No Loan Deal For Owen

Freddy Shepherd made Thursday "D Day", saying: "He signs today or not at all", and that day passed with us all thinking "not at all"! However, the manager hopes that he can persuade the England striker to sign a permanent contract at St James's Park.

Souness remained optimistic: "All I can say is that we have made a club record offer, it has been accepted by Real Madrid and it is up to the player and his advisors to say yes or no," he said.

"Am I confident? I'm a confident kind of person, I'm always optimistic and I'm hopeful Michael Owen will agree to join us. He knows what this club is all about, he will have spoken to our players and he will know what we can offer."