Owen: 'Working Under Keegan Was A Dark Period Of My Career'!

Last Updated : 17-Jan-2008 by
Michael Owen is hardly the most imaginitive person to interview, and you would think his script was written weeks before.

But he (or his ghost writter) comes out of the shell in his autobiography.

So much so, he says his time playing for England was a bit of a nightmare ... and he was "scarred" by Keegan!

Owen: "A team meeting was called to discuss the Romanians and Keegan set off on a 20-minute lecture about me. 'Michael, if I was any other manager you would not be playing tomorrow.

"You've got to improve or we'll have to change.' I really started to resent him - not as a man but as a manager. With a quarter of an hour gone I thought, 'Sod him, I'm playing my own game. I know I'm good.' Then I scored and the relief was immense.

"In training all week Keegan had kept me behind, playing balls into me and telling me what he wanted me to do.

"I assume the manager had conveyed to his staff what he thought of me - and plainly it wasn't complimentary. If I did one tiny thing wrong there would be a rush of critical comment.

"I used to go into games believing that the opposition was scared of me and that nothing could get in my way. That feeling, that belief, evaporated at times when I played under Keegan. It was a dark phase in my career."

And when you consider Shearer was very critical of Owen's comments after Owen's long injury, then a Keegan/Shearer could be more of a horror story to Owen than a "Dreamteam".

Owen said: "I am not guilty of missing so many matches for Newcastle, why should I be?"

Shearer: "Michael Owen OWES Newcastle a lot. The club has stuck by him during two years of injuries, and he should stick by the club."