Alan Shearer had to change his game after that injury at Goodison Park against Chelsea, and moved from "sniffer" to target man. Not many players could do it so successfully as the GOALden Boy, and in all truth, Owen is hardly built to be a target man ... is he?
Coppell Knows How Owen Feels
The Newcastle striker has been missing for 10 months since suffering a serious knee injury in the opening seconds of England's World Cup clash with Sweden in June last year. But he will make his comeback against Reading.
Coppell's own playing career was ended by a similar injury 25 years ago.
Coppell: "Nowadays the advances in medical science are such that cruciate reconstruction is not the career-finisher it used to be.
"I'm not saying it is routine mechanics now but the advances are such that I seriously don't think it will be a major problem.
"He does have that goal-scoring gift and has proved that for many years. The main source of his gift has been his pace and that is the one thing he and everyone will be looking at more than anything, not only to score goals but sometimes to avoid trouble.
"Glenn Roeder has been very protective of him and I'm sure if he doesn't think the time is right he won't use him.
"It hurts every team when you lose your best players and he has been a key player in recent years.
"He is a proven international goal-scorer at the highest level so until he comes back and starts scoring freely again then he will be missed."