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Soccernet's front page today had a picture of Michael Owen with England Manager Fabio Capello beneath the headline "Owen the Tormentor". The article went on to say that Capello continues to leave Owen out of his England lineups but the manager is tormented by this decision due to the player's goal scoring record in the England jersey. It also stated Owen's chances for making the England World Cup squad as "slim".
Owen's greatest club exploits were clearly with Liverpool, followed by disappointment at Real Madrid (the other evil empire), Newcastle and while his performance at Manu is yet to be determined it is unlikely that he'll enter their pantheon of greats. Now, if we hit fast forward and look at Michael Owen's career as it may unfold over the next 4 years, I am a bit perplexed as to the situation this lad will find himself in when he finally hangs up his boots. It is hard to imagine that he will have any takers from top clubs after his two year stint at Manu is up and even more difficult to imagine Slurgie keeping him on beyond his contract.
What then? A stint with Wigan? Stoke? West Ham? Hardly likely unless his wage demands make the appropriate adjustments which - while likely - will hardly position him for further football greatness. So the question is then, how will he be remembered? He has already burned his bridges with the Liverpool faithful ("Once a Manc, Never a Red") and is hardly going to be remembered by the Mancs as anything but a turncoat himself, an anomaly in the football-space-time continuum that - barring some spectacular feat like scoring the title winning goal on the last day of the season - will banish him to their rubbish heap of "flashes in the pan" for all eternity. At best, my guess is that they will be indifferent unless he does something really horrible like miss a penalty kick that makes them drop out of title contention...then he's f-d.
While one can understand intellectually that Owen joined Slurgie's squad for very selfish reasons (a chance at the World Cup), it is probably going to be a decision he regrets with time. I feel it for him as I think he *was* a great player who still has potential moments of brilliance but is a shadow of his former goal-scoring self. He will need to pull a rabbit out a hat to salvage any semblance of affection from fans of any of his former clubs. Sad.
YNWA
Owen's greatest club exploits were clearly with Liverpool, followed by disappointment at Real Madrid (the other evil empire), Newcastle and while his performance at Manu is yet to be determined it is unlikely that he'll enter their pantheon of greats. Now, if we hit fast forward and look at Michael Owen's career as it may unfold over the next 4 years, I am a bit perplexed as to the situation this lad will find himself in when he finally hangs up his boots. It is hard to imagine that he will have any takers from top clubs after his two year stint at Manu is up and even more difficult to imagine Slurgie keeping him on beyond his contract.
What then? A stint with Wigan? Stoke? West Ham? Hardly likely unless his wage demands make the appropriate adjustments which - while likely - will hardly position him for further football greatness. So the question is then, how will he be remembered? He has already burned his bridges with the Liverpool faithful ("Once a Manc, Never a Red") and is hardly going to be remembered by the Mancs as anything but a turncoat himself, an anomaly in the football-space-time continuum that - barring some spectacular feat like scoring the title winning goal on the last day of the season - will banish him to their rubbish heap of "flashes in the pan" for all eternity. At best, my guess is that they will be indifferent unless he does something really horrible like miss a penalty kick that makes them drop out of title contention...then he's f-d.
While one can understand intellectually that Owen joined Slurgie's squad for very selfish reasons (a chance at the World Cup), it is probably going to be a decision he regrets with time. I feel it for him as I think he *was* a great player who still has potential moments of brilliance but is a shadow of his former goal-scoring self. He will need to pull a rabbit out a hat to salvage any semblance of affection from fans of any of his former clubs. Sad.
YNWA