Going back to Anfield is painful

[bluebell]

https://tbrfootball.com/former-live...-going-back-to-anfield-is-always-painful/amp/
Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen says going back to Anfield is always painful

 

[Treboeth]

https://tbrfootball.com/former-live...-going-back-to-anfield-is-always-painful/amp/
Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen says going back to Anfield is always painful

Only if the LFC fans catch him.
Woe is me I`m Michael Owen and no-one loves me.

 

[dee]

This is actually not what I expected to read and it seems to paint him in an even worse light?

I thought the arguement back then was whilst he loved Liverpool he wanted to win shit and Real was the ideal vehicle.

What that seems to suggest is a banal move to get a higher wage. "I'll move to RM, Liverpool'll realise how essential I am and (promote me) pay me more when they inevitably re-hire me".

In my business young 'uns constantly fall for this one. As did Michael.

If you leave, you best make sure you are certain where you're going is right. It might be for (a short term) better pay but once you go the new role/company forget about where you came from, they will have moved on.

It seems Michael is suggesting he used RM as (in his mind) a short term convenience to get a better contract. Life is so very rarely like that

 

[Squiggles]

Unloved by every fan base he played for.

Deservedly so, too.

 

[The Nomad]

This is actually not what I expected to read and it seems to paint him in an even worse light?

I thought the arguement back then was whilst he loved Liverpool he wanted to win shit and Realwas the ideal vehicle.

What that seems to suggest is a banal move to get a higher wage. "I'll move to RM, they'll realise how essential I am and (promote me) pay me more when they inevitably re-hire me".

In my business young 'uns constantly fall for this one. As did Michael.

If you leave, you best make sure you are certain where you're going is right. It might be for (a short term) better pay but once you go the new role/company forget about where you came from, they will have moved on.

It seems Michael is suggesting he used RM as (in his mind) a short term convenience to get a better contract. Life is so very rarely like that

I think you read too much between the lines there.

He's always said, he viewed the Real move as a short term gig. He saw Rush move to Juve and was welcomed back. He naively thought he could do the same. Sample the football in Spain.. return a hero a year or two later.

Real blocked his move back to us, we weren't prepared to pay more than what we received.

He went to Newcastle for that reason, they were willing to pay. By his own admission, he had a choice. Rot on the bench at Real, or take the Newcastle move.

His injury record at Newcastle blocked a further move back to us. But then he did the unthinkable, the unforgivable.

So that's where any sympathy from me ends. Had he not gone to Utd, there probably could have been some sort of compassion thrown his way.

But to leave us in the first place for a paltry sum.. then to join our bitter rivals just to win a trophy? It wasnt about the money for Owen.

Fuck him.

 

[darkstarexodus]

It hurts going to Anfield.
Yet he's a club ambassador collecting a pay cheque. Bit of disparity that one.

 

[dee]

I think you read too much between the lines there.
...
But to leave us in the first place for a paltry sum.. then to join our bitter rivals just to win a trophy? It wasnt about the money for Owen.

Fuck him.

I'm only trying to point out that this idea of the 'short break' to allow your employer to 'see the light' is so very rarely realised. I've no knowledge of what terms MO was offered back then then and if they were competitive fair or realistic. What i do know is that it is very rare to see this idea of "OMG what have we done - let's rehire our ex-coleague on double the terms they walked out on" taking place.

From what I understand from afar, he's a chap that likes to gamble so maybe that's the true reason for the split. MO just bet on Liverpool caving and calling him back

 

[Treboeth]

It hurts going to Anfield.
Yet he's a club ambassador collecting a pay cheque. Bit of cunt that one.

😉

 

[Modo]

Its strange, I see Fowler, Macca, McAteer, Carra, Barnes etc on TV and think "LFC".
When Owen is on he's just another former footballer in my mind.
I agree, moving to Man U is unforgivable.
He got his league title, just cost him his football legacy pretty much.

 

[Markeh]

Its stranged, I see Fowler, Macca, McAteer, Carra, Barnes etc on TV and think "LFC".
When Owen is on he's just another former footballer in my mind.
I agree, moving to Man U is unforgivable.
He got his league title, just cost him his football legacy pretty much.

When i see Owen i think England, although i did love him before he left.

 

[bluebell]

Its stranged, I see Fowler, Macca, McAteer, Carra, Barnes etc on TV and think "LFC".
When Owen is on he's just another former footballer in my mind.
I agree, moving to Man U is unforgivable.
He got his league title, just cost him his football legacy pretty much.

Macca??? When he retired wasn't he going to Everton games?

 

[FoxForceFive]

Anyone actually listened to the podcast he did with Carra yet?

I haven't, but apparently Carra asks the questions the fans would, & the answers have pretty much polarised our fans, with many saying they get where Owen is coming from & just as many saying they haven't changed their mind at all.

 

[Modo]

Macca??? When he retired wasn't he going to Everton games?

Macca has worked with the Liverpool youth teams and he's clearly fan when he's on TV.
The fact that he's from Liverpool also helps.

 

[Modo]

Anyone actually listened to the podcast he did with Carra yet?

I haven't, but apparently Carra asks the questions the fans would, & the answers have pretty much polarised our fans, with many saying they get where Owen is coming from & just as many saying they haven't changed their mind at all.

Reportedly both Coutinho and Emre Can rejected Man U. Now if that's true, what does it say about Michael Owen?
Liverpool was always second to England for him as well.

 

[The Nomad]

Anyone actually listened to the podcast he did with Carra yet?

I haven't, but apparently Carra asks the questions the fans would, & the answers have pretty much polarised our fans, with many saying they get where Owen is coming from & just as many saying they haven't changed their mind at all.

I've read the transcripts that have been printed. And none of it was new versus the interview he did with BT Sport a season or two ago.

I'm in the camp that could have forgiven him for the Real move. He took his medicine with us winning the CL. He missed out on that.

However, the Utd move slammed that door for me, as I said. So nope, no mind changing here either.

 

[FoxForceFive]

Tbf that's the camp I'm in too, Utd was a step too far.

Haven't listened to that podcast yet myself but doubt it'll change my mind.

 

[KopRed]

The way he celebrated after scoring that goal against Citeh for Utd is still in my head when I think of him.

I have no idea why the club even asked him to be our ambassador.

 

[reuque]

The way he celebrated after scoring that goal against Citeh for Utd is still in my head when I think of him.

I have no idea why the club even asked him to be our ambassador.

The often repeated argument is that he's a 'more globally recognised' personality, which I just take as he's vanilla as fuck and too boring to likely ever offend anyone with controversy.

 

[tombrown]

Anyone actually listened to the podcast he did with Carra yet?

I haven't, but apparently Carra asks the questions the fans would, & the answers have pretty much polarised our fans, with many saying they get where Owen is coming from & just as many saying they haven't changed their mind at all.

I listened to the pod. You can understand and forgive him for his moves, except for that one. His excuse was that only Utd and Hull were offering him a role, and why should the Mighty Micheal Owen go to Hull

I have listened to few of Carra's pods - Henri, Gerrard & Owen, not much interest in the others. Not sure if it happens in his other pods, but in those ones he makes the conversation as much about himself as the one he is interviewing. Its fascinating listening, and maybe, for Gerrard and Owen, his story is so interwoven he cant avoid it, and Henri was his first one.

 

[Modo]

When i see Owen i think England, although i did love him before he left.

Yeah thats true.

 

[localny]

Hold on a minute here. He royally screwed the club as well as winding down his value and contract, so he could leave more cheaply

He enabled Real to only offer $8M for us, by doing so, when his market value was $20M. In those days that really screwed us from finding a suitable replacement. We were seasons without a killer striker. Until Fernando.

And then, We refused to pay Real ridiculous fees on his return - having got screwed on the outbound. And he was told by Rafa to be firm, because Real would of course sell him to us if Michael held strong. But he didn;t want a protracted affair that would see him coming back to us - at the right price, because of his place in the England squad and the World Cup was coming up. If he F-ing cared about the club, he would have done NONE of the things above.

Get the Efff out of here Michael with your ever changing narratives. You'll never be a legend, because legends show loyalty. It's 100% on you. You could have made it happen, but because you always always put yourself first, and had no backbone, this is where you are.

 

[manwithnoname]

I don't dislike Owen, but there's a reason that, even in his absolute pomp in a Liverpool shirt, he was never warmed to as much as other similarly great players by the fans.

So subsequent missteps and that move to United never really surprised me that much, but he never felt the love (or deserved it); he was booed by some Liverpool fans on his return to Anfield as a player, even *before* he went to United.

Part of it was personality. He never seemed human or relatable

 

[peterhague]

I think a massive part of it was personality, he's like the class swot.

I never cared that he went to Utd. He was irrelevant by then and they were the only decent club in for him. It didn't remotely surprise me.

But fucking us over and leaving for fucking £8m really did damage us. Cost us at least 20m back when that was a LOT of money. So no sympathy really.

 

[refugee]

Is he on the autism spectrum? When he was taking about heart broken he was, he displayed all the emotion of a turnip

 

[Grjt2]

Hold on a minute

And then, We refused to pay Real ridiculous fees on his return - having got screwed on the outbound. And he was told by Rafa to be firm, because Real would of course sell him to us if Michael held strong. But he didn;t want a protracted affair that would see him coming back to us - at the right price, because of his place in the England squad and the World Cup was coming up. If he F-ing cared about the club, he would have done NONE of the things above.
re.

It can hardly be called “ridiculous fees” when another club could and did meet the valuation. More like “market rate” regardless how unpalatable that was to us given how much we had to sell him for....

 

[manwithnoname]

Is he on the autism spectrum? When he was taking about heart broken he was, he displayed all the emotion of a turnip

I've obviously not read any biographies or anything, but I can't ever forget that quote where he claimed to have only seen - in his entire life - about 5 films.

He seemed genuinely bemused about the power or value of fiction as a whole

Which is quite something

 

[dantes]

Is he on the autism spectrum? When he was taking about heart broken he was, he displayed all the emotion of a turnip

His total inability to lie convincingly or even stick to an internally consistent narrative, would suggest he's pretty fucking far from the spectrum.

 

[Aidan O' Neill]

Reportedly both Coutinho and Emre Can rejected Man U. Now if that's true, what does it say about Michael Owen?
Liverpool was always second to England for him as well.

Man United are shite now. If and it's a big if Coutinho and/or Can turned them down it's because it would be a big step down from where they're at now.

 

[moron]

Yes Michael - I would feel like that if I had memories of being a total cunt like you were when you wanted to leave.

 

[gkmacca]

I thought it was easier to sympathise with him when listening to him talk to Carragher. And it's probably easier to be more generous towards him now the club is where it is. He's an odd character, but he did incredibly well for LFC, and the medical staff of the time are at least partly responsible for wrecking the rest of his career, playing him to help the club in the short term in exchange for damaging him irreparably in the long term. Lots of top players have left, some via far more devious means than Owen, and they still get birthday greetings from the club and an easy ride from the fans, even though they couldn't give a damn about the place. The booing, at least, ought to stop.