Holden McGroin 5076 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 (edited) Sunday Sun AS Michael Owen prepares for the possibility of a rocky return to St James’ Park, the man who brokered the club-record deal to bring him to Newcastle admits the dream signing he toasted six years ago turned into a “nightmare”. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Sun to mark Owen’s comeback, former Magpies chairman Freddy Shepherd confesses signing the England striker was the “worst” transfer of his Toon tenure. While hitting back at the wise-after-the-event merchants who might contend that the deal was doomed from the start, Shepherd admits Newcastle didn’t get value for money for the mega deal to bring him home from an unhappy spell in Spain. And he argues that the striker should have done more in the community to justify his £5million-a-year wages. A candid Shepherd said: “It was probably the worst deal I did at Newcastle. “That is just being frank. We paid £16million and we didn’t get £16million worth of value out of him. “It was a nightmare from an injury perspective. “And there was no added value off the pitch . . . the added value was nil off the pitch. “I’m not having a go at the kid as he was fine when he got on the pitch.” Toon fans’ views of Owen have been coloured by his catastrophic injury record which meant that United only saw the best of him in fits and starts – just 58 of them in the Premier League to be precise. An up-and-down four years, which bore 26 top-flight goals, concluded at Villa Park with a feeble relegation under the tutelage of Alan Shearer – the man he had been signed to partner in a tilt at the title. Shepherd recalls: “He came with great hopes, and people have subsequently said it wasn’t such a good deal. “But hindsight is a great management tool. “There were 25,000 people in St James’ Park who thought it was a good deal at the time and so did the media, from the coverage we got. Everybody at the beginning thought it was a good deal. “Without a doubt we bought a top, top player. He was the man for England. The No 1 striker. We recognised that when we signed him for £16million. “Alan Shearer was over the moon. We asked his advice and he said: ‘Sign him – he’s a great player’. “He thought it was a great idea. Everyone at the time thought it was the way to go. I think Souness said ‘Our season starts here’. People couldn’t believe we had got him. “And he was never injured at Madrid! But as soon as he came to Newcastle he got those problems. “Within five months he got injured and after that it was downhill injury-wise. “On reflection, maybe I think he would have preferred to go somewhere else. In his heart of hearts I believe that he didn’t want to come to Newcastle, but we were the only game in town.” The subsequent criticism of Owen was that he didn’t embrace the region or the unspoken responsibilities of being a marquee name like others have. While other big-money signings – David Ginola, Les Ferdinand, Tino Asprilla and Rob Lee to name but four – happily integrated, Owen did not. That will be reflected in the crowd’s reaction to him if he plays a part on Tuesday. Shepherd admits he found the striker a “detached” personality. He said: “His problems were his injuries – which happen in football – and that he never involved himself with the Newcastle fans. “As a player I couldn’t complain about his professionalism but, as a person, I don’t think he did what he could have done for the club with the wages he was paid. “He could have done a lot more in the community. “He could have done a lot more than he did do, which was very, very little. I never got close to him as a player. He was semi-detached, I’ll put it that way. “He didn’t communicate with the fans in the way he should have, being paid the money he was. “You’ve got to give something back in life and I don’t think he did on that side. “On the field, when I was there, when he played – he was fantastic. “But look at someone like Les Ferdinand. A big signing, he got into the spirit of the club – Michael never did. He didn’t integrate himself into the community. “His injuries – that is life. But he didn’t help himself on the other front.” Of course it was the injuries that trained the focus on his contribution off the field. Shepherd admits: “I think if he would have been scoring goals, the community thing might not have mattered. But because of his injuries . . . ” Moving on from Owen, United are a vastly different proposition from the club that signed the England striker back in 2005. Of the club’s current situation, Shepherd nurses no fears that Newcastle will slide back into the Championship. And he has backed the decision to sell Andy Carroll to Liverpool, despite harbouring a deeply-held belief that the striker will go on to play No 9 for England for the next decade. “Relegated? Not a chance. There are worse performing clubs than Newcastle. I would back them 100% to stay up,” he said. “Selling Carroll has left the club weaker but, on that decision, I would have done the same. “The reason I say that is the player had been given a contract five weeks earlier – all he had to say was ‘I’m going nowhere’. “He had been given a good contract from what I hear. “People might not agree with me, but it’s a point of view. If he was so loyal, why did he leave? “I’m not knocking him. Personally, I think he’ll be the next Alan Shearer. He’ll be England’s No 9 for the next 10 years. “I signed him originally as a kid and you could see there he had something. “He used to boss centre-halves – you could tell there was something there from the start – and I wish him luck.” Edited April 17, 2011 by Holden McGroin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themags 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 nailed on to score on Tuesday if he's on the pitch for a reasonable amount of time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 26853 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Fair enough comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEADMAN 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 owen was a waste of space he tried to follow shearer but he failed badly hes useless anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monroe Transfer 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Would have sold Carroll as well, I see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duo 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Personally I think Marcelino is the worst ever. At least we go goals out of Michael. Marcelino - £6.7 - only 17 appearance in 4 1/2 years. Each one of them poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monroe Transfer 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Santiago Munez could have done more as well tbh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duo 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 This has got me thinking about our poor buys........we've made a few...... Albert Luque, Boumsong, Marcelino and Michael Owen to name a few - those alone are cost over £40 Mil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEADMAN 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 yea and didnt perform were useless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duo 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 This has got me thinking about our poor buys........we've made a few...... Albert Luque, Boumsong, Marcelino and Michael Owen to name a few - those alone are cost over £40 Mil. How could I forget Stephane Guivarc’h...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 This has got me thinking about our poor buys........we've made a few...... Albert Luque, Boumsong, Marcelino and Michael Owen to name a few - those alone are cost over £40 Mil. How could I forget Stephane Guivarc’h...... How much was Pistone? Or Maric? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChezGiven 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Bad luck more than a bad signing. If he'd played 150 games he'd have got 70/80 goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeazesMag 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Would have sold Carroll as well, I see. assuming his manager wanted to ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeazesMag 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Bad luck more than a bad signing. If he'd played 150 games he'd have got 70/80 goals. nailed. Without getting into this thread too much, one thing that can be said is he's admitting - with hindsight - it was a mistake, and means what he says without resorting to a pack of lies and deceipt like the current 2 lunatics running the club. Will we see the day they admit not backing Keegan was a mistake and show they have learned from that mistake ? I doubt it very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJS 4016 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Would have sold Carroll as well, I see. assuming his manager wanted to ? He seems to be saying he wouldn't have cared what the manager thought - then again he did the same with Robson and Gary Speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeazesMag 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Would have sold Carroll as well, I see. assuming his manager wanted to ? He seems to be saying he wouldn't have cared what the manager thought - then again he did the same with Robson and Gary Speed. I don't really think the Halls and Shepherd didn't back their managers, do you ? Assuming you are right, that makes Freddie Shepherd a fucking good manager, having taken a team to all those champions league and european qualifications, wouldn't you agree ? Oh aye, they booed his team for only finishing 5th, and then they booed Shepherd just to let them know they thought it was all his fault. Now, they are happy just to stay in the premiership and sell our best players. You couldn't make up such stupidity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Bad luck more than a bad signing. If he'd played 150 games he'd have got 70/80 goals. Don't know how ya work that one out he played pretty much 50% of that number and got nowhere near 40goals feck sake took him 8 years at liverpool at his peak to get <120 goals. Over rated, always was always will be, #of times 20goals+ in the league = 0 #of times 30goals+ in all comp = 0 In terms of goals scored per £ paid Alan Smith is a far, far worse signing than Owen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 It was just the way him (and others) genuinely didn't give a fuck we were going down. Owen said about a month before the end of the season he was leaving Newcastle yet we still played him despite him looking disinterested and strolling around the pitch. Did he get any minutes against us back in August? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJS 4016 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Would have sold Carroll as well, I see. assuming his manager wanted to ? He seems to be saying he wouldn't have cared what the manager thought - then again he did the same with Robson and Gary Speed. I don't really think the Halls and Shepherd didn't back their managers, do you ? Assuming you are right, that makes Freddie Shepherd a fucking good manager, having taken a team to all those champions league and european qualifications, wouldn't you agree ? Oh aye, they booed his team for only finishing 5th, and then they booed Shepherd just to let them know they thought it was all his fault. Now, they are happy just to stay in the premiership and sell our best players. You couldn't make up such stupidity. My point was that you tried to defend him by saying his managers always decided transfers rather than him which is fucking shit - he sold and bought players when it suited him on quite a few occasions. So you've been shitting on since January about how there's no way the previous regime would have sold Carroll and now you have it from the horse's mouth he would have done - fucking deal with it. Don't use "points" to argue which are 100% wrong - and that's about selling players without consulting the manager before you use your phrase bot again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 9247 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Bad luck more than a bad signing. If he'd played 150 games he'd have got 70/80 goals. Don't know how ya work that one out he played pretty much 50% of that number and got nowhere near 40goals feck sake took him 8 years at liverpool at his peak to get <120 goals. Over rated, always was always will be, #of times 20goals+ in the league = 0 #of times 30goals+ in all comp = 0 Mind you Ant, you have to agree that if Michael Owen had a run in the league he would have scored more goals, as it is, his 70 odd games didn't come in one block and you cannot underestimate the effect of form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 39189 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Santiago Munez could have done more as well tbh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giraffidae 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Owen was good for us until injuries changed him as a player. The injury he got with England was so bad we got millions in compensation from the FA. He’s clearly not recovered even now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McFaul 35 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 He was ok, did what it said on the tin, I think he made his career as a poor mans Gary Lineker and that's exactly what got. As has been said the guy didn't want to be here, he was a fucking disgrace in some respects, how fucking difficult is it to ingratiate yourself to the fans of a club like Newcastle United, who's fans are desperate to love someone. He could have but he never did, he was a spoilt cunt who thought he was better and bigger than us. We've had far better and bigger names than him and if anything as a man he was not fit to play for Newcastle, HE was beneath us. Got to love FFS, just thinking about him puts a smile on my face. This always makes me laugh. Right at the very end of this clip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christmas Tree 4005 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Didnt want to be here. Be all and end all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChezGiven 0 Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I should have said 70/80 goals in 150 starts not games. If he had started 150 games for us it would have meant he wasnt injured. The way he played for us before the injury i'd have bet on him to get those sort of figures. He got 13 from 20 starts at Madrid. The blokes a twat but that injury fucked him and the rest of his career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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