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Michael Owen
Personal information
Full name
: Michael James Owen
Date of
birth : December 14, 1979 (1979-12-14) (age 27)
Place of
birth : Chester, England
Height
:1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Playing
position : Striker
Michael James
Owen (born December 14, 1979, in Chester, Cheshire[2]) is an English football
player currently with Newcastle United. He has also played for Liverpool
(1996–2004) and Real Madrid (2004-05). He plays as a striker and has enjoyed a
hugely successful and high-profile career at both club and international level
and was the European Footballer of the Year in 2001. Owen is currently England's
4th highest scorer of all time, with 37 goals in 82 games for his country, with
him being England's leading competitive goalscorer on 23 goals.
Pace and
clinical finishing were Owen's greatest assets early in his career, though some
consider he has since lost some pace due to injuries. Owen has recently returned
from a year and a half of recurrent injuries sustained since January 2006.
Career
When Michael
was only seven his father, Terry, persuaded the manager of Mold Alexandra to let
Michael into his team of ten-year-olds. Michael was quite a bit younger than
most, and very much smaller, but he was soon showing off his "flair" and started
in most games becoming known as the club's 'secret weapon'. He also played for
his primary school team in Hawarden, Wales, breaking all local scoring records
in his first season. He then attended Hawarden High School, where he also played
for the school team.
His records
and ability attracted much attention from top English teams, but as a Junior
School boy, the school had the final say and it was a policy not to allow pupils
to sign contracts at such a young age.
Liverpool F.C.
At age 11, when
Owen had joined Hawarden High, he became available to sign "School Boy" forms
with a club. He held talks with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal, before
he eventually signed for Liverpool, the club which persuaded him to attend the
FA's School of Excellence at Lilleshall in Shropshire from age 14. Throughout
this time, he studied at Idsall School, Shifnal, Shropshire, and achieved ten
GCSEs.
Liverpool
signed Owen after he graduated from Lilleshall at 16, and joined the club on the
Youth Training Scheme. With Owen's help, Liverpool's youth team won the FA Youth
Cup in 1996.[3] After four months, he signed professional forms for the senior
team just after his seventeenth birthday in December 1996.
He made his
debut for Liverpool against Wimbledon in May 1997, coming on as a substitute and
scoring a goal.[3] With an injury to Robbie Fowler, he was thrust immediately
into action as a first team regular alongside the likes of newcomer Paul Ince
and playmaker Steve McManaman in the following 1997-98 season. Owen ended that
season as a joint top scorer in the Premier League with Chris Sutton and Dion
Dublin, scoring eighteen goals, and was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year
by fellow professionals.
The 1998-1999
season proved to be another good season for Owen as he scored 23 Goals in 40
games for Liverpool.
The next
season was a frustrating one for Owen as he was out Injured for lengthy periods
but nevertheless managed to score 12 goals.
In the run-up
to Euro 2000, Owen was suffering from hamstring problems and received treatment
from the Bayern Munich doctor, Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfarth.[4]
In 2001,
helped the club to their most successful season in several years.The team won
the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup, with Owen scoring two goals in the last few
minutes against Arsenal in the FA Cup final to turn what had appeared to be a
1-0 defeat into a 2-1 victory, the game has since been christened "The Michael
Owen Cup Final".
Winning the FA
Cup and the UEFA Cup allowed Liverpool to play in the Charity Shield and the
European Super Cup at the beginning of the 2001-2002 season. Liverpool won both
matches with Owen scoring the second goal of the 2-1 win over Manchester United
in the Charity Shield and the third goal in the 3-2 win over European champions
Bayern Munich. Liverpool thus became the first English team to win five trophies
in one calendar year. Just a week later, Owen would again best Bayern goalkeeper
Oliver Kahn, as the English international hit a hat-trick in England's 5-1 win
over Germany in Munich.[5] At the end of the year, Owen became the first English
player in twenty years to win the European Footballer of the Year award.[6] He
scored his 100th goal for Liverpool on December 21, 2001 against West Ham
United, and his 100th Premiership goal against West Bromwich Albion during the
2002-03 season.[3]
Following
Gérard Houllier's sacking as Liverpool manager, speculation about Owen's
departure from the club began. During the first few Champions League games at
the start of the 2004-05 season, Owen sat on the bench to avoid being cup-tied
for the Champions League, a factor that would mean that none of the top clubs in
Europe would want to sign him.[7] Real Madrid signed him for a fee of £8 million
on 13 August 2004, with midfielder Antonio Nunez moving in the other direction
as a make-weight.[8]
Real Madrid C.F.
Owen had a slow
start to his Madrid career. He was often confined to the bench and drew
criticism from fans and the Spanish press for his lack of form. A successful
return to action with the England squad in October 2004 seemed to revive his
morale, however, and in the first following match, he scored his first goal for
the club, the winner in a 1-0 UEFA Champions League victory over Dynamo Kiev. A
few days later, he scored with the first Spanish league goal in a 1-0 victory
over Valencia. The scoring spree continued, as he found the back of the net in
three of the next four matches to make it five goals in seven successive
matches. He ended the season with highly respectable thirteen goals in La Liga,
with the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played.
Following Real's signing of two high-profile Brazilian forwards, Robinho and
Júlio Baptista in the summer of 2005, the speculation arose that Owen would
return to the Premier League. During his time at Real Madrid, Michael Owen
scored 16 Goals from 44 games out of which many were sub appearences.
On August 24,
2005, Newcastle United announced that they had agreed a club record fee of £16
million to obtain Owen, although they still had to negotiate with the player's
advisers. Liverpool and local rivals Everton entered the fray, but were
unwilling to match Madrid's asking price. As the 2006 World Cup loomed in a
year, Owen wanted to get more playing time to secure his position as the first
choice striker in the English squad and joined Newcastle amidst rumours that he
had inserted an escape clause valued at £12 million. This was not denied by
Newcastle, but they deflected criticism that Owen was biding his time to move
back to Liverpool.
Newcastle United F.C.
On August 31,
2005 Owen finally signed a four-year contract to play for Newcastle United,
despite initial press speculation that he would rather have returned to
Liverpool.[9] Roughly 20,000 fans were present at Newcastle's home ground of St
James' Park for Owen's official unveiling as a Newcastle player.[10] He scored
his first goal for the club on his second appearance, the second goal in a 3-0
away win at Blackburn Rovers on September 18 – Newcastle's first win of the
season. Owen scored his first hat-trick for Newcastle in the 4-2 away win over
West Ham on December 17.[11] It was also a "perfect hat trick", (meaning he
scored with his left foot, right foot, and head).
Owen has been
very unfortunate in sustaining serious injuries since joining Newcastle. On
December 31, 2005, Owen broke a metatarsal bone in his foot in a match against
Tottenham Hotspur. He underwent surgery to place a pin in the bone, to help
speed the healing process. He was expected to be out of action until late
March,[12] but the healing process did not go as hoped and on March 24 he
underwent a second, minor, operation. Owen then stated that he should be fit for
the final few weeks of the season with Newcastle.[13] His return to action
finally came against Birmingham City on April 29 when he came off the
substitutes' bench in the 62nd minute. After the match Owen stated that he was
"not 100% happy" with his foot.[14] He underwent a further x-ray and made
himself unavailable for Newcastle's final game of the season.
A damaged
anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, sustained in the first minute of
the group match against Sweden at the 2006 World Cup, kept Owen out of regular
football for nearly a year, until April 2007. Owen's injury fanned the "club or
country" dispute between clubs and the international authorities, as the
Football Association's insurance policy would not fully reimburse Newcastle
United for Owen's salary of over £100,000 a week, or the costs of employing
another player to cover for him; Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd threatened
to sue the FA for compensation.
Owen began
running again on Monday 12 February 2007, when pictures on the clubs official
website highlighted Owen running and doing a few minor exercises.[15] He made
his comeback from injury on 10 April 2007 in a 4-1 behind-closed-doors friendly
against Gretna, scoring after 10 minutes and then setting up fellow striker
Shola Ameobi before coming off an hour later.[16] Owen then started his first
game for Newcastle United in over a year, against Reading on the 30 April 2007
in a game that Newcastle United lost 1-0. He played the full 90 minutes, having
a goal disallowed for offside.[17] Owen was stretchered off an hour into
Newcastles game with Watford on 13 May 2007, suffering with concussion after
colliding with team-mate Matty Pattison.[18]
Transfer speculation
On 9 May 2007,
Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd reacted angrily to reports that Owen could
move on to another club at the end of the 2006-07 season. A report in The Times
newspaper suggested Owen could be available for less than £10m and could be a
target for the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Despite these reports, Shepherd warned Owen "to show some loyalty" and warned
him that "none of the big four clubs want him."[19] However a video posted on
YouTube in which some Liverpool fans asked Shepherd if they could have Michael
Owen back, he responded by saying that he would carry Owen back to Liverpool
himself.[20] Shepherd also states his dislike of Owen's agent but praises Owen
as a "good lad".[21] This has led many to believe Owen will go if the £9m
valuation is matched.[20] On 10 June 2007, Owen's new manager at Newcastle, Sam
Allardyce, confirmed the existence of the release clause in Owen's contract and
admitted he feared that the club would be powerless to prevent Owen from
leaving.
International career
Owen had a
highly successful record at Youth and Under-21 international level, although he
was only briefly a member of the England Under-21 team (netting on his only
appearance in a win over Greece Under-21 at Carrow Road) before he made his
début for the senior team in a 2-0 friendly loss to Chile in February 1998.
Playing in this game made Owen the youngest player to represent England in the
whole of the 20th century.
Owen's
youthful enthusiasm, pace and talent made him a popular player across the
country, and many fans were keen for him to be made a regular player for the
team ahead of that year's World Cup. His first goal for England, against Morocco
in another friendly game just prior to this tournament, only increased these
calls. The goal also made him the youngest ever player to have scored for
England, until his record was surpassed by Wayne Rooney in 2003.
Although he
was selected for the World Cup squad by manager Glenn Hoddle, he was kept on the
bench as a substitute in the first two games. However, his substitute appearance
in the second game against Romania saw him score a goal and hit the post with
another shot, almost salvaging the defeat. After that, Hoddle had little choice
but to play him from the start, and in England's second round match against
Argentina he scored a sensational individual goal, voted by many as the goal of
the tournament and really bringing him to the attention of the world football
scene.
England drew
that match and went out of the tournament on penalties, but Owen had sealed his
place as an automatic England choice and his popularity in the country was huge.
At the end of the year he won a public vote to be elected winner of the
prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year title, the award's youngest-ever
recipient.
He has since
played for England in Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004, scoring goals
in all three tournaments. This makes him the only player to ever have scored in
four major tournaments for England. He also became one of only a handful of
England players to appear in three World Cup tournaments when he played at the
2006 FIFA World Cup, although he did not score and was injured in the final
group game.
In April 2002,
he was named as England's captain for a friendly match against Paraguay in place
of the injured regular captain David Beckham. Owen was the youngest England
skipper since Bobby Moore in 1963, and since then has regularly captained
England during any absence of the regular captain.
Owen made his
debut for the England national B-team in a friendly against Belarus on May 25,
2006, as part of his return to match fitness ahead of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
He captained England B in this game, playing for 61 minutes before being
substituted.
As of June 6,
2007, Owen has been capped 82 times for England and scored 37 goals: he is
fourth in the list of all-time top scorers for the England team, behind Bobby
Charlton (49 goals), Gary Lineker (48) and Jimmy Greaves (44). He holds the
record for goals for England in competitive matches, i.e. World Cup and European
Championship games and the qualifiers for those tournaments, having scored
twenty-three times in such games.
After playing
only 51 seconds of his 80th cap in the 2006 World Cup against Sweden, Owen
suffered a knee injury and was forced to leave the match; Peter Crouch came on
as his replacement. This finished off what Owen regarded as a rotten tournament
for him, and completely ruined his chances of being the first ever England
player to score in five successive major international tournaments for his
country. A scan of the injury on 21 June showed that he injured the anterior
cruciate ligament of his knee, and was sent home, no longer able to play in the
tournament, and was expected to be out of action for about a year.[23]
Owen underwent
successful ACL reconstruction surgery, carried out by Dr. Richard Steadman, on 6
September 2006.[24] The injury sidelined him until April 2007, meaning he missed
England's first 6 matches in qualifying for Euro 2008. He returned for the
England B game against Albania,[25] and was named in the full squad for the
games against Brazil and Estonia,[26] with Owen stating "I feel sharp and, if
given the chance, I feel confident when in front of goal."[27] He played in both
matches and scored against Estonia breaking Gary Lineker's record for most goals
in competitive internationals for England.[28]
Personal life
Owen is married
to Louise Bonsall. They married on 24 June 2005, at the Carden Park Hotel in
Wales, having been engaged since 14 February 2004.[30] They had known each other
since starting primary school in 1984.[31] They became parents on 1 May 2003
when their daughter, Gemma Rose Owen, was born.[32] Their son, James Michael
Owen, was born on 6 February 2006. The couple had initially planned to get
married at their home, Lower Soughton Hall, but changed plans when they were
informed that if a licence was granted for a marriage ceremony the venue must be
made available for other weddings for three years,[31] so opted to marry in a
registry office in informal clothing and have a lavish reception the next day in
the grounds of their home.[30]
Owen also
bought an entire street for his extended family (Austen Close, Ewloe), which is
in an area close to where he used to live.[33] In 2004, Owen's sister Karen was
assaulted by two youths, who attempted to kidnap her. When she revealed that she
was pregnant, they fled.[34]
Statistics
Career honours
Liverpool
F.C.
Winner
2000–01 League
Cup
2000–01 FA Cup
2000–01 UEFA
Cup
2001–02
European Super Cup
2001–02 Charity
Shield
2002–03 League
Cup
Runner Up
2001–02 FA
Premier League (Level 1)
2002–03 Charity
Shield
Real Madrid
Runner Up
2004–05 Spanish
Primera División
Newcastle
United
Winner
2006 Uefa
Intertoto Cup
Individual honours
1998 PFA Young
Player of the Year
1998 Premier
League Joint Topscorer, 18 Goals
1999 Premier
League Joint Topscorer, 18 Goals
2001 European
Footballer of the Year
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