The Michael Owen Appreciation Thread

[acrossthepond 874]

Nobody is questioning his ability as a player. that at his best he is a world class player is not in doubt.

Neither his desire to play for England, top class player belongs in the team.

 

What is at question is his loyalty to Newcastle over England especially when he seems to be ignoring the advice of the club doctors and Big Sam in order to get in the England team.

All of us want him to stay at Newcastle and become another Shearer, Gascoine , Beardsley etc. but untill he changes his attitude it aint going to happen. He seems to think playing the odd game for us and scoring the odd goal is enough but it aint.

Shearer retired from international football early saying at the time it was to spend more time with his family but it also enabled him to concentrate on playing for us. He even had the chance to move on and didnt.

 

Need i say more?

 

I wish spastics like you would realise we can't expect every world class player (and we are very fucking lucky to have one) who plays for us to love us so irrationally like Shearer did. The three players you mention are all geordies. Owen isn't. Would you be happy if Gerrard or Rooney quit international football to further their club careers, or turned down moves to us to be with their beloved teams? Stop being so narrow minded you one eyed twat.

 

 

Stop being so narrow minded! Have the same opinion as all of us!

[luckyluke 2]

Nobody is questioning his ability as a player. that at his best he is a world class player is not in doubt.

Neither his desire to play for England, top class player belongs in the team.

 

What is at question is his loyalty to Newcastle over England especially when he seems to be ignoring the advice of the club doctors and Big Sam in order to get in the England team.

All of us want him to stay at Newcastle and become another Shearer, Gascoine , Beardsley etc. but untill he changes his attitude it aint going to happen. He seems to think playing the odd game for us and scoring the odd goal is enough but it aint.

Shearer retired from international football early saying at the time it was to spend more time with his family but it also enabled him to concentrate on playing for us. He even had the chance to move on and didnt.

 

Need i say more?

 

I wish spastics like you would realise we can't expect every world class player (and we are very fucking lucky to have one) who plays for us to love us so irrationally like Shearer did. The three players you mention are all geordies. Owen isn't. Would you be happy if Gerrard or Rooney quit international football to further their club careers, or turned down moves to us to be with their beloved teams? Stop being so narrow minded you one eyed twat.

 

 

Stop being so narrow minded! Have the same opinion as all of us!

 

 

I was saying expecting Owen to love the team, city etc just because Shearer did (despite him being a Geordie and Owen not) was narrow minded. I have some doubts about Owen's commitment to us myself, but I'm not that fucking stupid.

[Jusoda Kid 1]

Some of the Owen haters on here are fucking laughable, at the end of the day he's playing for us whether some like it or not so get behind him whilst he's here, he's our best striker - fact

[Guest alex]

I still feel better about Sib pulling on the black and white than I do about Owen.

 

you're having a laugh there mate. i don't think i can take your posts seriously anymore if you'd honestly have le sib ahead of owen

 

 

le sob.

Gold. Pure and simple. Good post by Sammy above too which nicely sums things up for me. As I stated on N-O, the biggest motivation for Owen in his career at present is imo breaking the goal-scoring record for England - he needs 9 more to draw level with Bobby Charlton. I think that's mainly because it far outstrips anything he thinks he can achieve at Newcastle and the history books would suggest he's right. And the season before last he was more bothered about getting fit for the World Cup than anyone else, although it's difficult to blame anyone in his shoes for that (and Shearer would have been exactly the same). It does piss me off though, I admit, and I'm an England fan too rather than someone who thinks supporting England somehow diminishes my support for the Toon. People wanting to force him out of the club pisses me off more though as I genuinely think the club are (potentially at the very least) much better off for having him here. And he's never been anything other than professional when he has played for us and you know that, boring bastard that he is, he'll be professional off the pitch too. Just my $0.02

Edited October 11, 2007 by alex

[snakehips 0]

Does Mike Ashley really give a fuck about NUFC?? Should he be told to fuck off as well??

 

Just wondering, like.

[Norbert Colon 0]

I was watching espn classics last night and newcastle v leicester was on (96/97 season) what a fuckin team we had (Ginola and beardsley on the BENCH!) every one of them was class and i was just thinking to get back to that level of player quality would be magic - but how on in gods name are we goin to do it if we carry on with this bollocks about Owen - who cares what he thinks or feels or wants - just get him on the pitch scoring goals and get us into europe - nothing else matters - bloody hell man we have a chance of of gettin back in with the elite and as usual a bunch of fuckin mongs want to stir a load of shite and piss off the best striker we have had since Alan in his prime and sir les graced our football pitch.

 

And by the way i remember the halcien days of Varadi, cunningham,mirandhinia,shoulder and all the rest of the also rans over the years and i would never have beleived we would even have had a chance of being a top club back then - be very careful because mediocrity is casting its shadow

[Besty 4]

(Is ESPN Classics only on Sky?)

[Craig 6682]

(Is ESPN Classics only on Sky?)

 

Yup - channel 442 (but I think you need to be subscribing to the history packages to get it). Basically if you can get National Geographic Channel and History Channel, you can get ESPN Classics. It doesn't come as part of the sports packages...

 

As for the comments about Owen - Alex is spot on, we're fucking lucky to have him and so long as he's scoring goals for us (and he is in abundance) who cares what his motivation is?

[ghoulert 0]

Clarification: As you may read, in no way did I say I'd rather have Sib coming on than Owen because Sib will be better. That much is plain.

 

I stand by everything else. If Newcastle's nothing special, why do you support? Go support a special team then, whoever they are. If you don't want tribalism, ask yourself: what the fuck else do we have? Why do we have 50000 fans a game? It's not because the weather at SJP is nice.

 

 

You reek of cluelessness. Newcastle compared to any other team isn't special to anyone but our fans, simply because most of us have grown up watching this team. What you have to understand is that for a footballer who makes his living playing FOOTBALL, this is his job. He didnt come here because he LOVED the club like we do, he came here because he wanted to stay on the england team and felt that his former employer could cost him the possibility of playing for england. Main reason we have as many fans as we do on each home game is that we're a one team town, we dont have a rival in the town.

 

Cant you come to terms with the fact that no matter how much you want Owen to love this club, its most likely never going to happen? I'd like it if it happened, but I frankly couldnt care less as long as hes blasting in goals for us. Like I said in my last post, he can say what the fuck he wants, what hes here for is to score goals not tell us how much he masturbates at the thought of the toon faithfuls.

[Fop 1]

To be honest the one way to absolutely guarantee Owen will never love Newcastle is to carry on like this.

[The Fish 10779]

(Is ESPN Classics only on Sky?)

 

Yup - channel 442 (but I think you need to be subscribing to the history packages to get it). Basically if you can get National Geographic Channel and History Channel, you can get ESPN Classics. It doesn't come as part of the sports packages...

 

As for the comments about Owen - Alex is spot on, we're fucking lucky to have him and so long as he's scoring goals for us (and he is in abundance) who cares what his motivation is?

it's the news package.

 

steve's dislike of Owen has nothing to do with footballing ability or commitment.

 

He's a great player who has given his all for Newcastle when he has played and is better than anyone that a club of our stature is likely to attract at the moment.

 

who honestly gives a fuck if he is "using" us to get fit for England? As long as he plays well for us and works hard I couldn't muster the energy to sustain the vitriol that some knuckledragging troglodyte can.

 

If steve et al believe whole heartedly that players must have NUFC 4 EVA tatooed on the arse of their newborns to be allowed to play for us, then that speaks volumes for their purported contemporary football knowledge.

[Guest Patrokles]

At the end of the day, anyone who wants Newcastle to do well will want Owen in the side. People who don't should ask themselves why they'd want to damage the team at the expense of what is essentially their personal preference. NOW WHO'S BEING SELFISH?

Edited October 11, 2007 by Patrokles

[Ketsbaia 0]

At the end of the day, anyone who wants Newcastle to do well will want Owen in the side. People who don't should ask themselves why they'd want to damage the team at the expense of what is essentially their personal preference. NOW WHO'S BEING SELFISH?

 

Love the logic

[maggiespaws 0]

Why are we having this conversations? FFS are we actively trying to drive him out because he loves playing for England?

 

I dont think we'd be having this conversation if he hadn't had the injury problems he's had since he signed for us. He's never going to have the passion of Shearer and I don't expect him too. What I expect him and our other players to do is what they are paid to do. He is paid to score goals and when we play him he does.

 

Without him we don't have anywhere near as strong an option. Martins has his own qualities (speed and aggressiveness are two) but lacks others (such as intelligence, ability to read the game and position himself).

 

What doesn't help is the media. It's like they want him to leave too as they feel he never should have come to us - he's too good for NUFC type thing. They can fuck off too.

 

I dont give a shit if Owen sleeps under an NUFC duvet or not. Owen is cold and a bit ruthless and I quite like that. He wants to do well at what he does and if he's doing that for us I'm happy.

 

We've enjoyed several local players 'bleeding' for the club - but where has that got us? It's easy to get sentimental about these things but that doesn't necessarily win you trophy's.

 

Get behind the lad, we've more important things to worry about in the team than him.

[Tom 14011]

Does Mike Ashley really give a fuck about NUFC?? Should he be told to fuck off as well??

 

Just wondering, like.

 

 

 

 

Ashley only want to play for England!!

 

Fucking scouse cunt!

Edited October 11, 2007 by T-Keith

[thenorthumbrian 0]

The last in-ger-land player before Owen to show the same level of commitment to Newcastle was Keiron Dyer.

Fuck 'em both.

[Shearergol 0]

The last in-ger-land player before Owen to show the same level of commitment to Newcastle was Keiron Dyer.

Fuck 'em both.

 

How exactly is Owen NOT showing commitment to Newcastle?

 

Love the "in-ger-land" comment by the way. Do you say "Manure" too?

[luckyluke 2]

Is acrossthepond an expat or a yank? I reckon the reason he's so angry about Owen is that he feels guilty/left out because he doesn't share a Newcastle (or even English) background and is an armchair fan, so to compensate he comes up with the ridiculous sentimental bullshit about wanting Owen to love the club like Shearer, Gazza and Beardsley did.

[RlCO 0]

We've enjoyed several local players 'bleeding' for the club - but where has that got us? It's easy to get sentimental about these things but that doesn't necessarily win you trophy's.

 

There's been plenty non-local boys bleeding for the club as well, some were good, some were shite.

 

'Mag-ness', bleeding for the club, passion: ALL POINTLESS if you are a shit player. Owen is not a shit player.

[acrossthepond 874]

Is acrossthepond an expat or a yank? I reckon the reason he's so angry about Owen is that he feels guilty/left out because he doesn't share a Newcastle (or even English) background and is an armchair fan, so to compensate he comes up with the ridiculous sentimental bullshit about wanting Owen to love the club like Shearer, Gazza and Beardsley did.

 

Is luckyluke a...? I'm right here, you know. Ask me.

 

Angry isn't the right word either - I'm disgusted by and disappointed in Owen.

 

I'm also disappointed that as usual you and others feel the need to go after "the man behind the screen." I'm obviously an armchair fan since I live in the States. Afraid I can't jet over to SJP and take in the match every weekend. My background isn't any of your business - I don't question the Geordie credentials of anyone on this forum and I'll thank you not to question mine.

 

I will say, though, for people apparently not interested in tribalism you lot are awfully quick to jump on the "OMG YANK" bandwagon. We have people from Hungary, Norway, India, etc. on this forum. Are their opinions worth any less because of where they're from and because they don't share a Newcastle (or even English - plenty of Scots on this site!) background?

[acrossthepond 874]

First example: There was a time when Arsenal wasn't the ridiculous assembly of foreign players that it is now. In fact, many Gunners from even the early 90s despair of the state of the squad. But most Arse fans accept the vast influx of foreign players to the point of exclusion of English players because they have won so much in recent years as a result.

 

Next example: Barcelona claims to be "mes que un club" and is known for favoring Catalan players over higher-caliber players of other origin. Case in point: Victor Valdes, surely one of the worse keepers in La Liga, retains his spot because he is Catalan, despite Barca easily being able to buy a world-class keeper. Few if any argue against this policy - because Barca obviously wins.

 

Last example: Atletico Bilbao of La Liga is an all-Basque club. They only sign professional players from the Basque Country in Spain. As of late, their fortunes have fallen, narrowly avoiding relegation in the last two seasons. But still nobody questions the "cantera" policy. In fact, 76% of Bilbao fans would rather be relegated (keep in mind that this club has never been relegated in its history) than give up the all-Basque policy.

 

I believe that the second example fits Newcastle best - a team which knows its roots and is true to them, nurturing young local players and others who are devoted to the club. And victory can be achieved that way. I don't think that the Bilbao way is how it should be done - certainly an "all-Geordie" team would be a disastrous joke. Sadly, however, I believe that many Newcastle fans as of late have allowed the trophy drought to overtake their good sense and their pride in the club. They're so desperate to win that they'll take any mercenary - and there have been so many - who might give us a shot at glory. Hence the Arse example.

 

That's not for me.

[Fop 1]

Why are we having this conversations? FFS are we actively trying to drive him out because he loves playing for England?

 

 

Yes.

 

We don't want any England internationals in NUFC, damn it!

[Shearergol 0]

First example: There was a time when Arsenal wasn't the ridiculous assembly of foreign players that it is now. In fact, many Gunners from even the early 90s despair of the state of the squad. But most Arse fans accept the vast influx of foreign players to the point of exclusion of English players because they have won so much in recent years as a result.

 

Next example: Barcelona claims to be "mes que un club" and is known for favoring Catalan players over higher-caliber players of other origin. Case in point: Victor Valdes, surely one of the worse keepers in La Liga, retains his spot because he is Catalan, despite Barca easily being able to buy a world-class keeper. Few if any argue against this policy - because Barca obviously wins.

 

Last example: Atletico Bilbao of La Liga is an all-Basque club. They only sign professional players from the Basque Country in Spain. As of late, their fortunes have fallen, narrowly avoiding relegation in the last two seasons. But still nobody questions the "cantera" policy. In fact, 76% of Bilbao fans would rather be relegated (keep in mind that this club has never been relegated in its history) than give up the all-Basque policy.

 

I believe that the second example fits Newcastle best - a team which knows its roots and is true to them, nurturing young local players and others who are devoted to the club. And victory can be achieved that way. I don't think that the Bilbao way is how it should be done - certainly an "all-Geordie" team would be a disastrous joke. Sadly, however, I believe that many Newcastle fans as of late have allowed the trophy drought to overtake their good sense and their pride in the club. They're so desperate to win that they'll take any mercenary - and there have been so many - who might give us a shot at glory. Hence the Arse example.

 

That's not for me.

 

 

None of that post makes any sense tbh. Can I point out that Valdes was voted best keeper in Spain 2 years ago, and is regarded as one of the best keepers in Europe? I'd comment on the other examples, but I feel I'm wasting my time on you already.

 

Missed your response to my question about Beckham by the way....

[toontoasey 0]

I appreciate Michael Owen very much. He will score some very big goals for us and also if he stays fit will easily be our top goalscorer.

[peasepud 59]

Sadly, however, I believe that many Newcastle fans as of late have allowed the trophy drought to overtake their good sense and their pride in the club. They're so desperate to win that they'll take any mercenary - and there have been so many - who might give us a shot at glory. Hence the Arse example.

 

Fuck me you really are mental.