Fans of Newcastle have been reacting to a post on Twitter, which relays reports containing comments made by Alan Shearer on Michael Owen.
Speaking to the Match of the Day podcast (via Chronicle Live), Shearer revealed his disappointment at the level of commitment Owen put into Newcastle’s ultimately unsuccessful relegation battle in the 2008/09 Premier League season, stating:
“I felt he could have done more at Newcastle in my time when I was the manager. I know he was at the latter stages of his career and wasn’t at his best but I just thought he could have done a little bit more in terms of where we were and what was going to happen to the football club. Then he went on to Manchester United after that.”
Owen had joined Newcastle in 2005, in a £22.50 million move from Spanish giants Real Madrid, and went on to make 79 appearances for Newcastle, scoring 30 goals.
However, in the 2008/09 season that Shearer refers to, injuries restricted the striker to just 28 Premier League appearances, who scored eight goals over the course of the season, with none of them coming over the last eight fixtures of Newcastle’s campaign, over which time Shearer was manager of the club.
In reaction to Shearer’s comments, which were relayed on Twitter by both Mark Douglas and The Chronicle, fans of the club have flocked to have their say on the matter, with many suggesting that Owen was simply after a payday at Newcastle, and was not interested in the club at all.
He couldn’t have done any less…..
— Michael Hunt (@NewsSlasher) May 28, 2020
Leech
— Anthony Owens (@shepowens) May 28, 2020
Robbed a living of us
— Darren Brown (@DAZB_NCL) May 28, 2020
Shearer continued on Owen: “I just felt in the eight games I had at Newcastle he could have done more… we wanted to get him out onto the football pitch and he felt he wasn’t fit enough to do that. My argument was that if he was to get an injury, it’s the end of the season, Newcastle are on their knees, about to be relegated, so it didn’t really matter if you went out and pulled a hamstring or groin.”
With 30 goals in 79 games for Newcastle, could it be argued that Owen was a success at the club?
Yes
No way
Many of these Newcastle fans appear to agree with Shearer’s assessment of Owen’s levels of commitment at Newcastle, and others have joined their calls, suggesting that Owen was only ever interested in playing for England.
Michael Owen was only interested in playing for England , even ask Liverpool fans . Openly admitted he didn’t really want to sign for us . Biggest waste of money
— Ian Windsor (@IanAWindsor) May 28, 2020
say what you want about Michael owen. the worst factor for me is when he openly admitted that he joined us for a pay day knowing full well he was not the same player. bottling tackles and deliberately not running in between the lines incase if another hamstring injury. snake.
— Wayne heathwaite (@Wayneheathwaite) May 28, 2020
Wasn’t Viduka’s contract up at the end of that season aswell, just shows the difference in work ethic and self interest between the 2
— carl richardson (@Carl_TftG) May 28, 2020
It would very much seem from their comments that the vast majority of these Newcastle fans agree with Shearer’s assessment of Owen, with many apparently still angry about the 40-year-old’s spell in the North East.