Newcastle threaten FA with Owen England ban

[Tilla]

LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - Michael Owen will not make an England comeback against Brazil if the Football Association do not pay for the costs of his recovery from injury, his club Newcastle United were reported as saying on Sunday.

'If the FA don't offer us a fair settlement we are prepared to go to court to get an injunction that could stop Michael from playing in Estonia,' Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd told The Sunday Mirror newspaper.


England's next Euro 2008 qualifier is away to Estonia on June 6 and they will warm up with a friendly international against Brazil to officially open the new Wembley Stadium five days earlier.

Owen has recovered from a knee ligament injury sustained during last year's World Cup in Germany and is in line for a Premier League comeback against champions Chelsea at St James' Park next weekend.

'We will be seeking a reimbursement of (Owen's) medical costs and if there is no offer from the FA we will have no choice but to involve our lawyers,' Shepherd said.

'We have not been paid a penny by the FA for Owen's recuperation bill.

'The FA are abusing a dominant position. They are taking our prize asset for nothing and returning him as damaged goods.

They then have the cheek to ask him to return as soon as possible to get them out of another mess.'

England have struggled in Euro 2008 qualifying Group E, taking 11 points from six matches. They are level on points with Russia (five games) and Israel (six) and two behind leaders Croatia (five).

[Tilla]

It should be interesting to see where this one goes. I am sure the FA will involve FIFA and FIFA will flex their muscles on Newcastle. If FIFA allows Newcastle to have their way, then expect similar behavior from other teams when it comes to their players.

[Hortical]

I thought the FA was contributing £50,000/week towards Owen's salary while he was recovering. The club had rejected a monetary settlement from FIFA.

See report

Fifa stands firm on Owen pay-out
Fifa insists it has made a "final offer" of £1m compensation to Newcastle for Michael Owen's World Cup injury. Newcastle claimed £6.2m towards Owen's salary costs after he ruptured cruciate knee ligaments 55 seconds into last summer's World Cup game against Sweden.
The Football Association is already paying Newcastle £50,000 a week to help cover his salary.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter said it was a "last offer", adding: "If someone has responsiblility then it's the FA."
Blatter insisted the overall compensation should be shared between Fifa, the FA and Newcastle's own insurers.
Newcastle have lodged a claim for further compensation from the FA as well as Fifa to cover the cost of signing £10m Obefemi Martins to replace Owen, who cost £17m from Real Madrid.



The Fifa president said: "Newcastle have come saying that they had have to replace him with another player and that's not fair.
"The transfer regulations say players put at the disposal of the national team should be insured by their club.
"The competition regulations of the World Cup say the national associations should make sure their players are correctly insured.
"We've also set up a special fund for injuries to players for all 32 participants with a total of £7m available for everybody.
"If you look who is asking for money, then something is wrong because it's from the richest league in the world."
An FA spokesman said: "The position remains unchanged. We've been in constructive discussions with Newcastle since the World Cup.
"We are sympathetic towards their position with reference to the injury and these discussions are ongoing."

[Karl]

This is so big it could change World football. ...just imagine the 'little countries' being without their best players as the professional clubs make demands that the 'little countries' could never hope to meet??? this is more than interesting!