Our neighbour will create a special scholarship next year based 'totally on merit', so declared its Prime Minister. The announcement is of course a timely and welcome one, especially for the minority races, for it is always never too late to implement which is deemed to be a good and rational policy the world over. It defies logic why scholarships in the country had for so long been given out based NOT on merit but on one's race and political affiliations. Our neighbour of course has its affirmative action New Economic Policy to live up to - which is to protect and safeguard one particular race's national interests. This writer is not advocating that it abolishes such a policy. In fact he hastens to add that its government, if only for reason of greater transparency, can perhaps replace 'scholarships' with terms such as 'study grants', 'educational subsidies', 'bursaries' in keeping with the spirit of the NEP policy. And if it has to use the term 'scholarships', to make sure that they are given only to the deserving ones, based solely on merit - regardless of race, gender, religion, family income or political affiliations.
It is the only way that its scholars can stand shoulder to shoulder with scholars of the region. I for one can be spared both the agony and embarrassment of having to put up with a so-called government scholar who kept using 'sometimes can, sometime no can" phrases over and over again!
Lets hope the recent announcement by its PM is more than just rhetoric or a political statement in by-election month.
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Stock Market - Time for Caution
I am not a savvy stock investor, nor a very successful one at that. I do know, however, this is a time for caution in the stock market when even my coffee shop landlady - a naturalised Singaporean from Mainland China - has started to dabble in stocks; or my sister-in-law, a full time housewife who had never traded a single stock for the past 40 years, has recently opened a trading account and withdrawn $200,000 of her fixed deposits as starting capital! Although a first-time investor, the latter has one big advantage over the average punter like myself: she is setting aside what is only a fraction of her spare cash for investment and has what most of us have not - holding power. She said her money is better off parked in blue chips stock than in fixed deposits. She is probably right. But the point I am making is that the typical, average investor looks at the stock market as an easy source of quick profit and good returns on investment. This may have been the case so far. But unless they have the spare cash to ride through what is likely to be an imminent market correction, they are better off erring on the safe side, than be sorry on the wrong side.
Take it from this writer who have been through the 'wrong side' experience but survived unscathed to give this bit of advice.
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
Take it from this writer who have been through the 'wrong side' experience but survived unscathed to give this bit of advice.
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Rafa - Too Slow in Transfer Market
Transfer window is created to serve one specific purpose: enable football clubs to make changes to its squad, to strengthen it, so it can and will perform better in the coming season. What goes on in the transfer window is often indicative of how the new season will pan out. For example: the likely title challengers at one end, and likely relegation strugglers at the other. When it comes to buying/selling players, no one does it better than Ferguson. And Rafa pales in stark comparison to this man in this area.
Fergie sold Ronaldo to Real Madrid for 80M pounds a week ago. This same player cost him only 27M pounds three years ago. This same player was instrumental to Man U's two successful League titles and the UEFA Champions League title. This same player also swept all the personal accolades that are there to be won, including the World Footballer of the Year. And only Fergie has the gumption to offload this world class player still at his peak and rebuild a winning team for a new season. With 80M pounds at Fergie's disposal, no one is betting against it.
Rafa moved in the opposite direction. He bought Keane for 20M pounds and sold him six months later for 14M pounds.
Fergie bought young players (Macheda, Rafael to name only two), put them through the mill in the reserves team, and elevated them to the first team in less than two years. They did not disappoint and now train regularly with the first XI.
Rafa bought new players (Voronin, Pennant to name only two), loaned them out, and with most of them back from loan, did not know what to do with them. He is still trying to sell them.
Rafa also loses out to Fergie in decision making. He takes forever to decide and make up his mind. Some of Fergie's past signings were in Rafa's radar for a long time: Heinze, Tevez, Vidic.
Rafa is presently eyeing the likes of Villa, Senna, Forlan and even Tevez. Knowing how complicated his mind works, you can be sure that these players will next season play for other clubs except Liverpool!
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
Fergie sold Ronaldo to Real Madrid for 80M pounds a week ago. This same player cost him only 27M pounds three years ago. This same player was instrumental to Man U's two successful League titles and the UEFA Champions League title. This same player also swept all the personal accolades that are there to be won, including the World Footballer of the Year. And only Fergie has the gumption to offload this world class player still at his peak and rebuild a winning team for a new season. With 80M pounds at Fergie's disposal, no one is betting against it.
Rafa moved in the opposite direction. He bought Keane for 20M pounds and sold him six months later for 14M pounds.
Fergie bought young players (Macheda, Rafael to name only two), put them through the mill in the reserves team, and elevated them to the first team in less than two years. They did not disappoint and now train regularly with the first XI.
Rafa bought new players (Voronin, Pennant to name only two), loaned them out, and with most of them back from loan, did not know what to do with them. He is still trying to sell them.
Rafa also loses out to Fergie in decision making. He takes forever to decide and make up his mind. Some of Fergie's past signings were in Rafa's radar for a long time: Heinze, Tevez, Vidic.
Rafa is presently eyeing the likes of Villa, Senna, Forlan and even Tevez. Knowing how complicated his mind works, you can be sure that these players will next season play for other clubs except Liverpool!
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Transfer Market Gone Mad
Credit crunch? Recession? No. Not in the football transfer market today.
Real Madrid had in the past week signed Kaka and Ronaldo for 56M and 80M pounds respectively, and is planning to sign a couple more in the coming days! Where the money is coming from, I don't know. But I do know the Spanish club is already indebted to banks to a tune of half a billion euro dollars. And banks are willing to continue to lend Real Madrid more money to sign new players!
Over in England, Mike Ashley had put Newcastle United up for sale and, to cut loss, is asking for a paltry sum of 100M pounds for the club which had cost him a cool 320M pounds two years ago. There are no takers, despite the fact that it is the one and only club in Newcastle and is among the top 3 most supported clubs in UK.
The tranfer fees for Kaka and Ronaldo as well as the remuneration-cum-bonuses to be paid to the two players over the next 6 years is enough to take over the entire Newcastle United, win over its huge fan base, and keep the entire boardroom, coaching staff, players and groundsmen in employment for the next few years - all this with enough spare cash to recruit new players to help win promotion in the new season.
Surely it is a challenging and honourable cause worthy of any decent investor's consideration. After all Newcastle United is no ordinary football club. It is a club with history and steep traditions. It is the only club residents of the city can and would support. Sadly, the board of directors under the stewardship of Florentina Perez had decided to buy instant success with money, and oh yes, injecting some of Hollywood's showbiz glamour into Spanish football.
Transfer market in football has indeed gone crazy. And it is not showing any sign of slowing down or returning to sanity, anytime soon.
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
Real Madrid had in the past week signed Kaka and Ronaldo for 56M and 80M pounds respectively, and is planning to sign a couple more in the coming days! Where the money is coming from, I don't know. But I do know the Spanish club is already indebted to banks to a tune of half a billion euro dollars. And banks are willing to continue to lend Real Madrid more money to sign new players!
Over in England, Mike Ashley had put Newcastle United up for sale and, to cut loss, is asking for a paltry sum of 100M pounds for the club which had cost him a cool 320M pounds two years ago. There are no takers, despite the fact that it is the one and only club in Newcastle and is among the top 3 most supported clubs in UK.
The tranfer fees for Kaka and Ronaldo as well as the remuneration-cum-bonuses to be paid to the two players over the next 6 years is enough to take over the entire Newcastle United, win over its huge fan base, and keep the entire boardroom, coaching staff, players and groundsmen in employment for the next few years - all this with enough spare cash to recruit new players to help win promotion in the new season.
Surely it is a challenging and honourable cause worthy of any decent investor's consideration. After all Newcastle United is no ordinary football club. It is a club with history and steep traditions. It is the only club residents of the city can and would support. Sadly, the board of directors under the stewardship of Florentina Perez had decided to buy instant success with money, and oh yes, injecting some of Hollywood's showbiz glamour into Spanish football.
Transfer market in football has indeed gone crazy. And it is not showing any sign of slowing down or returning to sanity, anytime soon.
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Glaucoma: A Personal Story
Thirty years ago, an office colleague I worked with had glaucoma. I know because I asked him. I had seen him using eye drops so often it seemed like a habit. A year after I left my job, he called me out of the blue one day with the shocking news that he had to quit his job because he had gone blind! If not for the seriousness of his voice, I would have thought it was all a joke. It was not as I found out few days later when I caught up with him.
His blindness came abruptly and suddenly. He was with some overseas friends in Haw Par Villa. Pointing and training his eyes on a towering statue, he was in the midst of explaining local folklore when the structure he was pointing to suddenly disappeared from view. It never reappeared. And he could never see again since that fateful day. He was only 30 at the time. His was a case of the closed-angle glaucoma, an acute form of the disease. So that explained why his eye-balls always seemed a little protruding, I thought to myself.
Six years ago, I had lunch with my wife, brother and sister at the Zion Road Hawker Centre and had just finished a small bottle of Guinness stout when, against my better judgement and tolerance level, I decided to have another one. A big mistake. I felt dizzy but managed to wobble along with help of my wife. But the moment I stepped out into the hot sunlight, bright blinding flashes not unlike those used in photo shoots was all I could 'see' which was nothing at all! I closed my eyes and still the blinding light was there. It stayed that way for a full 50 seconds and then I started to see images slowly forming before me, like a photograph in the process of developing. I saw my wife and oh, what a huge relief it was. I could see again. My vision, however, was never to be the same again. I could only see with my right eye; the left eye had only 40% vision left and images in that eye always look like they have gone through a tinted glass first.
The 50-second 'black-out' was a scary moment. Memories of my friend's trauma thirty years ago came flashing back, over and over again. I was afraid for the first time in a long time. Afraid that I had gone blind. I could hear the heartbeat pounding away furiously. I was soaked with sweat - cold sweat. I panicked. So did my wife. She was in shock, didn't know what to do when she asked me what was wrong and I told her I could not see. Thank God, I got back what is left of my vision.
I have been receiving treatment at the TTSH's Eye Clinic ever since. I had been diagnosed to have open-angled glaucoma - the top cause of blindness in Singapore, making up 34% of all blindness cases. It is a condition where high eye pressure cause damage to the optic nerve, and periperipheral vision gradually gets 'eaten away'. While prevention is always the best cure, the problem is that the person does not usually notice changes in vision until only at the later stages. The good news, however, is that further vision loss can be prevented by the use of eye drops and regular medical treatment.
My advice to readers is to take care of their eyes and not take eyesight for granted. Consult an ophthalmologist if you detect changes in your vision. It may not be the 'usual' long- or short-sightedness that is troubling you. Don't leave it until it is too late.
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
His blindness came abruptly and suddenly. He was with some overseas friends in Haw Par Villa. Pointing and training his eyes on a towering statue, he was in the midst of explaining local folklore when the structure he was pointing to suddenly disappeared from view. It never reappeared. And he could never see again since that fateful day. He was only 30 at the time. His was a case of the closed-angle glaucoma, an acute form of the disease. So that explained why his eye-balls always seemed a little protruding, I thought to myself.
Six years ago, I had lunch with my wife, brother and sister at the Zion Road Hawker Centre and had just finished a small bottle of Guinness stout when, against my better judgement and tolerance level, I decided to have another one. A big mistake. I felt dizzy but managed to wobble along with help of my wife. But the moment I stepped out into the hot sunlight, bright blinding flashes not unlike those used in photo shoots was all I could 'see' which was nothing at all! I closed my eyes and still the blinding light was there. It stayed that way for a full 50 seconds and then I started to see images slowly forming before me, like a photograph in the process of developing. I saw my wife and oh, what a huge relief it was. I could see again. My vision, however, was never to be the same again. I could only see with my right eye; the left eye had only 40% vision left and images in that eye always look like they have gone through a tinted glass first.
The 50-second 'black-out' was a scary moment. Memories of my friend's trauma thirty years ago came flashing back, over and over again. I was afraid for the first time in a long time. Afraid that I had gone blind. I could hear the heartbeat pounding away furiously. I was soaked with sweat - cold sweat. I panicked. So did my wife. She was in shock, didn't know what to do when she asked me what was wrong and I told her I could not see. Thank God, I got back what is left of my vision.
I have been receiving treatment at the TTSH's Eye Clinic ever since. I had been diagnosed to have open-angled glaucoma - the top cause of blindness in Singapore, making up 34% of all blindness cases. It is a condition where high eye pressure cause damage to the optic nerve, and periperipheral vision gradually gets 'eaten away'. While prevention is always the best cure, the problem is that the person does not usually notice changes in vision until only at the later stages. The good news, however, is that further vision loss can be prevented by the use of eye drops and regular medical treatment.
My advice to readers is to take care of their eyes and not take eyesight for granted. Consult an ophthalmologist if you detect changes in your vision. It may not be the 'usual' long- or short-sightedness that is troubling you. Don't leave it until it is too late.
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
Friday, June 5, 2009
Hating Liverpool is Hard to Do!
The day that Liverpool lost the League title to you-know-who a fortnight ago, I swore I will have nothing to do with them anymore. Ever. To say that I hate them is an understatement; I want to kill them. They were so close to winning it and could have done so had they not drawn their 6 vital home games. At Anfield.
When my daughter-in-law asked me if I was going to the Liverpool match in Singapore, I replied emphatically: "No! What for? Watch those idiots play?".
She knows better. She bought me two match tickets last night.
My reaction was instantaneous. I will go to the game! A financial decision. Doing it in England would set us back at least seven grand! And I would be watching the entire game not sitting down but standing up.
Besides, when I said that I didn't want to watch those idiots play, I was referring not to the Liverpool players! But to the team that they will be playing against in Singapore! I don't know who they are and don't care either.
My initial hesitance also has a reason. You need to be appropriately attired to attend a match of this significance. And the only Liverpool shirt that I have was the one I bought 16 years ago in Anfield when my daughter was still a student in England. I 'm not sure that I am prepared to invest in a new one for just this one rare occasion.
What about that vow I made about not having anything to do with the club anymore? My friends, surely you don't believe for one minute all the stuff that couples say about one another during a heated argument? Or things parents say to their children: "Break that glass and I will break your head!"
I can't wait to see the Reds play in Singapore. It has been decades since I took my wife to a football game. Talking about wife, that reminds me - where the hell did she keep my Liverpool shirt?
Thank you, Dom and Cheryl, for the tickets. We will enjoy the occasion. Even though Liverpool lost this year, there is always the next year, and the next, to look forward to. Viva Liverpool!
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
When my daughter-in-law asked me if I was going to the Liverpool match in Singapore, I replied emphatically: "No! What for? Watch those idiots play?".
She knows better. She bought me two match tickets last night.
My reaction was instantaneous. I will go to the game! A financial decision. Doing it in England would set us back at least seven grand! And I would be watching the entire game not sitting down but standing up.
Besides, when I said that I didn't want to watch those idiots play, I was referring not to the Liverpool players! But to the team that they will be playing against in Singapore! I don't know who they are and don't care either.
My initial hesitance also has a reason. You need to be appropriately attired to attend a match of this significance. And the only Liverpool shirt that I have was the one I bought 16 years ago in Anfield when my daughter was still a student in England. I 'm not sure that I am prepared to invest in a new one for just this one rare occasion.
What about that vow I made about not having anything to do with the club anymore? My friends, surely you don't believe for one minute all the stuff that couples say about one another during a heated argument? Or things parents say to their children: "Break that glass and I will break your head!"
I can't wait to see the Reds play in Singapore. It has been decades since I took my wife to a football game. Talking about wife, that reminds me - where the hell did she keep my Liverpool shirt?
Thank you, Dom and Cheryl, for the tickets. We will enjoy the occasion. Even though Liverpool lost this year, there is always the next year, and the next, to look forward to. Viva Liverpool!
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Money Talks - in Football!
Money talks. Money rules. Money overpowers. Evidently more so in football than in any other sport.
Aston Villa captain, Gareth Barry, on the brink of becoming a Liverpool player a year ago cited Champions League football as overriding factor for his decision. The transfer plan was scuttled when Liverpool could not find the money to match the asking price.
A year later - two days ago - Barry signed a 5-year contract with Manchester City, a club that finished lower than Aston Villa in the recently concluded Premier League. Next season Man City will not even be playing in the Europa Cup, let alone the Champions League. Villa at least gets to play in the former. For 100,000 pounds a week salary, Barry was prepared to throw his principles (and his mother) out of the window!
That Man City is now owned by an oil-rich sheikh from Abu Dhabi does not help matters. A year ago, the agent of Robinho - that Brazilian footballer the size of Michael Owen - was in talks with Chelsea (owned by an equally wealthy oligarch from Russia, Roman Abramovich) over a possible transfer for the player ... until Man City came a-knocking, made an offer no one wanted to refuse, and Robinho became a City blue instead of Chelsea blue. During the inauguration press conference, Robinho even thanked Chelsea, mistakenly, for signing him until he was reminded by his agent that he was joining City, not Chelsea.
Blackburn captain, Lucas Neill, courted Liverpool in similar fashion and went public with his declaration that joining the 'club he supported as a boy' would be a 'dream come true'. Couple of weeks later, he signed up for West Ham for a salary believed to be substantially higher than what Liverpool was prepared to pay. He was willing to forego the chance, and experience, of playing European football against the world's best players. He is now seeking a move to 'another club' after rejecting West Ham's latest offer of a new contract for next season. Presumably over money.
Man United's Argentinian striker, Tevez, was similarly inclined to join any club that is willing to pay his contracted 32 million pounds transfer fee. As events unfold he will most likely end up in the blue half of Manchester next season. United supporters will of course be incensed if this happens, but who cares! Not Tevez. Not his agent.
Which is why I am deeply concerned for Liverpool - the club owned by two cowboys from Texas, who believe more in borrowing money than putting in money. Much like their Wall Street friends. They have a long list of players they want to buy (they always do) but lack the financial power to bring them in when it matters. Two years from now they will still be talking about the bringing star players to Liverpool, to win the Premier League and the Champions League. That's what it will remain. Just talks.
Time Liverpool let MONEY do the talking! Not those IDIOTS in the boardroom!
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
Aston Villa captain, Gareth Barry, on the brink of becoming a Liverpool player a year ago cited Champions League football as overriding factor for his decision. The transfer plan was scuttled when Liverpool could not find the money to match the asking price.
A year later - two days ago - Barry signed a 5-year contract with Manchester City, a club that finished lower than Aston Villa in the recently concluded Premier League. Next season Man City will not even be playing in the Europa Cup, let alone the Champions League. Villa at least gets to play in the former. For 100,000 pounds a week salary, Barry was prepared to throw his principles (and his mother) out of the window!
That Man City is now owned by an oil-rich sheikh from Abu Dhabi does not help matters. A year ago, the agent of Robinho - that Brazilian footballer the size of Michael Owen - was in talks with Chelsea (owned by an equally wealthy oligarch from Russia, Roman Abramovich) over a possible transfer for the player ... until Man City came a-knocking, made an offer no one wanted to refuse, and Robinho became a City blue instead of Chelsea blue. During the inauguration press conference, Robinho even thanked Chelsea, mistakenly, for signing him until he was reminded by his agent that he was joining City, not Chelsea.
Blackburn captain, Lucas Neill, courted Liverpool in similar fashion and went public with his declaration that joining the 'club he supported as a boy' would be a 'dream come true'. Couple of weeks later, he signed up for West Ham for a salary believed to be substantially higher than what Liverpool was prepared to pay. He was willing to forego the chance, and experience, of playing European football against the world's best players. He is now seeking a move to 'another club' after rejecting West Ham's latest offer of a new contract for next season. Presumably over money.
Man United's Argentinian striker, Tevez, was similarly inclined to join any club that is willing to pay his contracted 32 million pounds transfer fee. As events unfold he will most likely end up in the blue half of Manchester next season. United supporters will of course be incensed if this happens, but who cares! Not Tevez. Not his agent.
Which is why I am deeply concerned for Liverpool - the club owned by two cowboys from Texas, who believe more in borrowing money than putting in money. Much like their Wall Street friends. They have a long list of players they want to buy (they always do) but lack the financial power to bring them in when it matters. Two years from now they will still be talking about the bringing star players to Liverpool, to win the Premier League and the Champions League. That's what it will remain. Just talks.
Time Liverpool let MONEY do the talking! Not those IDIOTS in the boardroom!
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Time Michael Owen Hangs Up His Boots!
I almost tripped when I read an English newspaper report that Liverpool fans are clamouring for Michael Owen's return to the club for 'one last fling' - whatever that means. Football fans are not known to be sensible and clear-headed people; I didn't know they can be that fickle and irrational as well. Liverpool did not dump Owen; it was Owen who dumped Liverpool - for a club supposedly with big ambitions!
Owen was a precocious young lad from Merseyside who broke into Liverpool's first XI at an early age. Gifted and talented, he started to score goals with amazing ease. His call-up to the England team was a natural progression of his meteoric rise to fame and world attention. But ego soon got the better of him. He became a prima donna - and too BIG for Liverpool. He wanted out. He wanted to win trophies. He figured he could fulfill his dream only at a club with big ambitions and financial resources. He delayed putting pen to Liverpool's offer of a new contract, while openly courted and flirted with Real Madrid. He wanted to be their next 'Galactico'. He became too distracted to focus his mind and energy on football. He started scoring fewer goals. But he was never short of excuses, however - it was always his team-mates not supplying enough through-balls for him to score! The day of reckoning finally arrived. Owen joined Real Madrid. Much to the relief of this writer.
The rest is history.
Post-Owen era, Liverpool went on to win the Champions League Trophy, FA Cup, League Cup and Charity Shield.
Real Madrid? Suffice to say that Real Madrid (from the time Owen put on that white jersey at the Bernabeu) had not won a single trophy till this day. As for Owen, he spent more time warming the bench, coming on as a substitute (if at all), or in the treatment room having his knee-cap replaced or metatarsals fixed. He was subsequently sold to Newcastle where he relived his prima donna glory but ended up with the same old routine of seat warming and walking on crutches. The end result of Newcastle's dangerous liaison with Owen? It got relegated and will start the next season in the lower division.
You expect that Owen would put all his energy to help Newcastle win promotion next season but no - his contract has a bail-out clause allowing him to leave the club should it be relegated! And he undoubtedly will.
(Readers of this blog should know that when Juventus got relegated not so long ago, three of its world class players (Buffon, Piero and Nedved) stucked with the club and helped it win promotion to Serie A the following year. That's what club loyalty is all about. That's the stuff true sportsmen are made of.)
But this is the Michael Owen we know. The prodigy. The prima donna. The fallen star. The quitter. The born loser. The jinx.
All is not lost, however, for Owen. He owns a string of pedigreed racehorses. Given his age and physical condition, it is clear that he will have much higher chances of winning trophies at the races than on the football field.
Don't even think of rejoining Liverpool or Everton, Owen. Your footbal career is over. Let it be. And thanks for the memory.
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
Owen was a precocious young lad from Merseyside who broke into Liverpool's first XI at an early age. Gifted and talented, he started to score goals with amazing ease. His call-up to the England team was a natural progression of his meteoric rise to fame and world attention. But ego soon got the better of him. He became a prima donna - and too BIG for Liverpool. He wanted out. He wanted to win trophies. He figured he could fulfill his dream only at a club with big ambitions and financial resources. He delayed putting pen to Liverpool's offer of a new contract, while openly courted and flirted with Real Madrid. He wanted to be their next 'Galactico'. He became too distracted to focus his mind and energy on football. He started scoring fewer goals. But he was never short of excuses, however - it was always his team-mates not supplying enough through-balls for him to score! The day of reckoning finally arrived. Owen joined Real Madrid. Much to the relief of this writer.
The rest is history.
Post-Owen era, Liverpool went on to win the Champions League Trophy, FA Cup, League Cup and Charity Shield.
Real Madrid? Suffice to say that Real Madrid (from the time Owen put on that white jersey at the Bernabeu) had not won a single trophy till this day. As for Owen, he spent more time warming the bench, coming on as a substitute (if at all), or in the treatment room having his knee-cap replaced or metatarsals fixed. He was subsequently sold to Newcastle where he relived his prima donna glory but ended up with the same old routine of seat warming and walking on crutches. The end result of Newcastle's dangerous liaison with Owen? It got relegated and will start the next season in the lower division.
You expect that Owen would put all his energy to help Newcastle win promotion next season but no - his contract has a bail-out clause allowing him to leave the club should it be relegated! And he undoubtedly will.
(Readers of this blog should know that when Juventus got relegated not so long ago, three of its world class players (Buffon, Piero and Nedved) stucked with the club and helped it win promotion to Serie A the following year. That's what club loyalty is all about. That's the stuff true sportsmen are made of.)
But this is the Michael Owen we know. The prodigy. The prima donna. The fallen star. The quitter. The born loser. The jinx.
All is not lost, however, for Owen. He owns a string of pedigreed racehorses. Given his age and physical condition, it is clear that he will have much higher chances of winning trophies at the races than on the football field.
Don't even think of rejoining Liverpool or Everton, Owen. Your footbal career is over. Let it be. And thanks for the memory.
Writer: Peter Chang
email: peterchanglc@gmail.com
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