By Nick Raynor
August 2 2005

I have heard some fans talking about us signing Micheal Owen – They should face facts that we won’t, and Manchester United might.

I was talking to one fan that summed it up perfectly. When asked, ‘Do you think we have any chance of signing Owen?’ he replied:

 

“About as much chance as you have for ****ing Angelina Jolie.

 

“Not impossible, but as good as”

 

Summed up perfectly.

 

Right, it looks like Owen may leave Madrid and he has decent reasons.

 

Reasons why Owen will leave Madrid

 

·          Not getting first team football

·          Fallen to 5^th in the pecking order

 

Simple enough. He’s not going to be playing enough, and he will want to be somewhere he can play, and can win things.

 

Now I like to be optimistic, but I’ve sat her for a few minutes, and these are the only reasons I can come up with why Owen would come to us.

 

Reasons why Owen would come to Newcastle

 

·          Would start upfront

·          Replace Shearer as captain

·          Get the chance to play alongside Shearer

·          Great ground/fans

·          Decent wage

 

He would start alongside Shearer, and possibly replace Shearer as captain when he retires. We have a good ground and good fans. Owen has said in the past he’d like to play alongside Shearer and we also have the funds to be able to offer him a decent wage.

 

Are these points enough to attract Owen to St. James’ Park? Possibly, but I feel that the cons of moving to Newcastle for Owen outweigh the Pros.

 

Reasons why Owen wouldn’t come to Newcastle

 

·          Manager’s future hangs in the balance (If Souness has a poor start to the season he’ll be sacked)

·          Rarely win anything

·          No Champions League football and a tough test to even get UEFA Cup football.

 

Right - You can’t argue with these. Fact - Souness’ future does hang in the balance. Many fans want rid of him now, and they will no doubt have their wish if Souness has a poor start to the season. The bookies have made Souness the favourite out of the Premiership manager’s to get sacked first. Why would Owen want to join a club where it is uncertain who will be manager at Christmas?

 

Fact – We rarely win anything. Owen left Liverpool because he wanted to win more, more notably the Champions League (Haha…bet he wishes he didn’t go now…). It’s well documented and well known we haven’t won anything for years and this also ties into the next point where we are not even in the Champions League.

 

We still don’t know if we will be playing UEFA Cup football as we have to overcome a 2-1 defeat against Deportivo, and then face a tough final against either Marseille or Lazio.

 

Manchester United seems like a likely move for Owen.

 

Reasons why Owen would go to Manchester United

 

·          Decent wage

·          Good ground/fans

·          Successful Manager

·          Champions League football

·          Win trophies

·          Get to play with Van Nistelrooy, Rooney etc….

·          Title contenders

 

A lot are similar. Like both clubs have a good ground and good fans, and both could offer a decent wage. He’d get to play with some good players whichever club he goes to, but I think the fact that Ferguson has been there years and is a successful manager, the Champions League football and the fact they win things might tempt him towards United.

 

The only way I can see us getting Owen, is if all the big guns like Manchester United are not interested, in which case he may see us as a good option, but I’m sorry, I think we have to forget the Owen dream.

 

Don’t worry…there’s always Mark Viduka.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

What do you think to this article, and Owen's chances of moving to Newcastle? Send them to the Mailbag by emailing tynetalk@gmail.com