Liverpool FC Forum

aCe' wrote:All the best Owen, hope he scores many

you are a rotten little kunt!!

lakes10 wrote:not sure how many had five live on last night (not many lol) but they said Owens agent CONTACTED THE CLUB 6 TIMES OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS to see if we would like him back at the club, each time Rafa turned his back on him (some say he wasd right to do so) but i feel that he is better in our team than in a team that we need to play.

Greavesie wrote:

Dundalk wrote:http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/2872365/   

*shudder*

just sounds so wrong 

On how it feels to have signed for the Scum:

"I never even had it in my wildest dreams..."

That's it - snappy-snappy time. I hope Skrtyl breaks the little f*cker's shins.         

s@int wrote:Of all the Liverpool players over the last decade there is nobody who divides supporter’s opinions as much as Michael Owen. He seems to be a player that fans either love or hate, often passionately. I fall very much into the former category and I have had plenty of heated debates with Owen haters over the last few years. Over the course of this article I’m hoping that my reasons for my support of Michael Owen will be clear. I understand why there are plenty of people out there who dislike Owen, especially since his departure to Madrid, but I still cannot find it in myself to feel anything negative about him.

Michael Owen was born in December 1979 in Chester, on the border of North West England and North Wales. His father, Terry, was a professional footballer who once played for Everton. Therefore like many other future Liverpool players (Carragher, Fowler, McManaman) Michael grew up as an Everton fan. He was a well known player as a kid in North Wales and went on to break a number of local goal-scoring records.

When he was thirteen, Michael became eligible to sign schoolboy forms for a professional club. After being courted by the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd, Michael signed for Liverpool in 1993. When he was fourteen, he was accepted to the prestigious FA School of Excellence in Lilleshall, which he attended for two years. Upon his return from Lilleshall, Michael signed youth forms with Liverpool and graduated to the youth team, coached by Steve Heighway. Michael was the star player of the youth team during the 1995/96 season in which Liverpool won the FA Youth Cup. The side contained other future first team players such as Jamie Carragher.

Michael signed professional forms with Liverpool in December 1996 as soon as he turned seventeen. He made his debut in May 1997 in an away game against Wimbledon, coming off the bench to score a goal in a style that became a trademark. He used his pace to run on to a pass before clinically beating the keeper in a one on one situation. It was a dream start to his first team football career and from that moment on the goals seemed to come naturally for him. Michael went on to be Liverpool’s top scorer in every season from 1997/98 until 2003/04. In his first full season with the club he hit eighteen league goals and was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year. Unfortunately this wasn’t enough for Liverpool to win any honours during what was Roy Evans final season as sole manager.

In the summer of 1998 Michael became a football superstar thanks to his performances for England at the World Cup in France. He made his World Cup debut as a substitute in the final group game against Romania. He made an immediate impact by scoring the equaliser for England and then hitting the post before Romania went on to win the game 2 - 1. It was in the quarter final game against Argentina that Michael scored the goal that changed his life. It was one of the best goals ever scored by an England player and a superb individual goal. Michael used his pace to beat the Argentine defenders before chipping the keeper. Unfortunately for England, they went on to lose the game on penalties and David Beckham had stolen all the headlines by getting sent off for childishly kicking Simeone (who made a real meal of rolling around on the ground afterwards).

After the World Cup ended, Michael had become a sporting superstar and at this stage he became a public property. His popularity with the British public was reflected in his award for BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 1998. It is my opinion that it was at this time Michael lost some of the support from Liverpool supporters who began to think of him as more of an England player than just a Liverpool player. In the pre Beckam mania era, he was without any doubt the most popular footballer in England and he seemed to lose a lot of rapport with a section of the Liverpool fans. Once he became popular with fans all around the world he somehow seemed, to a lot of Reds fans, to cease to be the sole property of the Kop.

Michael has made no secret of the fact he was hurt that sections of the Liverpool fans never sang a lot of songs for him and take him to their hearts like they did with other players such as Robbie Fowler. I’ve heard people suggest it’s because he wasn’t a local lad like Fowler, but I completely disagree with that one. Michael comes from the same area as Ian Rush and Rushie is clearly one of the most popular Liverpool players of all time. I also feel that had Michael remained at Liverpool and stayed injury free he could have been the player to get closest to Rush’s goal scoring record. In recent times I’ve lost count of the number of arguments I’ve had with people about Michael Owen caring more about England than Liverpool. The amount of goals he scored for Liverpool, especially in major games and the enjoyment in his face every time should be more than enough evidence to support the fact that he loved playing for Liverpool.

During the 1999/2000 season Michael started to have injury problems that would go on to blight the rest of his career so far. He suffered hamstring problems that season which would hinder him throughout the campaign. In the summer of 2000 he finally got proper medical help and was placed on a weight routine to strengthen his hamstrings. After a disappointing European Championships in the summer of 2000 (during which he scored against Romania again) Michael came back to Merseyside like a man on a mission to improve on the disappointing previous season for Liverpool.

2000/01 was Michael’s best so far in his career as he scored 24 goals as Liverpool won the incredible treble of League Cup, F.A. Cup and UEFA Cup. Robbie Fowler spent periods of the season out through injury and Michael formed a prolific partnership with Emile Heskey who scored 23 goals. Michael missed the League Cup final victory over Birmingham City when Robbie Fowler was chosen up front. The 2001 F.A. Cup Final is often called ‘The Owen Final’ thanks to his two late goals to win the trophy for Liverpool.

Arsenal had battered us for the majority of the game and were deservedly 1–0 in the lead with just minutes remaining. Unfortunately for Arsenal these were the days before Michael Owen became injury prone and was an incredible match winner, especially in big games. He scored from a corner to level the game and then came the winner with one of my favourite goals ever.

I barely had time to discuss the goal with my mates when Berger hit a long ball over Arsenal’s midfield. We saw Owen sprinting onto it but thought that clearly Adams and Dixon easily had him covered. How wrong we were as the entire season flashed before our eyes when the ball crept past Seaman and into the corner of the net. It is moments like this that will always make me a Michael Owen fan no matter who he plays for (except when he plays against Liverpool).

We barely had time to finish celebrating when just four days later Liverpool faced Deportivo Alaves in the UEFA Cup Final in Dortmund. Liverpool won the game 5 – 4 with an extra time golden goal in what most people agree was the greatest UEFA Cup Final of all time. Michael played well in the game and his most important contribution was in winning the penalty for Liverpool’s third goal. He was put clean through on goal when the Alaves keeper came rushing out of his area and grabbed at Michael’s legs. Owen brilliantly managed to remain on his feet until he got inside the area and then went down to force the penalty. How the goalkeeper managed to stay on the pitch I will never know.

Michael started the following season, 2001/02, the same way he had ended the previous one (domestically) by scoring at the Millenium Stadium as Liverpool defeated Man Utd in the Community Shield. Michael then went on to score just seconds after the second half kicked off in the Super Cup Final against Bayern Munich. Liverpool won that game 3 – 2 to hold an incredible five trophies at the same time. Just a week later Michael tormented the Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn again, by hitting an amazing hat-trick as England beat Germany 5 – 1. There were three other Liverpool players in the England side that night, Steven Gerrard, Emile Heskey and Nick Barmby. Gerrard and Heskey scorered the other two England goals and this prompted many Liverpool fans to dub the result afterwards, Liverpool 5 Germany 1.

Michael’s incredible year was completed in December 2001 when he was awarded the prestigious Balon D’Or to become the first ever Liverpool player to become European Player of the Year. His year was completed on December 21st when he scored his one hundredth goal for Liverpool in a league game against West Ham Utd. Liverpool went on to finish second in the Premiership in 2001/02 and Michael hit a career best 28 goals in 43 games.

He scored two goals during the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, despite playing through the pain of injury. In his autobiography, Michael talks about receiving pain killing injections before every game.

He repeated his best goal tally the following season, 2002/03 with another 28 goals including his one hundredth Premiership goal against West Brom. He also scored in the League Cup Final when we defeated Man Utd 2 – 0, with Steven Gerrard scoring the first via a David Beckham deflection.

Michael’s final season for Liverpool, 2003/04 was interrupted by injuries and speculation was constant about his future as he would only have one more season remaining on his contract. Despite all the distractions he still managed to finish as Liverpool’s top goal scorer with 19 goals. During this season Michael also broke Ian Rush’s European goal scoring record in September 2003 during a 1 – 1 draw with Slovenian side Olimpija in the UEFA cup. During his final season Michael was linked with a number of other clubs as contract talks seemed to be stalling. Michael stated publicly that he wanted to stay at Liverpool and yet no announcements were coming from within the club regarding a contract extension. At the end of the season Gerard Houlier was fired and Rafael Benitez was appointed as Liverpool manager.

Rafa’s first task as manager was to fly to Portugal and meet up with Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard who were there with the England squad for the 2004 European Championships. Gerrard was being heavily linked with a move to Chelsea at the time and Michael’s new contract had still not been signed. After a last minute change of heart Gerrard chose to stay with Liverpool but unfortunately Michael Owen was to depart in August 2004 when Real Madrid came in with an offer which he chose to accept. A lot of Liverpool fans still feel that Michael had screwed the club by not signing a contract before leaving. As he only had one year left on his contract, Liverpool were in a weaker bargaining position than Real Madrid and they only received £8 million (plus Antonio Nunez) for a player who was worth at least double that amount. In my opinion I don’t feel that Liverpool did enough to convince Michael to stay and perhaps they should have been quicker to sort out the contract earlier than they did. Steven Gerrard has since stated the problems he had with the Liverpool board to sort out his contract in 2005 and I have a feeling that Owen may have had the same problem the year before. I have heard plenty of people describe Michael as being ruthless and this is something I disagree with. He is an ambitious person and opportunities to sign for Real Madrid don’t come around too often, and the chance to test himself in a different country must have been too tough to resist.

Despite spending most of his time at Real Madrid on the substitute bench I would consider Michael’s one season at The Bernabeu to be a success. This is because he finished the La Liga season with the best ratio for goals scored against minutes on the pitch. He scored 16 goals overall, with 13 in the league.

In the summer of 2005 Michael was once again in the news with speculation that he would be leaving Spain after Real Madrid signed the Brazilian strikers Robinho and Julio Baptista. It’s an open secret that he wanted to rejoin Liverpool and that Rafa Benitez was keen to bring him back to Anfield. The main stumbling block appeared to be the transfer fee with Real Madrid rumoured to be asking for a fee in excess of £11 million. Liverpool were unwilling to pay that much for a player they let leave for less just twelve months earlier. According to the journalist Guilleme Balagne in his book ‘A Season on the Brink – A Portrait of Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool’, Rafa and Michael were in secret negotiations right up until the last day of the summer transfer window. By this time Newcastle Utd had offered £16 million for his services and Real Madrid were putting the pressure on to get him to accept that offer. Realising it was too late to sort out the transfer at that late stage Rafa asked Michael to wait until January when Liverpool could reopen negotiations. However fearing he would be left on the Real Madrid bench, hindering his chances with Liverpool (and the England World Cup squad) Michael made the decision to join Newcastle Utd instead.

Michael has now spent almost three seasons at Newcastle Utd with most of it being spent injured. He broke a metartarsal bone in his foot on New Years Eve 2005 and missed the next four months, only returning for the last two weeks of the season. At the 2006 World Cup in Germany he seriously damaged the cruciate ligament in his right knee in the first minute of England’s final group game against Sweden. This injury kept him out for the majority of the 2006/07 season, with his comeback game not until April 2007.

Michael Owen scored 158 goals for Liverpool in seven seasons which is a terrific return considering he regularly suffered with injuries. He scored goals that won us trophies and he gave us all plenty to cheer about during periods when there was nothing else to get excited about. These are the reasons why Michael Owen will always remain one of my LFC heroes. Despite many people not appearing to appreciate him as much as I do, he was still thought highly of to be voted in at number 14 in the series ‘100 Players Who Shook the Kop.’

LINK

Lando_Griffin wrote:

lakes10 wrote:not sure how many had five live on last night (not many lol) but they said Owens agent CONTACTED THE CLUB 6 TIMES OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS to see if we would like him back at the club, each time Rafa turned his back on him (some say he wasd right to do so) but i feel that he is better in our team than in a team that we need to play.

How many times has he scored against us?

Number 9 wrote:

aCe' wrote:All the best Owen, hope he scores many

you are a rotten little kunt!!

Number 9 wrote:

Lando_Griffin wrote:

lakes10 wrote:not sure how many had five live on last night (not many lol) but they said Owens agent CONTACTED THE CLUB 6 TIMES OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS to see if we would like him back at the club, each time Rafa turned his back on him (some say he wasd right to do so) but i feel that he is better in our team than in a team that we need to play.

How many times has he scored against us?

zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeroooooooooooooooo!!

Lando_Griffin wrote:

lakes10 wrote:not sure how many had five live on last night (not many lol) but they said Owens agent CONTACTED THE CLUB 6 TIMES OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS to see if we would like him back at the club, each time Rafa turned his back on him (some say he wasd right to do so) but i feel that he is better in our team than in a team that we need to play.

How many times has he scored against us?

Lando_Griffin wrote:

s@int wrote:

Lets face it if he so passionately cares about LFC and its in his heart and he soooo wanted back..Why the fu'ck did he come out and say "I said yes in an instant" to Alex Ferguson??

Because Liverpool (RAFA) didn't want him. What is he supposed to do refuse all offers to play football on the off chance that Liverpool finally decide to allow him back?

What was he supposed to say "I have signed for the mancs (who I hate) but only because I was desperate and Liverpool didn't want me".

If you want to hate Owen thats up to you mate, personally I think WE made a mistake in not signing him and allowing him to sign for that shower of sh!te.

Anything to have a pop at Rafa with you, isn't it? Totally disregard the fact that Owen f*cked us over by running his contract down, then f*cked off to Madrid.
Totally disregard the fact that he has only ever been bothered about playing for England, and often went to meaningless international friendlies having missed games for us.
Totally disregard the fact that he could have signed for various other clubs, but chose the Mancs.

Owen is a c*nt, and both you and he will find that out soon enough, when the little backstabbing b*stard is bench-warming for the f*ckers at Anfield.

I hope someone gives him a fitting tribute - by pouring a bucket of steaming rat's p*ss over his little Judas head.

Totally disregard the FACT that he has wanted to come back to Liverpool for years before he finally realised that Liverpool would never sign him under Rafa.

Totally disregard the fact that while he was only "bothered about playing for England" he still managed to score a lot of goals for us , was m.o.t.m. on numerous occasions, played many times for us while injured,and was European player of the year while scoring in finals, all just to warm up for England.   

Yet presumably you are more than happy to see our squad filled with players like Morientes, Bellamy,Keane, Voronin and N'Gog because Rafa bought them 

Dundalk wrote:Listen I don't hope he breaks his legs or anything like that buri don't think what he has done can be forgiven and he lost the respect of every Liverpool fan the day he pulled on a united shirt