Four years of almost nothingness from a player who could have been a Geordie legend but never set the place alight.
Owen was never "one of us" ... and I don't think for one minute he ever wanted to be.
He hasn't the heart to be a Geordie.
He's no more than the "give me the money" foreign tossers who have arrived on Tyneside in recent years and fleeced the club for millions.
Took his pay cheque and waffled his way through four years looking less than interested at best ... bored stiff at worst.
At the time he was in a football wasteland. He had the choice - Wigan on £60,000 a week or Newcastle on £110,000.
I'm sure he spent hours of soul-searching making up his mind.
But Owen put all thought of money behind him, and signed for Newcastle.
It emerged this week Everton are preparing to offer him a contract this summer, and we all know he cannot wait to get hold of the pen.