Shepherd tells Owen to stay loyal

[mrkikiet 0]

saving point is the james richardson column. Always worth a read.

sid lowe is good too.

[Guest alex]

Some shite from the Guardian:

Six months later, having been rejected by Liverpool, the Rowdies, The Fiver's five-a-side team and Jossy's Giants Second XI, Owen decided to go to St James' Park after all - where, famously, he was greeted by 50,000 unemployed Geordies and Sky Sports News host Jim "You've done so much in football but this must be one of your proudest moments" White.

 

He's made no impact at all on the Toon in his time here.

 

...apart from when he was playing

 

When was that? I must've blinked and missed it.

His goals probably kept us up in his first season in fairness.

[geordieshandy 0]

To be fair that is from The Fiver which is just a piss take.

[Guest alex]

To be fair that is from The Fiver which is just a piss take.

I know that. It was a general comment though. I stopped buying the Guardian (used to get it on a Saturday from time-to-time) because their football coverage was a piss-take. Unintentionally though.

[geordieshandy 0]

To be fair that is from The Fiver which is just a piss take.

I know that. It was a general comment though. I stopped buying the Guardian (used to get it on a Saturday from time-to-time) because their football coverage was a piss-take. Unintentionally though.

 

Sorry, it seemed some had missed the point of the piece which was intended as tongue-in-cheek.

[Guest alex]

To be fair that is from The Fiver which is just a piss take.

I know that. It was a general comment though. I stopped buying the Guardian (used to get it on a Saturday from time-to-time) because their football coverage was a piss-take. Unintentionally though.

 

Sorry, it seemed some had missed the point of the piece which was intended as tongue-in-cheek.

No need for the apology mate, I can see how it would have looked like that.

[ewerk 30597]

Owen will not move on - Shearer

 

Michael Owen will still be a Newcastle player next season, according to his former team-mate Alan Shearer.

 

Asked on BBC One's Inside Sport programme if striker Owen would still be at Newcastle for the start of the next campaign, Shearer said: "Yes."

 

He added that Owen feels guilty about the knee injury that kept him out for much of last season and is "frustrated" about reports that he wants to move on.

 

"He wants to get back playing and scoring goals for Newcastle," he added.

 

Injuries have limited Owen to just 14 games for the Magpies since his £17m move from Real Madrid in 2005.

 

Reports have suggested he has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave for as little as £9m - with speculation linking to a move to one of the big four clubs in England.

 

Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd has called for Owen to show some loyalty to the north-east club.

 

And Shearer, who was instrumental in Owen deciding to join Newcastle in 2005, feels Owen just wants to get back to playing games for the club.

 

He added: "Michael is probably slightly frustrated because he has a contract with Newcastle and he feels if every time he has to come out and say something about speculation he would be in the newspapers every day trying to deny things.

 

"It's a different story if Manchester United are linked with Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov and Liverpool are linked with players - and you don't see those players coming out and saying: 'Yes, that's true' or, 'That's not true'."

 

Owen, who was stretchered off with mild concussion in Newcastle's 1-1 draw with Watford on the final day of the season, suffered the knee ligament injury playing for England in the 2006 World Cup.

 

It came not long after he had returned to fitness following another long absence, with a broken foot.

 

"I don't think anyone felt as much guilt as he did when he went down injured that day," said Shearer.

 

Former Bolton boss Sam Allardyce has been widely tipped to become Newcastle manager following Glenn Roeder's resignation on 6 May.

 

Shearer commented: "It's a huge job and there have been so many managers - I think I went through five or six in the 10 years I was there.

 

"There are a lot of personalities there that need sorting out. I think a lot of players have gone stale.

 

"Sam is an expert at getting the best out of players. I hope dearly he goes up there and wins a trophy. It is such a huge club and they are starved of success.

 

"One thing we can guarantee is he will get money to spend. I think it's defenders we need more than anything.

 

"The criticism that has always been aimed at Newcastle is the number of goals they concede, so I would imagine defenders are his top priority."

[Fop 1]

Hope that's true.

 

A fit and on form Owen, a backroom re-build (or build even) and a decent amount of cash injected into the team (and maybe more with some of the freeloaders removed) and spent well, and I might even be able to think about Newcastle next season without needing valium.