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Goodbye Michael - mediocrity awaits
So Michael Owen has finally decided his new club…. and by doing so, has made the second worst decision of his career. The first of course, was to desert – at the eleventh hour - the club who helped him become European Footballer of the Year. His reward was to sit on a wooden bench in Madrid, while watching those he sold out claim their fifth European Cup in the most miraculous game of all time. Whatever he said publicly, privately it must have hurt like hell.
Now, panicking for his England future, he makes what I believe is a hugely ill advised and irrational decision to join Newcastle. For the second time, he’s snubbed the Rafalution for his own selfish motives. I, wrongly, believed he had a real affection for Liverpool, and that after making one horrendous mistake, was not daft enough to make another. Clearly, my red-tinted belief that he would come back and play his heart out for the Liver Bird, was as misguided as his career choices. For that reason, I’m glad he chose the way he did.
That vacant spot on his mantlepiece, where a Champions League medal should be, will now never be filled.
Michael Owen is clearly all about one thing… himself. He left us high and dry (McManaman style) in a vain attempt to add to his medal collection. He has now decided to join mid-table mediocrity (or should I say lower table mediocrity) to assure first team football before the world cup. He knows, for certain, he will be the first name on the team sheet in Toonland. At Anfield, he would not be, and that, I believe, is what coloured his decision. It is absolutely no surprise to me that he, not coincidentally, has a rumoured ‘get-out’ clause, which can be acted upon after only one season – or put another way, straight after he’s secured himself a world cup place.
Michael Owen knows, as do we all, that winning anything at all with Newcastle is as likely as Cristiano Ronaldo staying on his feet for 90 minutes. He hasn’t gone there for trophies. He’s there simply to put himself in the Sven Goran Erikkson shop window. He’ll be the Andrew Johnson of Toon. Knocking in most of his team’s goals while the mediocrity around him huffs and puffs to no avail.
He’s moved to a team with a manager who has a consistent and exceptional record of breeding chaos and team disharmony in whichever club he manages. Watching Souness in the dug out at Blackburn, and now Newcastle, has often brought back shivers of discomfort, at memories of how he dismantled a great Liverpool team to populate it with the likes of Kvarme, Paul Stewart and Julian Dicks. Liverpool played horrible football under Souness, and he manages to work that same ‘magic’ on every team he takes charge of. Newcastle are already suffering from his mismanagement, playing their worst brand of football in recent memory.
Of course we’re also getting the old ‘passionate Toon army’ cliches rolled out. Michael says he’ll be proud to be playing in front of 50,000 football-crazy Geordies every other week. As if there is any comparison to the fervour of European nights at Anfield?! The praise the Geordies get for their ‘amazing’ support really sticks in my throat. I’ll never forget, back in the late seventies or early eighties, (can’t remember because it’s normally irrelevant) when Newcastle were relegated to division two. Their fate was sealed before their final game at St. James’s. Would you like to hazard a guess as to their crowd for that final first division home game before the drop? LESS THAN 7,000! Newcastle clearly can never possibly adopt You’ll Never Walk Alone as their anthem, because… well, they did!
Meanwhile, we’ll just have to make do with Morientes, Cisse, Crouch and Sinama. While the combinations haven’t yet clicked, there is real talent there for Rafa to forge into a title-challenging unit, backed by the excellence of Gerrard, Alonso and Sissoko. Liverpool will continue to improve under Rafa Benitez’s guidance. Newcastle won’t under Souness.
I admit, I wanted Michael back for the misguided reason I mentioned earlier. Everyone is entitled to a mistake, but when given the chance to reverse it, he chose not to. It rubber-stamped the belief many Liverpool fans have that his heart was never with the club. When he chooses to use his ‘get-out-clause’ in the summer of 2006, I absolutely do not want him back. Twice he’s given our club the two finger salute when he had the chance to proudly pull on the red shirt most of us would give our right arm to wear.
So goodbye Michael, hopefully now for good. You’ve proven beyond all doubt that our beloved club is not good enough for you and your personal ambitions, and as such, you are not good enough for us.
I believe that the club is ready to move on to further greatness - with Saint James Michael jealously looking on, and being denied any further chance to return.
Alex Malone [/align] |
