As Michael Owen races to hit another England fitness deadline Newcastle fans again question the club v country priority. Here we have a look back over Owen’s career and whilst it’s true he has never scored 20 league goals in a season his credentials and playing record are pretty impressive.
When you look back over Michael Owen’s playing career before joining Newcastle his record is pretty impressive. He first hit the scene at Liverpool in 97/98 where he played 43 games and scored 23 goals.
He was at Liverpool for 7 full seasons and in that time played 294 games for them which is a pretty impressive average of 42 games a season. In that time he scored 157 goals which again is a pretty impressive ratio of 0.53 goals per game i.e. slightly more than a goal every other game.
Also whilst much can be made statistically that he has never scored 20 league goals in a season there have been 2 seasons where he scored 19 and 2 seasons where he scored 18 so it’s not a statistic that means very much.
He left Liverpool on the arrival of Rafael Benitez who clearly did not think Owen fitted into the style of play he wanted at Liverpool and sold him to Real Madrid.
In his one season at Real Madrid he notched up 44 appearances and despite the majority of these being as a substitute he still scored 19 goals for them.
So actually before his nightmare 2 seasons at Newcastle you have to say he has been pretty fit and has an incredible scoring record.
There is certainly much proving for Michael Owen to do at Newcastle on a number of fronts to show that he is still a world class footballer and not someone who is living on reputation.
The career saving surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee was just about as serious as it gets for a footballer and hence he really needs to prove that he can still maintain both his appearance and goal scoring record since this surgery. The operation was successful so there is no reason to think he can’t but the only way he can prove this is out there on the pitch.
There has been much publicity over his £9 million get out clause in his contract which has led the Newcastle fan’s to think that he is just waiting for the opportunity to leave for a Champions League club or even better, go back to Liverpool.
There is also the controversy over him appearing to be more concerned about hitting fitness deadlines for England rather than protecting himself for Newcastle.
Allardyce seems to be playing this tricky situation well so far. What is absolutely key to this is that Owen’s fitness is closely monitored and everything is done to keep him in peak condition. Allardyce is certainly doing that well.
Owen just needs to play football whether it be for England or Newcastle and again Allardyce is allowing him to do that.
A fit, confident, happy Michael Owen back to 40 games a season and a goal every other game would be a tremendous boost for all concerned.
But if he manages that this season and has a good Euro 2008 tournament then the key question to which we still don’t know the answer will be put to the test, how loyal is he to Newcastle United.
The Newcastle fans are divided on Michael Owen at present and it is this key question that divides them, many are not convinced he has not used Newcastle as a temporary parking space till he can find somewhere better.
But first things first, until Owen proves he can still play 40 games in a season and score 20 goals for Newcastle then it’s not likely a bigger club is going to come in for him and match his £105,000 a week salary.
So Allardyce is playing this right at the moment, get him fit, keep him fit and let him play as many games as possible for England and Newcastle. After the setbacks of the last 2 seasons Michael Owen needs all the help, support and encouragement we can give him, the loyalty question needs to be put on the shelf till next summer.
