Michael Owen, Manchester United PL winner...

[Rozay]

Up until this day, this is probably the one thing I struggle to ‘forgive’ the great Sir Alex for. I know there were a few highlights - goal against City, League Cup final, hat-trick in Wolfsburg etc - but on the whole, it wasn’t a spectacular contribution.

Everytime I see him he seems a proper prick, who has little time for United. He’s a scouser, and a somewhat iconic one at that. Yet Sir Alex saw it fit to give this rag the opportunity to win his one major club medal in his career by bagging a PL title with us. It would have been one thing if we had signed an Owen or Gerrard in their prime, who despite being Scousers, were world class players so we bit the bullet and won great things together. But Owen was finished, and should, like Gerrard, be ending his career without a PL title by rights. It’d be like us finally getting Aguero his missing CL title by bringing him in as cover at 35 and winning it, for him to then retire as a CL winning City legend. Or us doing an emergency short term deal for a 38 year old Gerrard to cover and him getting a PL medal out of it.

It doesn’t sit well with me, and I feel like he’s done a number on us that he should have never been given the opportunity to do.

 

[Sandikan]

Up until this day, this is probably the one thing I struggle to ‘forgive’ the great Sir Alex for. I know there were a few highlights - goal against City, League Cup final, hat-trick in Wolfsburg etc - but on the whole, it wasn’t a spectacular contribution.

Everytime I see him he seems a proper prick, who has little time for United. He’s a scouser, and a somewhat iconic one at that. Yet Sir Alex saw it fit to give this rag the opportunity to win his one major club medal in his career by bagging a PL title with us. It would have been one thing if we had signed an Owen or Gerrard in their prime, who despite being Scousers, were world class players so we bit the bullet and won great things together. But Owen was finished, and should, like Gerrard, be ending his career without a PL title by rights. It’d be like us finally getting Aguero his missing CL title by bringing him in as cover at 35 and winning it, for him to then retire as a CL winning City legend. Or us doing an emergency short term deal for a 38 year old Gerrard to cover and him getting a PL medal out of it.

It doesn’t sit well with me, and I feel like he’s done a number on us that he should have never been given the opportunity to do.

Don't get this at all. He's repeatedly said how much he loved being part of the club, under a great manager, and with great players.
In his first season he made a decent contribution, but naturally it reduced afterwards.

It suited both parties well at that stage. Free transfer, relatively low wages and a decent outcome for the money spent.

He can't labour his United pleasure now he's weasled back into Liverpool as an "ambassador". But it'll always be a great source of chuckles that he won the title they craved here.

I never do get the ire Owen gets.

 

[Rozay]

Don't get this at all. He's repeatedly said how much he loved being part of the club, under a great manager, and with great players.
In his first season he made a decent contribution, but naturally it reduced afterwards.

It suited both parties well at that stage. Free transfer, relatively low wages and a decent outcome for the money spent.

He can't labour his United pleasure now he's weasled back into Liverpool as an "ambassador". But it'll always be a great source of chuckles that he won the title they craved here.

I never do get the ire Owen gets.

He’s a pundit, there is plenty of opportunity for you to see.

And the contribution was nowhere enough to justify signing a Liverpool great. It was a job any of a number of strikers could have done.

 

[VP89]

Thought he was fine for us tbh. Free transfer that was a good bench option and provided a couple very good moments. Can't complain.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Don't get this at all. He's repeatedly said how much he loved being part of the club, under a great manager, and with great players.
In his first season he made a decent contribution, but naturally it reduced afterwards.

It suited both parties well at that stage. Free transfer, relatively low wages and a decent outcome for the money spent.

He can't labour his United pleasure now he's weasled back into Liverpool as an "ambassador". But it'll always be a great source of chuckles that he won the title they craved here.

I never do get the ire Owen gets.

Agree with this.

Before he scored that ambassador job, he spoke very highly of United, continually used the phrase "loved every minute of it" about his time here.

He comes across as a bit of a boob when he's a pundit or a commentator, and he now represents Liverpool in some capacity so he's not going to be waxing lyrical about United anymore, but he certainly did before.

If I recall correctly, a significant proportion of his salary was pay as you play, he was a free transfer. He's a part of the history of the club with that goal alone. The transfer was hard to take given that we'd just lost Ronaldo and Tevez, but he's not to blame for that.

If we'd have paid a 8 figure fee for him, maybe I'd feel differently about him, but it was a relatively risk-free acquisition. It worked out OK.

 

[El Zoido]

Worth it for the City goal.

I don’t have any problem with him having played for us. He was a decent goal scorer and proved that again with us, did a job, left. Can’t say I’m particularly fond of the bloke on a personal level, or as a pundit. But it really doesn’t matter does it.

 

[2 man midfield]

I don't think Sir Alex gives as much of a shit about the number 7 as the fans do tbh. Michael Carrick said he was offered it, he said no and so it was given to Owen. He used it to motivate Ronaldo when he joined, but other than that he probably thinks it's a number just like any other.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Won the league.

I’d take Shelvey as our #7 next season if it meant we win the league, and he barely plays

 

[Sandikan]

It's also not like he was a Robbie Fowler or someone. A guy with a hateful demeanour towards us, and almost entirely synonymous with Liverpool - from there, almost totally known for being their player.

Owen had his best days at Liverpool, but the English amongst us would have celebrated his every national team goal, and he'd toured a few other clubs by then as well.
Whereas Fowler achieved next to nothing for England, so we didn't even have that slight tie to him.

 

[crossy1686]

Underwhelming but decent. Worthy of the number 7 shirt? No way, but that was a Fergie man-management masterclass, Owen needed that shirt more than we needed to see him wearing it.

 

[0le]

I've never got the impression that he is a proper prick. I've thought his commentary can be dull as is his analysis, but I don't follow his tweets or whatever so yeah...

Whilst at the time I was frustrated, thinking about it now, I don't really have any major problem that he played for Liverpool. This is because we've had a few big name players play for rival clubs including Schmeichel, Ferdinand, Cantona, Van Persie and Law and also smaller name players such as Alan Smith. We've also had players send their children to rival academies as well. I mean, we are even linked to Sancho now too, a city academy product.

 

[Rozay]

It's also not like he was a Robbie Fowler or someone. A guy with a hateful demeanour towards us, and almost entirely synonymous with Liverpool - from there, almost totally known for being their player.

Owen had his best days at Liverpool, but the English amongst us would have celebrated his every national team goal, and he'd toured a few other clubs by then as well.
Whereas Fowler achieved next to nothing for England, so we didn't even have that slight tie to him.

Yea, he’s not Fowler. But he’s a Liverpool great, not a United one, by a long shot. He said he himself feels a little odd to call himself a PL winner as he didn’t really contribute. To me, we did him a favour, not the other way.

Persie spent years at Arsenal but came here and earned his PL medal. If the likes of Carragher, Redknapp and Gerrard can retire without a PL medal, Owen should have been in the same boat as them. Yet the irony that he managed to get one because of Manchester United is odd to me. I see it as he spent years on the other side, hopped over the fence and picked up a PL medal, and then hopped back over and resumed his scouse identity. We shouldn’t have given him that opportunity, on principle alone. One thing to take Liverpool’s best player, another to take a Liverpool icon on his last legs when we were much better than them.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

It doesn’t sit well with me, and I feel like he’s done a number on us that he should have never been given the opportunity to do.

You may be right, but I find some comfort in the fact that he's almost universally disliked by United fans.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

I don't think Sir Alex gives as much of a shit about the number 7 as the fans do tbh. Michael Carrick said he was offered it, he said no and so it was given to Owen. He used it to motivate Ronaldo when he joined, but other than that he probably thinks it's a number just like any other.

To be fair, it is just a number... Nothing anyone should really get upset about.

But anyway, he was worth it for that winner against City alone.

Also scored in the League Cup final for us too.

 

[Affirmation]

I agree with the sentiment that he should never of been allowed to adorn the iconic number seven and that will never sit right with me. But regarding us actually signing him, I wasn't against it considering I valued the attributes he brought as a player to the team. Considering the stage he was at in his career at the time, I thought he did quite well and his crucial goals certainly made the acquisition worth it. But then again I will never understand why the club handed him the number 7 shirt and I do agree that Michael Owen as a person is a bit of a prat.

 

[Rozay]

Changed the thread title as I realised that some were taking there to be some particular emphasis on the shirt number. That has nothing to do with my point really.

 

[Sandikan]

I agree with the sentiment that he should never of been allowed to adorn the iconic number seven and that will never sit right with me. But regarding us actually signing him, I wasn't against it considering I valued the attributes he brought as a player to the team. Considering the stage he was at in his career at the time, I thought he did quite well and his crucial goals certainly made the acquisition worth it. But then again I will never understand why the club handed him the number 7 shirt and I do agree that Michael Owen as a person is a bit of a prat.

Who should have worn that Number 7 then out of interest? Or in the decade or so since Ronaldo left?

 

[2 man midfield]

To be fair, it is just a number... Nothing anyone should really get upset about.

But anyway, he was worth it for that winner against City alone.

Also scored in the League Cup final for us too.

Yeah, I couldn't care less really. Besides, Sanchez has been a bigger smear on the number than Owen has if you wanted to delve into it.

 

[Affirmation]

Who should have worn that Number 7 then out of interest? Or in the decade or so since Ronaldo left?

I always thought the club should of just kept that number in reserve until a player worthy enough to wear it joins or works his way up to that status. I understand many just view it as a number with little significance, but clearly it has more sway than that which even Antonio Valencia alluded to given his first hand experience wearing it.

 

[fps]

You... you wouldn’t want Aguero to join and play a part in a CL winning campaign? You’d forgo that CL win for this if it was optional? Because he kicks a football in a slightly different place to the place you like to watch people kicking a football at the moment? What?

The only issue with Owen was that other players should also have been signed, he did fine.

 

[Offside]

I haven’t got a problem with him. In 09/10 he scored the winning goal against City in the best Derby ever, hat trick in Germany, cup final goal v Villa. Even in his second season he scored a late equaliser against Bolton and the final goal of the league season. For a player who’d been harmed so much by injuries his contribution here was good.

 

[Member 113277]

He did a job for us, was professional in every way.

 

[Sandikan]

Signings are all about expectation.
That's why any reasonable fan would reason that Owen did as much as was expected, if not more, whereas Sanchez and Di Maria criminally under delivered.

 

[Striker10]

I think the thing is that he would say he played his best football at...Liverpool. And he did. So for his legacy, he has to appease Liverpool fans. There's a lot of BS in general. It is what it is. United fans know we didn't see the best of him. So if he pissed off Liverpool fans then maybe United fans start bigging him up just to irrate the scousers. It's just talk. Like when Alan Smith said he'd never play for United. Sometimes people say things they may mean but not always. And going back in any capacity to Liverpool, you have to backtrack. So he might downplay his time here but secretly he knows the truth Trust me, he hasn't disowned his medal. He never said he wish it was for Liverpool. Though now he might as people get really sensitive about these things.

 

[charlenefan]

I get the OP, I too wish I could erase him from ever playing for United

Even his City goal was 2 years before they were any good so it feels wrong to even harp on about that

 

[davidmichael]

Isn’t he hated by the bin dippers more than we do due to playing for us after them and winning the league with us ? He never hit the heights for us that he did for Liverpool but he scored a few goals and cost us nothing other than wages.

To be honest I’m more annoyed that we replaced Ronaldo who was the one of the two best players in the world and Tevez with Owen, Valencia and Obertan as we got £80 million in one go and spent £20 million of it when Robben and Sneijder were available that summer as were others that I remembered (Benzema maybe ?) in a similar post I made in a different thread a couple of months ago.

We were in a position of power having won the league and only a year removed from winning both the league and Champions League so we were the biggest pull in England and arguably only behind Real and Barca anywhere, Owen along with Valencia and Obertan weren’t good enough replacements for two world class players leaving at the same time.

 

[Rozay]

He did a job for us, was professional in every way.

Why did we need a Liverpool great to ‘do a job’ for us?

Should we have brought in Steven Gerrard in his latter years because ‘we needed an extra body to cover in midfield’, for example? I’d be all for setting club rivalry aside if we were getting the real Michael Owen. I don’t get why we should bring in a Liverpool icon in some sort of Martin Braithwaite role though. Surely we can just get someone else, given any old decent striker will do - which is all Owen was when he joined us.

He’s a Liverpool man. Only hung around for long enough to pick up his only league medal, which was a donation from us to him rather than anything else.

 

[Rozay]

You... you wouldn’t want Aguero to join and play a part in a CL winning campaign? You’d forgo that CL win for this if it was optional? Because he kicks a football in a slightly different place to the place you like to watch people kicking a football at the moment? What?

The only issue with Owen was that other players should also have been signed, he did fine.

You read what you want to mate.

The issue with Owen isn’t just that other players should have also been signed, it was that another player should have been signed instead. He ‘did fine’. Did we really need Michael fecking Owen of Liverpool to ‘do fine’? Couldn’t we just get a non-Scouse great?

If we were going to take Aguero from City, because he’s a great striker who will propel us to win the CL, then fine. If we’re going to take him when he’s finished because we already have a CL winning team and they need a little help, then feck him, get Odion Ighalo or Grant fecking Holt instead if that is the job description. We don’t need a City legend for that. We shouldn’t be giving him his missing CL medal as a token because he just about met the minutes quota to earn a medal. If that is the extent of his powers, he’s only Aguero in name only at that point.

 

[clarkydaz]

I don’t get why we should bring in a Liverpool icon in some sort of Martin Braithwaite role though. Surely we can just get someone else, given any old decent striker will do - which is all Owen was when he joined us.

He’s a Liverpool man. Only hung around for long enough to pick up his only league medal, which was a donation from us to him rather than anything else.

Not really he's a Michael Owen man, always has been. He isnt particulary liked among Liverpool fans at all, or any club fanbase he played for. At his peak he was more bothered about being Englands golden boy rather than Fowler mk2.

Scousers were horrifed he was given an ambassador role. Which makes it all the more hilarious he played for us whilst barely being important for us, i personally find it piss funny

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

Don't get this at all. He's repeatedly said how much he loved being part of the club, under a great manager, and with great players.
In his first season he made a decent contribution, but naturally it reduced afterwards.

It suited both parties well at that stage. Free transfer, relatively low wages and a decent outcome for the money spent.

He can't labour his United pleasure now he's weasled back into Liverpool as an "ambassador". But it'll always be a great source of chuckles that he won the title they craved here.

I never do get the ire Owen gets.

Agreed on all counts, I haven't a problem with his brief stay with us. It's clear he's not exactly a fan favourite and it was more of a transactional arrangement that suited both parties than a labour of love but the City goal and the fact a Liverpool legend had to come here to get his hands on a league medal are decent perks of his United career.

 

[SAFMUTD]

For me just seeing the liverpool fans heart broken because one of his idols celebrated goals with us worth its.

 

[Devil81]

It's a mark of the man he accepted a contract with United, I know players have ended their days at City but that was because they weren't a threat and offered a wage in the area they lived.

Owen chose to taint his legacy with Liverpool to the point I doubt they'd ever truly respect him again.

As for his time at United beyond the obvious Derby winner he offered nothing other than a body in the box. His legs were shot and the pace that made him a nightmare to defend against was gone.

 

[Sean_RedDevil]

For me just seeing the liverpool fans heart broken because one of his idols celebrated goals with us worth its.

This

 

[Irrational.]

He's harmless, worth it for that City goal alone.

 

[ShinjiNinja26]

Yeah he’s a bit of a knob but I’ve no issue with his time here. Like others have said worth it for the goal against City alone.

 

[Member 113277]

Why did we need a Liverpool great to ‘do a job’ for us?

Because the greatest Premier League manager of all time decided so.

 

[Sandikan]

It's a mark of the man he accepted a contract with United, I know players have ended their days at City but that was because they weren't a threat and offered a wage in the area they lived.

Owen chose to taint his legacy with Liverpool to the point I doubt they'd ever truly respect him again.

As for his time at United beyond the obvious Derby winner he offered nothing other than a body in the box. His legs were shot and the pace that made him a nightmare to defend against was gone.

What you describe in that first line is totally what Owen did though.
Liverpool weren't a threat at that stage either, and Owen had exactly what you mention - a wage in the area he lived.

Bearing in mind loads of Liverpool fans taunted him for leaving just before they won the 2005 European cup, and he was never a patch on their beloved Robbie Fowler, I wouldn't go too heavy on the Liverpool legacy bit.

Owen himself has said he had an offer from Hull, or one from United. It would have been mad not to have come to us.

 

[jymufc20]

Up until this day, this is probably the one thing I struggle to ‘forgive’ the great Sir Alex for. I know there were a few highlights - goal against City, League Cup final, hat-trick in Wolfsburg etc - but on the whole, it wasn’t a spectacular contribution.

Everytime I see him he seems a proper prick, who has little time for United. He’s a scouser, and a somewhat iconic one at that. Yet Sir Alex saw it fit to give this rag the opportunity to win his one major club medal in his career by bagging a PL title with us. It would have been one thing if we had signed an Owen or Gerrard in their prime, who despite being Scousers, were world class players so we bit the bullet and won great things together. But Owen was finished, and should, like Gerrard, be ending his career without a PL title by rights. It’d be like us finally getting Aguero his missing CL title by bringing him in as cover at 35 and winning it, for him to then retire as a CL winning City legend. Or us doing an emergency short term deal for a 38 year old Gerrard to cover and him getting a PL medal out of it.

It doesn’t sit well with me, and I feel like he’s done a number on us that he should have never been given the opportunity to do.

Isn't he from Chester ? I don't agree with any of this, I think it was worth it just for how much it winded them up.

Also wasn't he a Liverpool ambassador when we won the Europa League and he referred to us as "we" I seem to remember them all calling for his resignation over that.

Yeah he comes across as a right prick but it was worth it just for that derby winner.

 

[Maluco]

You read what you want to mate.

The issue with Owen isn’t just that other players should have also been signed, it was that another player should have been signed instead. He ‘did fine’. Did we really need Michael fecking Owen of Liverpool to ‘do fine’? Couldn’t we just get a non-Scouse great?

If we were going to take Aguero from City, because he’s a great striker who will propel us to win the CL, then fine. If we’re going to take him when he’s finished because we already have a CL winning team and they need a little help, then feck him, get Odion Ighalo or Grant fecking Holt instead if that is the job description. We don’t need a City legend for that. We shouldn’t be giving him his missing CL medal as a token because he just about met the minutes quota to earn a medal. If that is the extent of his powers, he’s only Aguero in name only at that point.

I don’t think at the time it was done as a “it will do”. The season previously to their relegation, he had been Newcastle’s Captain and top goal scorer, and when he was fit, was even dropping back into an attacking midfield position at times. He was hampered by injury, but he was still influential.

I think Ferguson probably looked at it as a gamble, if they could sort him out physically, United would pick up a natural goalscorer, who wasn’t even 30 at the time, for free.

He had also lived through the PL years when he was sensational for Liverpool and probably reckoned it was worth the gamble to get even half that player for free.

He has gone back in prior statements in recent years trying to ingratiate himself to the Pool fans, but the damage was done there the moment he signed for United.

He won a league title, but tarnished his legacy with them forever, whereas United got a useful player and a league title, with no real downside.

 

[Dirty Schwein]

He’s a pundit, there is plenty of opportunity for you to see.

And the contribution was nowhere enough to justify signing a Liverpool great. It was a job any of a number of strikers could have done.

The Liverpool great who won his PL medal playing for their bitter rivals... It's great!