Overall Boxing Day Report:BITTER BARCODE RANT 887

arby

i've gone on a great length about this article, basically i think it's trash. The fans who were bothered voiced their opinion, notwithstanding the usual in game banter, wind ups.

"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."

a bit like the article which begins...

"THAT famous Scouse sense of humour clearly does not find room for irony. ÒWhere were you in Istanbul?Ó the Kop asked of Michael Owen on Boxing Day. DonÕt 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. "

we might as well conclude that we where there in Istanbul because of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley.... etc, as the article in further condtradiction alledges. no one player is bigger than the club nor greater than the fans, players have their own agendas as pro sportsmen, owen chose another path. end of. i mean, if MO was so intrinsic to the LFC cause however did we manage without him when he was injured, missing sitters game after game on barren spells(i'm sure someone can full in the blanks and remind me how badly we DID struggle without owen during those times). Gerrard stayed in spite of Owen leaving, twice, lest we forget. Players come and go, that's the nature of the game. There's no doubt Owen was an important player during his time with LFC but the wrangling and dealing over the moves to and from Real Madrid have clearly left a large proportion of the fans cold on MO. It's worth noting that the boxing day crowd is amnogst the more "local" of matchday audiences, the travelling section of home fans more likely to stay home for xmas, there was a glut of tickets available for this game, on general sale. There's some irony in the fact that Owen left and LFC won the CL whilst Vieira left and Arsenal struggle. I thought you won games by scoring not because of combatitive midfielders... "it's a team game".

I don't know how we managed to win a 5th european cup without him, really i don't.

article continues-

"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."

no doubt about that last however much of that is poor speculation,SG TWICE choosing LFC over other "offers" bascially drives one of those great big Mack loaders throught the idea that gerrard stayed because of owen. Granted it may have been part of the reason gerrard comtemplated leaving but the facts are that SG remains a LFC player, mostly because gangsters threatened his dads goldfish.

If the sole argument vs the owen detractors at the NUFC game is based on what owen did for LFC then it's utterly neccessary to examine what owen didn't do for LFC. (despite his fawning "up the garden path" endless soporific press quotes that went on for two seasons) Both "parties" had obligations to each other, both were fulfilled. Owen was sold as he didn't want to sign once a new club which fitted the bill came in for him, a bit like the Newcastle scenario which i'm sure he could have steered real away from had he thought the matter through.

It's a matter of history that Owen was never a kop favourite in the manner of say Robbie Fowler, maybe he was a better pro, a better athlete even but i'm not sure owen was a better footballer. FFS we didnt' even have a decent song for him but that was merely a reflection of his almost austere "professional" demeanour.

I'm sure most LFC fans would be happy to see owen return i just don't think many would be doing cartwheels and cracking open champagne at the news. so a bit like owen and his pbuttive personality, i'm inclined to be fairly pbuttive about the flak he took on boxing day and pbuttive about any possibilty of him returning although on the whole i'd rather there was no reaction other than a respectful applause, with hindsight.

you could argue it's no wonder that players "poo" on their clubs-fans because i'd say the players have better memories than (some of) the fans.

LFC have moved on and up without and in spite of MO all the rest is bluster and media hype, better players than MO have left LFC.

ps- paul tomkins? who are ya?!! ;-) --