then the Mancs come in for you, what player wouldn’t go to Old Trafford at the point of their career that Owen was at? Can you really blame him…. and before I am shot down in flames, I am a true lifelong local red.