Liverpool FC Forum

by **ssss** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 1:51 am

Scouse wits fail to realise life would be a lot less wonderful without Owen

By Martin Samuel

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THAT famous Scouse sense of humour clearly does not find room for irony. “Where were you in Istanbul?” the Kop asked of Michael Owen on Boxing Day. Don’t they get it? He was there all right. He was there because they were there, and because they could not have been there without him.
He was there because in the seven years he played for the club, his 158 goals helped to bring three domestic cups, one leading European trophy, five top-four finishes and two Champions League campaigns, therefore ensuring Liverpool maintained their reputation as a football club of significance.

Who dragged Liverpool to Istanbul? Steven Gerrard and Rafael Benítez: men who would not have been anywhere near the club in May 2005 were it not for Owen’s contribution between 1997 and 2004.

Owen’s legacy is that in the latter half of the 15 years spanning their last League Championship win and this year’s Champions League triumph, he prevented his club from becoming a museum exhibit. In the seven years preceding Owen’s emergence, Liverpool managed two finishes in the top three. They were one of a number (a third of the top-three finishers in the past 15 seasons are not even in the Premiership now — see bottom of page to find out who they are): a great club trading on a proud tradition, with fine individual players but little substance. In that period Liverpool won two trophies, the 1992 FA Cup and 1995 League Cup, neither against Premier League opposition.

Then Owen arrived; and while it is true that Liverpool’s final ascent to the summit occurred in his absence, what was cruelly forgotten is that without him, the club would still be at base camp tapping up Sherpas.

What the churlish souls booing and taunting Owen at Anfield required was not just history revision, but a revelation of the kind the George Bailey character receives in Frank Capra’s ultimate Christmas film, It’s a Wonderful Life. On the brink of suicide, Bailey is visited by a novice angel, Clarence, and shown what life would have been like for his loved ones had he never been born. Those now rounding with a smug vindictiveness on Owen perhaps need a visitation to remind them of what last year would have brought forth at Anfield had a certain teenager signed for, say, Everton in 1996 instead. “Strange, isn’t it,” George Bailey discovers. “Each man’s life touches so many other lives, and when he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” Liverpool’s crowing thousands dare not contemplate the despair of an Owen-less existence.

Start with the best player. Does anybody seriously believe Gerrard would still be at Liverpool were it not for his friend who scored at the rate of two goals every three games? Take Owen out of the equation, with the resulting descent into mid-table mediocrity, and he would have been gone long before Roman Abramovich came calling, perhaps to Manchester United. Gerrard may now say he would never move to Old Trafford, but that is a far easier call to make when the difference is one or two league places.

Throughout the time when Gerrard was in demand, it was Owen’s cutting edge that maintained Liverpool’s presence near the top of the table and, in turn, Gerrard’s happiness. This tied him to the club by making a move to a more powerful rival less attractive.

Had Liverpool been looking up at United from somewhere near Middlesbrough, as they would surely have been without Owen, Sir Alex Ferguson might have secured the natural successor to Roy Keane long ago. Impossible? Consider this. When Leeds United were flying high and in the Champions League, Alan Smith also boldly stated his hatred for all things Mancunian red, before relegation swiftly cured his aversion. Liverpool minus Owen may not have fallen that far, but a player of Gerrard’s talent and ambition could not have trod water for more than two or three seasons.

So, where was Owen in Istanbul? Well, when Gerrard turned the game around after half-time, he was the angel on his shoulder, the one that had brought him to the place. No Michael, no Stevie G. No Stevie G, no trophy. In fact, no Stevie G, no Istanbul, considering his 86th-minute goal against Olympiacos was all that hauled Liverpool through the group stage. In fact, would Gerrard even have been around for the treble cup win in 2001 considering he was an established international by that time? No matter. Without Owen, there would have been no treble.

How good is his record (158 goals in 267 starts in European and domestic matches)? Put it like this: in equivalent competitions, Peter Crouch has been credited with two in 19 starts. At that rate, if he was to play 60 games a season, it would take him 25 years to amass as many, sometime during the 2030-31 season, aged 50. Owen did it in seven seasons, shortly after his 24th birthday.

The other hero of Istanbul? Rafa the gaffer. The coach who guided a team that lost to Birmingham City home and away through terrain that included a stretch of matches against Juventus, Chelsea and AC Milan. He came to Liverpool from Valencia, the reigning Spanish champions. Would that switch have happened if all Rick Parry, the chief executive, had to clinch the deal was a scrapbook of photographs from the Seventies and Eighties?

The Liverpool name will always conjure special memories in men of a certain age, but so does Nottingham Forest and a top coach does not quit his job to be impressed by fading pictures of a dead legend and his team, parading a trophy in flares. He notes potential and possibilities. The only reason Liverpool possessed either in 2004 was because Owen’s goals had helped to keep Liverpool among Europe’s leading players, with strong individual squad members and experience in top competitions.

Benítez did not join because of what Liverpool were in the days of Shankly and Paisley, but for what they could be after seven years kept buoyant by one of the world’s greatest goalscorers. So no Owen, no Rafa. And no Rafa, no Istanbul, because however freakish or fortuitous events on the night, Benítez’s greatest achievement was taking his team there. And he would not have been around to do it had Owen not made Liverpool viable.

As usual, the airwaves have been full of justification these past 24 hours. Owen messed the club around over his contract, Owen got the best deal he could by going to Real Madrid, Owen always cared more about England, Owen snubbed Liverpool for Newcastle United, Owen was disloyal. Baseless rubbish, all of it.

He had the chance to go to Real and took it, as every player should. When he returned after one year — through Real’s lack of vision, not his lack of ability — he wanted to return to Anfield. Benítez could not make the deal work. As coach of the European champions he has earned the right to be trusted. No blame should be attached to either side. Liverpool supporters are happy with what they have got and they should be happy for Owen, too.
At the very least, they should respect what he did for their club. The soul of football is the game, not the business. Those who mocked Owen as a result of financial haggles from another time, who put a balance sheet before 158 goals, displayed a lack of grace, perception and appreciation that was as startling as it was appalling. Even if money talks, think how much less of it Liverpool would have had without the success brought by Owen’s goals (not to mention his transfer fee). No Owen, no Rafalution.

“You should have signed for a big club,” some fans sneered. Yet in their vainglorious posturing and crude attempts at humiliation, they forgot one fact. The man who did more than anyone to keep Liverpool that way was in the No 10 shirt of Newcastle United.

by **Dalglish** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:03 am

I sit on the KOP as one of the lucky ones with a season ticket and i can assure you I wasn't singing the "Where was you in Istanbul" chant.

Football fans can be at their cruelest when dealing with their ex players but at Liverpool on the whole we extend a warm welcome to most ex reds.

Yesterday was an oportunity to remind Owen that he probably didn't make the best decision in his football career by choosing to go to Real Madrid and subsqently finding himself in the current footballing wasteland that is Newcastle Football Club.

The article is weighted heavily against LFC fans and not balanced in my opinion. There are many who would agree that without MO's contribution the season before last then we wouldn't even have bene in the CL in the first place.

In conclusion I'd like to say that it's not exactly fair to base a whole article in a national newspaper on a few fans at the game who chose to vent their spleen about MO's departure in song

by **Sabre** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:05 am

I did the scientific brach in secondary studies so I have no more than basic journalism concepts.

I don't know well the English press. But I do know that the writer of that article, has spent a large article to criticise the only thing that can be criticised. No mention to other examples in which Liverpool fans are a model to the world. No mention of the current form. No mention of the outstanding clean sheet row. He defends Owen, fair enough, If I would have been there I'd applaud rather than boo, but it seems to me that that journalist doesn't like very much Liverpool!

Perhaps I'm wrong.

by **115-1073096938** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:10 am

He deserved the stick, he deserves the praise. The lads a legend, however, he isn't maximising his massive potential at Newcastle.

If we had him and a quality winger, we'd be unstopable.

by **GOAT** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:12 am

stu_the_red wrote:He deserved the stick, he deserves the praise. The lads a legend, however, he isn't maximising his massive potential at Newcastle.

If we had him and a quality winger, we'd be unstopable.

I agree 100% with this

by **Dalglish** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:14 am

Sabre wrote:I don't know well the English press. But I do know that the writer of that article, has spent a large article to criticise the only thing that can be criticised. No mention to other examples in which Liverpool fans are a model to the world. No mention of the current form. No mention of the outstanding clean sheet row.

Spot on !

When the jouno had the oportunity to praise the many aspects of LFC that are good he chose to hone in on the one neagtive aspect............ A Newcastle fan in disguise ? :Oo:

by **greenred** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:14 am

What a load of bollox.Ive never read such a load of shi.te in my life.I can only imagine the journo was completely pi.ssed when he wrote it.Owen was a Liverpool player,he was paid big money to score goals,he screwed us over his transfer to Madrid,he gets a minor booing on his return to Anfield.Big deal,move on,forget it.Martin Samuel is a manc supporter so i`ll take all his views on Liverpool with a large pinch of salt.

by **RedRoots** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:15 am

You hit the nail on the head Sabre, the article is unbalanced and is filled with baseless "what ifs?" and stupid assumptions. The way he's going on you'd swear Owen is actually Gerrards father and the reason behind his existence, the writer is probably another bitter Chelsea fan.

EDIT:Turns out he's a Manc, same thing really. No wonder he was going on about Gerrard going to United, bitter b@stard, :censored:

off because they have to make do with Alan Smith.

by **115-1073096938** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:15 am

Sabre wrote:I did the scientific brach in secondary studies so I have no doesn't like very much Liverpool!

Perhaps I'm wrong.

"Doesn't like Liverpool very much".

You're english is superb mate.

by **ssss** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:15 am

They way I see it, the key question here is whether the booing was right or not, and not whether the article was biased.

True, the way the article was written might be exaggerating events a bit too much. BUt the fact of the matter is, MO did not deserve such treatment. The man's a liverpool legend!!

We'd expect such booing from Neverton fans, MU fans or Toon fans but not Liverpool fans.. its was never the Liverpool way and it was this trait the basically distinguished us from the rest of the fans...

True, tht some fans might just wanna remind MO on what he's been missing out and tht life in LFC goes on with or without him,..but honestly, do you think he needs any reminding given that : -

1. Every newspaper, website and magazine is full of photos and articles on LFC's triumph in Istanbul

2. We just outclassed, outplayed and outthought Newcastle 2-0

The more honorable thing to do for any self deserving LFC fan was to do what no other fan in any other club would do...to applaud (you guy's said so yourself when u said u would have applauded)

by **laza** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:17 am

Disappointed to hear the boos but biased media are deluding themselves if they thought he was going to get a heros welcome.
The disappointment of him leaving to Spain and circumstances where we were shafted in the transfer was only compounded when he returns one year later and the price Madrid got for him.
Maybe the journo is just annoyed because unlike other club's fans, LFC ones arent brainwashed by the media hype

by **GOAT** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:18 am

yeah michael owen doesnt deserve the booing and its not something liverpool fans have been known to do in the past. Its a shame that that had to be broken because of this

by **greenred** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:21 am

ssss wrote:They way I see it, the key question here is whether the booing was right or not, and not whether the article was biased.

Does it really matter?Michael is a big boy.He left Liverpool to "better" himself(his words) and now he gets a few boos.Hardly a matter of national interest.

by **RedRoots** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:30 am

I think people are taking the issue too seriously, booing and cheering are all part of the game, why would we cheer an opposing player anyway? especially one as dangerous as Owen, it would just make him feel more comfortable with the match and we wouldn't want that would we.

by **Sabre** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:44 am

Stu the teacher kindly pointed out

"Doesn't like Liverpool very much".

Indeed. Thanks for correcting!

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