26 Apr 2013

'It annoys me' - LFC hero admits he 'never wanted to leave' Anfield.

It's an understatement to suggest that Liverpool fans still hold a grudge against Michael Owen for his acrimonious 2004 transfer to Real Madrid. The retiring striker has never lived that move down, and in an interview this week, Owen hinted that he still has regrets about leaving Anfield for the Bernebeau.

Liverpool fans have very little affection for Owen, and despite the fact that he's is one of the club's greatest goalscorers of the last 30 years, the prevailing feeling towards him seems to be one of hostile indifference.

In an interview this week, Owen admitted that he is 'annoyed' by the way he's perceived by Liverpool fans, and insists that when he left for Madrid, his heart was 'full of Liverpool'.

Owen also conceded that 'scoring in a World Cup, not living in the city and then going to Madrid' didn't help when it came to ingratiating himself to Reds fans.

The perception amongst Reds fans appears to be that Owen deliberately ran his contract down to secure a dream move to Madrid, but the 33-year old sees things differently. He observed:

"I never wanted to leave Liverpool. That needs to be stressed. If I could have gone over [to Real Madrid] for a week, put the kit on, played with all those stars in that stadium, and then come back to Liverpool I would have been happy. I thought I’d be like Rushy and come back after a year. That’s what got me through; but then it didn’t happen, for lots of reasons".

In the same interview, Jamie Carragher revealed that he was 'disappointed' with the fan reaction to Owen's departure, adding:

"It’s strange when you move. Ian Rush left and came back a hero. I still feel sorry for Steve McManaman. People say he left for nothing. Well, you got him for nothing. Michael came for nothing. We got £8m. People say we could have got £20m. Well, the year before we got Markus Babbel for nothing. I was disappointed with Michael’s reaction".

Losing Owen to Madrid for a measly £8m was, admittedly, a bitter pill to swallow, but Reds legend Dietmar Hamann believes it's times for fans to get over it and move on. He tweeted recently:

"He [Owen] joined the biggest club in the world, so stop feeling personally aggrieved when players leave LFC. Its part of the game. Move on. Owen scored 100 odd goals for the club and put it back on the map in a difficult period, and won an FA cup single handedly"

I personally don't see the point in all the antipathy towards Owen. By 2004, he'd been at Liverpool for 14 years (youth and senior career); he'd done his time, scored a shedload of goals, and at the point, who could begrudge him the chance to test himself in a different league?

What next for Owen? He retires at the end of the season, and with his love for the horses and betting in general, he'll be sure to find favourable odds to his heart's content on the website of recent Liverpool sponsor Misli.com. The question is, will Owen move into management? Not likely, he explained:

"Some days you look at what you’ve learnt and think, ‘I’d love to give it a go’. But then the work you have to put in is a lot. If I’m missing football, I’ll see. But the doubt is whether you can do 10 to 15 years of hard work to get there"

Footballers shying away from hard-work? Perish the thought! ;-)



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27 comments:

  1. We had our chances to re-sign him and never took them. I was sad at his departure but, after reading a few LFC player autobiographies and gaining more of an insight into his injuries, it was maybe better that we sold him when he did.
    I don't hold a grudge against him, though: he was a fantastic servant to our club and I wish him well in whatever he does in the future.

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  2. Owen screwed us over, by indicating that he would re-sign, then with 1yr to go refusing to sign. Liverpool had no choice but to sell, shame he missed out on a CL medal as a result of not gicing it longer.

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  3. Had no hard feelings until he went to United. Traitor!

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  4. Was at the f.a. cup final v arsenal, will always remember him just for that, the second goal was mind blowing!! :)

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  5. Imagine if he stayed though...I reckon he could of hit 300 goals for us.

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  6. MO lost his status of being a legend for Liverpool when he moved to manure. sadly he never will be one in any of the clubs he played in.

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  7. he could off left year before for double the money . he went for half . dog. man united scum

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  8. I didn't care about Madrid, but most Liverpool fans have him after he joined united... I'd probally hate Cara and Gerrard if they joined United.

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  9. RUBBISH,VALIANT AND TRAITOR.......AWFULL WHEN YOU JOIN MUFC. You are not former LFC player.Your name must been delete from LFC list of players.

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  10. He had his chance to come back but rafa told him liverpool could only afford 10mil so he couldn't talk toanyone else. A few hours go by and he's spotted on tv talking to shearer just by talking the price becomes 16 mil we can't afford him and rafa vow never to try sign him again. Then he's goes to utd and sticks the knife in on several occations. Owen deserves what he gets when it comes to lfc fans.

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  11. i feel the same re torres. there's little point in hating these guys, everyone can be selfish, its human nature. small mindedness is the problem not their 'greed'.

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  12. i dont think its about the fact he left but how he left and how he has acted since. Many players leave and we still love them. There is a right and wrong way to leave, but also a right and wrong way to act after. Owen after he had left came over like he didnt care for liverpool. Joining Utd was a extra step, but more understand at that point. It was more about how he didnt seem to show any love for liverpool after going. Look at alsono. He will always be loved cause even after going he says nice stuff about us. Owen just didnt do that. Thats how it is for me anyway.

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  13. he played for united that's his crime

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  14. None of these current or former players even mentioned his ultimate crime of signing for the club's biggest enemy? I can't believe that so it sounds as though their comments are somewhat selective.

    LFC fans have always shown great respect for former players but if that player then says bad stuff about the club they lose that respect. If they damage our club by deliberately running down contracts they don't deserve respect. If they choose to play for manure then all hopes of respect are out of the window altogether.

    Owen is persona non grata in terms of being a Liverpool player despite his goals when he was here.

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  15. He held Liverpool football club to ransom he stalled for nearly 2 yrs about his contract and Rafa asked him to stay and work with him that's why we don't like owen and especially going to Utd

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  16. i dont give a toss for owen...hes a non entity who out purely for himself ...hes not arsed about lfc or its fans

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  17. One thing Owen was not is a nonentity. He was a very talented striker who won the F.A. Cup for Liverpool in highly dramatic fashion. If you want to find nonentities, there have been stacks of them at Anfield in recent years: N'gog, Voronin, Borini, Henderson, Leiva, Allen, Biscan, Carroll, etc etc etc The list goes on and on. But not Owen. His record of goals speaks for itself.

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  18. Yet strangely, a player like Mascherano - with only one tenth of Owen's talent - is highly regarded by LFC fans. This is a man who refused to play for the club because he was so desperate to get away! Yet he is highly regarded. Why, I have no idea.

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  19. If he wanted trophies he certainly shouldn't have been with Liverpool, should he? And how absolutely rotten to want trophies, anyway. What a cad.

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  20. Thank heavens somebody has a bit of sense!

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  21. Its not that he left, its the way he left, refusing to sign so he could line his own pockets with a mega contract. The guy is all for himself with no honour and no gratitude for the club were he made his name. made up we went on to win the European cup and he went on to do f**k all and now he has the stones to say its our fault that he got injured. Is it our fault that he is a one trick pony who without his pace is a sunday league player.

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  22. Owen is full of shit, he wanted to leave, he left and we won the champions league and he failed at madrid and wanted liverpool to offer him a lifeline, no thank you!!!

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  23. not buying it, he held the club to ransom for 2 years while running his contract down and left. He's just keeping face as a pundit.

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  24. Lets be honest, when he moved to Real his market value was way above what we received,same goes for McManaman. As far as i'm concerned both were guilty of running down their contracts and shuffling for a move. What Carra says is right to a point,but then again every player costs nothing at the very start for someone, LFC invested a lot of time and money in these two.

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  25. What does scoring in the world cup have to do with being like by Liverpool fans?
    I think Owen just likes talking about himself.

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  26. lol owen wanted the move otherwise he would have stayed he dropped us in the shit then when it all turned sour he wanted us to bail him out at huge expence to the club ,owen got is just deserts imo and it was even sweeter when we won the european cup michael you should have stayed a red and become a legend ,as it turned out you went to man ure and became a traitor of the highest degree,please do not start on the sympathy vote now you got what you wanted and got your just reward

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  27. I never wanted to leave Liverpool, but I did, because I put me first. And then I signed for Manchester United. And now all Liverpool supporters think less of me than they do of loyal club servants like Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. Well boohoo Judas Mick. The Dutch would say, if you burn your backside, you'll have to sit on the blisters..

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