Michael Owen exclusive interview

Mar 14 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Michael Owen thought he knew everything about Newcastle United but in an exclusive interview with Luke Edwards he admits it has taken him almost four years to understand what a unique club it is

MICHAEL Owen is a cool, calculating predator with a natural instinct and a sharp eye for the kill. He is a goalscorer of the highest pedigree, a world-class footballer who has been an England star for almost as long as he has been a Premier League one. He is also Newcastle United’s captain.

Owen’s club career since he left Real Madrid for £16.5m in August 2005 has so often been an afterthought; a footnote to a story about the national team.

That Owen’s career at Newcastle has been overshadowed by his international one is not his fault. He was an international superstar long before he arrived on Tyneside and, as a result, his form and fitness will always be of national interest.

But it has meant the 29-year-old’s position at St James’s Park has always been viewed suspiciously, firstly by a national media who could not understand why he would want to play for a club like Newcastle and, consequently, by United fans who questioned the commitment of a player who earns more than £100,000 a week and has constantly been linked with leaving.

With his contract due to expire at the end of this season – which would allow him to leave on a free transfer in a little over three months if he does not agree a new one – nothing has changed for the former Liverpool sensation.

His future remains a far more interesting topic for many than his present.

Significantly, Owen – questions about his contract were strictly off limits in this interview – is not one of them. With his recovery from an ankle injury completed, the striker returns for Newcastle against Hull City today with nothing other than ten games on his mind, games which will either lead to safety or ruin for the club he skippers.

“We’ve always been flitting around three or four places off the bottom, but it’s only since we lost to Manchester United and results went against us that we have found ourselves in real trouble,” said Owen, fresh from studying a copy of Racing Post for his Cheltenham Festival form guide. “There is a determination to put it right. I don’t feel we are in the last-chance saloon yet, but it is getting damn important we start picking up points and fast.

“We have to realise we are responsible for getting results above anything else. That responsibility filters through to the players, from the fans, the staff at the club. Everyone’s backs are against the wall now and nobody wants to see Newcastle United not playing in the Premier League next season.” Even by Newcastle’s standards, this has been a tempestuous campaign, with Kevin Keegan’s controversial departure plunging the club into turmoil as fans protested against owner Mike Ashley, who in turn responded to the ugly mood by ushering in months of uncertainty and lack of leadership by putting the club on the market.

Mitigating circumstances for a season of struggle on the pitch perhaps? “I definitely think it has been a fractious season, even by Newcastle’s standards,” admits Owen.

“Looking at this club from the outside before I came here it always looked as though there was turmoil off the pitch, players fighting with each other, or managers getting sacked after two minutes. There was always something going on.