Owen Admits He Only Plays Well In A Team Of Winners!
Last updated : 19 July 2009 By Footy Mad - Editor
Apparently ... Newcastle was not a team of "winners" ... and he suffered through "lack of confidence" because the team was struggling.
We reported many times during his four years at St James' Park that his "I'm mightier than the rest" attitude showed he placed passion when the going got tough.
We ran the headline "Owen Will NEVER Be A Geordie" three years ago ... and how right we were. He admitted yesterday, you only get the best out of Michael Owen when the team is winning.
And he held that attitude for the four years he plodded along at St James' Park expecting others to do the dirty work for him.
It took a brave man - or an idiot - to make him captain, and he never once showed any heart for the club when he wore the armband.
Kieron Dyer took stick for throwing down the armband when we played Boro' and the fans never forgave him for it. Owen is of the same stock ... a stuck-up little upstart with his head up his arse.
He has a helicopter; more property than the Queen; more horses than were seen at the Battle Of Little Big Horn; more sports cars than Michael Schumacher; and he says the Geordie public never forgave him for having so much dosh in his arse pocket.
I'll never forgive him for being part the 'fancy dan' brigade (Marcelino, Luque, Maric, Vianna, Kluivert, Emre, Dyer, Babayaro, ect). All good players who didn't fancy playing when the wind was whipping off the North Sea over St James' Park.
The heartless bunch of money-grabbers.
Michael Owen: "You learn to understand the reaction but if you do step back, you think it is strange or unfair.
"When you are being relegated, nobody is interested in listening to you. But I knew it was all to do with me not scoring.
"If you don't score and you don't win, you are wrong to have a helicopter and fly home each week to see your kids. You are wrong to have a business outside of football. You are wrong to plan for the future.
"If the goals had been going in I would have been a great lad, popping home to see my three kids and be a family man on a Tuesday after training. I would have been thoughtful and innocent little things would not be misrepresented.
"There is no hiding from the fact it was disappointing at Newcastle because the team got relegated.
"I played 33 games, so I will not shirk my share of the blame. What I would say is whether you are the best or worst player in the world you are a human being. You are affected by the surroundings, the mood of people, by confidence.
"I could have done more and score more goals but the team was lacking in confidence. It was not playing well, there was a manager every two minutes and unrest at board level.
"In a situation like that you cannot name many players who have played well on a consistent basis over the years. Everyone's standards drop.
"I don't want to say I was dragged down by Newcastle because I have a lot of respect for the club and had some good times but I do believe I play better in a team full of confidence.
"If another player had flown home to see their family it would not have been such news.
"They had paid a record fee for me and I broke my foot trying to score goals for them. But when I was out for another year playing for England it hindered me.
"Probably if I had done my knee playing for Newcastle, there may have been more support.
"I was on the back foot straight away and reversing it was difficult."
Owen marked his Manchester United debut with a late winner to seal a 3-2 win over a Malaysia XI and save his side's blushes in Kuala Lumpur.
Sir Alex Ferguson: "He's (Owen) different from our other players, he's always searching for space, he's always in and around the box. He reacted well for his goal."