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
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