Liverpool FC Forum

by **ivor_the_injun** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 1:00 am

First of all, I think you'll find that all this talk of LFC having first refusal on Owen started in forums such as this. I'm fairly sure that no such clause will have been crowbarred into his Real contract.

Secondly, Real wouldn't even think about selling him until next summer. Whoever the manager is, the president simply wouldn't allow them to look as if they'd made a mistake in the transfer market. Plus, while he's not getting first team starts, they'll happily send him off on photo-ops to make Spanish kids think that they want a shirt with his name on it. While he's earning his corn for doing next to nothing, they'll rake in shedloads in merchandise.

by **A.B.** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 1:37 am

like they did with Beckham

by **Ciggy** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 7:08 am

Leonmc0708 wrote:
Hustlers Revenge wrote:gosh

They still say that in Cheshire ?

Do they still say that anywere

by **Ciggy** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 7:51 am

intresting article from the gardian.

Madrid in crisis

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bemused Owen in the middle of Madrid storm

Sid Lowe
Thursday September 23, 2004
The Guardian

A humiliating Champions League debut seen from the bench, a dressing-room revolt, and a manager who walked after just four matches, to be replaced by the goalkeeping coach. Michael Owen must be wondering what he has let himself in for. And that despite almost certainly being unaware of his own central role in events that, with admirable restraint, he describes as "strange".
If only David Beckham, or even Steve McManaman, had warned him. For, while José Antonio Camacho lost the players, much of Madrid's ills, including fractious relations, have far deeper roots - the product of a presidential policy obsessed with marketing, trained only on the galácticos . One that, unbeknownst to him, made Owen, the latest star-signing, the eye of the storm.

Two defeats hardly constitute a full-on crisis, but such reverses as that dished out by Bayer Leverkusen are not new; and neither are the circumstances that sparked Camacho's resignation. "My team-mates assured me that it's not always like this," Owen said. He should treat such information with caution.

After all, there have been uprisings before and last season Madrid - the white angels, the loudly self-proclaimed greatest club in the world - won nothing at all (and registered a club-record-five successive defeats). And while president Florentino Pérez leapt eagerly upon Carlos Queiroz for a scapegoat, his autocratic model was pernicious and Madrid's problems profound.

A bruising club legend, Camacho was central to Pérez's summer election campaign, his brilliantly engineered political saviour, the man who would impose discipline and bring down the capricious, bloated superstar image that infuriated fans. A culture that spawned white hankies, jeers and even last season an indiscriminate 30-foot banner reading: "For you, whores and money, for us indignation." But, handily for Pérez, it was one that shifted attention to players and coach.

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He said it couldn't happen with Camacho. But despite apparent changes, the internal circumstances have repeated themselves. Camacho represented Madrid's PR-driven managerial ideal type. But the model has changed four times in three years: from the understated, old-school psychology of Vicente Del Bosque, to the modernity, low profile and worldly charm of Queiroz, to the raw tub-thumping of Camacho, and now, with Mariano García Rem ón, back to Del Bosque, moustache and all.

Camacho was never likely to succeed, too blunt, too domineering to win over a dressing room used to power. Nonetheless, the player power influence needs some deflating, even if it was the detonator this time; it is but a product of the unique way Madrid is run and Camacho's relationship with Pérez was little better.

Already a difficult environment to enter, harder still to withstand, Madrid was more complicated by Owen's arrival. Another superstar, yet different this time; even Pérez didn't seem as enamoured as usual. He had turned him down earlier, but would never - never, never, never - let a summer pass without the obligatory galáctico, returning to the Liverpool striker as other doors closed.

Compensation came with the price, just £8m, a Ballon d'Or , and his nationality; Beckham had shown Madrid how lucrative the English market could be. A deal with BP followed.

But if Pérez wasn't totally convinced, Camacho, who wanted Patrick Vieira, was even less so. It wasn't that he didn't rate Owen, but he couldn't find him a place. How could he drop Ronaldo or Raúl? And he'd promised Fernando Morientes time on the pitch. It dawned on Camacho, a man who demands control, that apparent change was illusory; like Queiroz and Del Bosque, his hands were tied. From all sides.

Previous galácticos had roles to play; Owen's arrival posed a threat to Madrid's core - to their captain Raúl and existing stars - bringing to the boil simmering discontent. It is emphatically not about Owen personally or professionally, however, but what he represents. And with his linguistic limitations, the new boy was both blameless and surely ignorant of his centrality. "Obviously I don't know all their conversations because of the language problem," he admits.

Some senior foreign players were irritated that Owen remained a sub while Raúl continued to perform poorly, but when the Englishman immediately leapfrogged the eternally shunted Morientes in the substitutes' queue and then, against Espanyol, replaced the captain, the touchpaper was truly lit.

Camacho was accused by a faction comprising Guti, Raúl and Morientes of bowing to media and marketing pressure. And when the coach discovered they had run to Pérez, who did not defend him, he walked, lamenting that until culture and priorities change Madrid will ever be thus. The news that Adidas had complained about Beckham being dropped merely confirmed Camacho's belief - and illustrated just what Michael Owen has walked into. Welcome to Real Madrid.

by **Fowler_E7** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 11:25 am

stmichael wrote:michael owen is an exceptional talent. in my opinion he was a better player at 19-20 than he is now. if real want to sell him then so be it. i'd take him back now. however if he became available you can bet your bottom dolloar that those money grabbing b#stards from london will be in for him.

no they wont, chelsea and arsenal dont need michael owen right now

by **jonnymac1979** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 10:11 pm

Brilliant - the I Hate Raul thread!!!

by **Santa** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 1:30 am

Fowler_E7 wrote:
stmichael wrote:michael owen is an exceptional talent. in my opinion he was a better player at 19-20 than he is now. if real want to sell him then so be it. i'd take him back now. however if he became available you can bet your bottom dolloar that those money grabbing b#stards from london will be in for him.

no they wont, chelsea and arsenal dont need michael owen right now

Owen is no longer the striker that he was 3~4 years back. This club will move on without him here to complicate things.
Guess I am still bitter with the way he walked out on us after all the false promises. Call it what you like but I think he betrayed us. Now he is finding himself in a shithole, with hardly any friends in the team and dropped to the rank of their 5th choice striker behind even Guti.
Ambition? I say serve him right!
Coming back? don't bother. He will not be Rush MkII.
Move on.......

by **akumaface** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 5:48 am

I agree with you totally Santa! I think if it wasn't for the way Owen left, many of us would be feeling sorry for him but I guess most soccer fans are now laughing instead. As for taking Owen back, my concern would be his form and whether he still is good enough for our team. Honestly, I don't think he is right now. Owen may never be the same player he was. So, we should move on and would prefer to use the money to strenghten our squad elsewhere.

by **Redrider** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:58 am

7_Kewell wrote:personally i think Real will offer owen and cash in exchange for Gerrard in Jan...

They can have the pick of Diouf, Kewell and Baros, together with 'Nunes Crutches' :laugh:

by **the great one** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 11:02 am

Santa wrote:
Fowler_E7 wrote:
stmichael wrote:michael owen is an exceptional talent. in my opinion he was a better player at 19-20 than he is now. if real want to sell him then so be it. i'd take him back now. however if he became available you can bet your bottom dolloar that those money grabbing b#stards from london will be in for him.

no they wont, chelsea and arsenal dont need michael owen right now

Owen is no longer the striker that he was 3~4 years back. This club will move on without him here to complicate things.
Guess I am still bitter with the way he walked out on us after all the false promises. Call it what you like but I think he betrayed us. Now he is finding himself in a shithole, with hardly any friends in the team and dropped to the rank of their 5th choice striker behind even Guti.
Ambition? I say serve him right!
Coming back? don't bother. He will not be Rush MkII.
Move on.......

totally agree i santa i dnt understand why some liverpool fans want him bak he promised saying his confident and that he will sign before we went to america on pre-season tour. he signed for real on the day of the new premier season so we couldn't sign nobody until january him and cisse were forming a good partnership and insulted us by saying he joined the "best club in the world" wats the odds on him saying for man city 7/1

by **azriahmad** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:58 pm

Man City, of course! Keegan has quite a penchant for former Liverpool players. Maybe that is because secretly, he wants to be a Liverpool manager...

For a player who has been a very good servant to Liverpool, I have some pity for him being in such a quandry that he is in now. But then, he wanted to leave us, not the other way around...

by **The_Rock** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 8:07 pm

As i am writing this now, real madrid are losing 2-0 to A.Bilbao. It is 2nd half now, and there is still no sign of owen. Is this what he wanted, when he went to madrid ?

. He is not even in the starting line-up. He had more going when he was here. Does he want to end up like mcmanaman ?

But if there is even a remote chance we can get him back, we should. He is still one of the best finishers in the world.

by **7_Kewell** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 8:40 pm

as i said earlier......Ian Rush mrk II

by **The_Rock** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 8:49 pm

if i am not wrong, owen is not even in the bench. I don't think morientas is better than owen. I guess morientas is ahead of owen in the pecking order because of raul who hasn't scored in 30 games before today (he scored and the score is 2-1 to A.Bilbao).

by **edwardo** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:18 pm

Shame about MO, so called left to join the ''best club in the world'' to better his career, now he can't get a game and he's in danger of losing his England place, what is going through his head right now? do we want him back? do we need him back?

and, given a chance and his confidence back, can he still produce the goals that we loved him for?
IMO I don't think he can do it anymore, (love to be proven wrong wherever he is except prem), pace gone, worried abour his hamstring etc, but coz I loved him so much and can't really blame someone for trying the so called greener grass I'd still have him back (on a freebie) and let him compete with our new strike force and see what the man is really made of, IMO he's a political porn at Real and does'nt deserve that, footballers are not the most intelligent people and are often led and persuaded by greedy agents who are!
We will probably never see MO in a LFC shirt again or maybe, he just might be Rushie 2, he did'nt do great things in Italy but shone for us on his return, we all accepted Rushie back do why not Michael.
ps before you all start on about the ''freebie'' bit, we got next to nothing for him so why pay millions to get him back!

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