Owen: Turmoil has delayed contract talks

[Jimbo 175]

Michael Owen has pinpointed Newcastle's boardroom "turmoil" as the reason for his delay in agreeing a new contract.

 

After former manager Kevin Keegan's controversial exit in September, owner Mike Ashley put the Magpies up for sale but has been unable to find a buyer.

 

"We had a few meetings earlier on in the season and things were going fine," striker Owen, 28, told BBC Sport.

 

"Then the manager left as did someone on the board who we were negotiating with - talks haven't picked up since."

 

Owen's current deal ends next summer and he could walk away from the club for free at the end of the season.

 

"Before it's gets twisted again, that's not me snubbing Newcastle," added the England striker, who scored twice for the Magpies in Saturday's 2-2 draw with Stoke City.

 

"They've got bigger things to fry than sorting out my contract, or the contracts of Steven Harper, Shola Amoebi, Mark Viduka and Nicky Butt - there are a lot of people out of contract.

 

"They haven't got round to talking with the players. There has been a lot of turmoil at the club and I suppose they have been shuffled to the back of the queue."

 

Owen praised the work of Keegan's successor Joe Kinnear, who recently signed a contract as Newcastle's manager until the end of the season.

 

"We needed someone to steady the ship - there has been so much surrounding the club this season, as well as other seasons, it seems to attract unwanted publicity," said Owen, who has now scored six Premier League goals this season.

 

"He has come in and has had a steadying influence on the club and has done really well.

 

"We're quite hard to beat - we've had a lot of draws and if we can turn those into wins we'll be on the right road."

[Fop 1]

[Hadrian 0]

so he's saying that absolutely nobody has been in contact since keegan and co left ?

whats a fucking shambles this regime is , you dont take the double glazing out of the house before you sell it !

Edited December 6, 2008 by Hadrian

[Guest alex]

Can't blame him for wanting away. The fans have never took to him for a start. Take yesterday where he scored two goals and the fans sang Martins name all match and never acknowledged Owen once. Martins was shite as well.

[peasepud 59]

Can't blame him for wanting away. The fans have never took to him for a start. Take yesterday where he scored two goals and the fans sang Martins name all match and never acknowledged Owen once. Martins was shite as well.

 

I know, it amazes me how much adoration Martins gets, dont get me wrong I think he can be good but frankly its a bit weird that Owen scores two and theres a few muted "one Michael Owen" chants drowned out by "Oba Oba Fe"

 

to be honest I think its because as fans we havent got the nous anymore to come up with chants and songs, so people end up looking for reasons to sing the same old shite.

[Guest alex]

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have took Martins off as he's the only pacy option we have upfront. But he was shit yesterday and I don't get the adoration either. Great assist for the second goal though.

[peasepud 59]

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have took Martins off as he's the only pacy option we have upfront. But he was shit yesterday and I don't get the adoration either. Great assist for the second goal though.

 

Yeah it was but it is time though that we recognised Owen as the striker he is. Not permanently having this "he doesnt care about us and will be off" attitude, yes he will be off but anyone who thinks they can blame him for that has a screw loose in my opinion.

[Tom 14019]

When Owen came to Newcastle he may have expected stability, or on the back of our Champions League exploits and UEFA Cup exploits, constant European football.

 

However everything went wrong and then again and then again.

[Tooj 17]

When Owen came to Newcastle he may have expected stability, or on the back of our Champions League exploits and UEFA Cup exploits, constant European football.

 

However everything went wrong and then again and then again.

Do you not remember what happened the season before he came?

[Guest alex]

I just hope he goes in the summer because if he goes in January we are well and truly fucked. Although staying up this season is probably just delaying the inevitable if the club isn't sold.

[Tom 14019]

When Owen came to Newcastle he may have expected stability, or on the back of our Champions League exploits and UEFA Cup exploits, constant European football.

 

However everything went wrong and then again and then again.

Do you not remember what happened the season before he came?

 

I don't see what you're getting at.

 

 

Shite season, but we have been in Europe more often than not I reckon.

[peasepud 59]

I just hope he goes in the summer because if he goes in January we are well and truly fucked. Although staying up this season is probably just delaying the inevitable if the club isn't sold.

 

Im resigned to the fact Ashley will just see him staying as a loss of money.

[Tooj 17]

When Owen came to Newcastle he may have expected stability, or on the back of our Champions League exploits and UEFA Cup exploits, constant European football.

 

However everything went wrong and then again and then again.

Do you not remember what happened the season before he came?

 

I don't see what you're getting at.

 

 

Shite season, but we have been in Europe more often than not I reckon.

Therein lies my point.

[Tom 14019]

Nice one.

[JonGoodwyn 1]

Joe Kinnear has identified Lucas Mareque as one of his top transfer targets for January.

 

The Newcastle boss is looking to bring in reinforcements in the New Year and has set his sights on a left-back to provide competition for Jose Enrique.

 

The likes of John Arne Riise and Leighton Baines have been linked with Newcastle but Kinnear has now expressed an interest in Mareque.

 

The 25-year-old Argentine currently plays for Independiente and Kinnear feels he would be a useful addition to his squad.

 

"Lucas Mareque is a player we are looking to bring in from Independiente in the January transfer window and we are trying to find out what that would entail," Kinnear told The People.

 

"He is 6ft 2ins and height is something we could do with in our back four.

 

"We have looked at the way our own Argentinians Jonas Gutierrez and Fabricio Coloccini have settled in and we have spoken to them about Mareque and they have given us glowing reports.

 

"We are also monitoring the situation at Hearts with their left-back David Obua, but like a lot of other clubs we're monitoring a lot of players."

Enjoyment

 

Kinnear has been given the go-ahead to make transfers after being made Newcastle manager until the end of the season.

 

He insists he is happy to be in the job and not at all concerned that his salary is lower than other Premier League bosses.

 

He said: "When I was given the role last week my financial situation wasn't even mentioned. But as far as I am concerned this is not about money.

 

"Yes it has been tough for me at times since I arrived but I am enjoying every minute of this and while I don't know how long I am going to be here when I do go I want to go out with my head held high.

 

"However if I do a good job in the next few months perhaps I would ask to have my contract reviewed."

 

[Tooj 17]

Nice one.

Mature as always.

[peasepud 59]

Do we have the only manager in the country that believes its a good idea to warn the rest of the footballing world who we are looking to buy? Do we hear Ferguson coming out and saying "Im going to buy x"? No, no we dont and why? because when Ferguson gets his eye on a player then he knows he has a chance of buying him.

 

We have reverted back to the days when the board would make outlandish claims to be buying top players just to keep the masses happy.

[Happy Face 29]

Do we have the only manager in the country that believes its a good idea to warn the rest of the footballing world who we are looking to buy? Do we hear Ferguson coming out and saying "Im going to buy x"? No, no we dont and why? because when Ferguson gets his eye on a player then he knows he has a chance of buying him.

 

We have reverted back to the days when the board would make outlandish claims to be buying top players just to keep the masses happy.

 

There was an article in the journal about that yesterday, about the lengths Keegan went to to keep the Bassong deal hush. A Trialist on the teamsheet did little to alert anyone else.

 

Kinnear's talk could all be a red Herring though.

[Jill 0]

Kinnear's talk could all be a red Herring though.

 

I'm not sure he's clever enough tbh.

[LeazesMag 0]

Can't blame him for wanting away. The fans have never took to him for a start. Take yesterday where he scored two goals and the fans sang Martins name all match and never acknowledged Owen once. Martins was shite as well.

 

I know, it amazes me how much adoration Martins gets, dont get me wrong I think he can be good but frankly its a bit weird that Owen scores two and theres a few muted "one Michael Owen" chants drowned out by "Oba Oba Fe"

 

to be honest I think its because as fans we havent got the nous anymore to come up with chants and songs, so people end up looking for reasons to sing the same old shite.

 

I've never thought Martins was a top player. Don't get me wrong, his goals have probably saved us from going down for 2 seasons and scoring 12-15 goals is decent going [17 in the first season possibly ?] but scoring spectacular goals just doesn't make up for missing the bread and butter ones through lack of composure, or his general inability to make the right decisions in team play.

 

He's got his price which is one of the highest we have, but yesterday was a classic example. Start of the 2nd half, 2-0 up but Stoke putting us under pressure to get back into the game. Great chance to make it 3-0 and game over, missed and 30 seconds or so later its 2-1.

 

A GOOD striker, who gets the basics right, would have at least forced the keeper to save in that situation. Its not a one off, it just happens to often.

 

We have 5 or 6 good players at the club, but the rest of them are either hit and miss [Martins] or just not good enough and thats why we are in the shit and its also why we lost the lead yesterday, not really Kinnears substitutions, which were forced on him to an extent by having no options to speak of.

[JonGoodwyn 1]

Do we have the only manager in the country that believes its a good idea to warn the rest of the footballing world who we are looking to buy? Do we hear Ferguson coming out and saying "Im going to buy x"? No, no we dont and why? because when Ferguson gets his eye on a player then he knows he has a chance of buying him.

 

We have reverted back to the days when the board would make outlandish claims to be buying top players just to keep the masses happy.

Especially as just yesterday he was saying he wasn't going to reveal his transfer targets as someone might pinch them - is laughable.

[Guest alex]

I'll concede that a lack of options didn't help Kinnear. Guthrie goes off and there wasn't a single midfielder on the bench.

[Fop 1]

 

"However if I do a good job in the next few months perhaps I would ask to have my contract reviewed."

 

 

3 wins in 20?

[Happy Face 29]

I'll concede that a lack of options didn't help Kinnear. Guthrie goes off and there wasn't a single midfielder on the bench.

 

I thought the options were either what you suggested, or put Viduka on and Drop Owen back for the 443 that's been proven to work.

 

I never even considered the option he took. 7 defenders on the pitch (including the keeper) and we still concede.

 

[Fop 1]

Do we have the only manager in the country that believes its a good idea to warn the rest of the footballing world who we are looking to buy? Do we hear Ferguson coming out and saying "Im going to buy x"? No, no we dont and why? because when Ferguson gets his eye on a player then he knows he has a chance of buying him.

 

We have reverted back to the days when the board would make outlandish claims to be buying top players just to keep the masses happy.

 

There was an article in the journal about that yesterday, about the lengths Keegan went to to keep the Bassong deal hush. A Trialist on the teamsheet did little to alert anyone else.

 

Kinnear's talk could all be a red Herring though.

 

 

Keegan in knowing what he was doing shocker?