(you couldn't make this up - oops, you can if you're Clive Tyldesley!!)
What's the problem 2379All true. Looking back over plenty of years I find it hard to remember a Prem winning side which did not cobble plenty of lucky results together or played only just...
Once upon a time there was a handsome young prince. So dashing and charming was he that every mother in England wished for their daughter to marry him. And as word spread of his valour in battle, he was invited by the imperial family of Spain to live in their royal household in Madrid, where great wealth was bestowed upon him and much glory was promised to him. But the prince soon grew tired of the idleness of court life and longed to return home. And, lo, Michael Owen rejoined Liverpool and scored 30 goals in their championship season and everyone lived happily ever after.
Owen's career story has followed that kind of fairy-tale script. So far. Next March his wife, Louise, will give birth to their second child. One of the few certainties in their lives is that the baby will come into the world at the Countess of Chester Hospital where its sister was born two years ago. Home is where the heart is, and the heart tells you that the Owens will be back in the family residence long before then. All roads lead to Liverpool. Fatted calves on Merseyside are getting nervous. The return of the prodigal son seems inevitable. And yet it moves no closer.
There remain more questions than answers. Where will Milan Baros end up? And how soon and for how much? Will his sale finance the acquisition of the defender and the winger that Rafa Benitez wants and needs? Can chairman David Moores bankroll an emotional splash on Owen too? Could Liverpool unload Djibril Cisse commercially now that he has played in the Champions League? Would Real Madrid settle for less than they paid for Owen? Can a loan deal be cobbled together with the money still outstanding on the original transfer? Have Manchester United really lost interest?
Attack,AttackANTENNA BAND REACH 21 IN INDIE CHARTS "The new mix of Liverpool Attack Attack by the Antenna Band has gone straight into the Radio One Indie charts at number...
Where there's a will in football there's generally an agent with a way, and Michael Owen does usually get his way. Steven Gerrard has articulated the desire among most of the power players in the Anfield corridors to see Owen's guarantee of goals returned to the Liverpool equation. And whereas Gerrard's own tendered resignation provoked public wailing and gnashing of teeth during the summer, Owen departed so suddenly that Liverpool fans had barely time to decide whether to burn his shirt or sack the board. He was excused and would be welcomed home. After all, he was leaving a club who couldn't conceivably win the Champions League for one that probably would.
What's the problem 2380POD {ñÀî} I think everyone is expecting a lot more. yes, true, not only that, I thought the midweek international would affect a lot of teams, including ourselves. Watching MOTD chris coleman made the...
Which begs the question, would Owen be returning to the same Liverpool he left? They confounded the theory to become champions of Europe without their record European goalscorer. If Benitez had felt that such heights could not possibly be reached without Owen, he would have begged him to stay. The word on the street a year ago was that Owen was not made to feel sufficiently wanted, and that Benitez believed that the player and his representatives had been working on an escape tunnel for some months. Has anything really changed there?
451Well after close on a decade on this group, I get a bit fed up of reading...
Benitez is still short in one or two departments but he has more forwards than even Kevin Keegan could fit into a team. And Kevin Keegan, he ain't. Liverpool began their Premiership campaign last weekend with one recognised striker on the field. Owen has many qualities but few of them are suited to the role of lone ranger. Benitez is a believer in rotating his squad. There would be a heavy irony in a transfer that saw Owen swap his Real role as an occasional starter for a similar one at Liverpool. Maybe Newcastle would be a better bet if regular football in a World Cup season is Owen's main motivation.
When he left these shores for Madrid a year ago, Owen's insurance policy was the likelihood that Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester United would welcome him back. Unless someone is playing transfer window poker, Owen's options are now limited. Even Liverpool may not be among them. He will be heading home from Real Madrid's Las Rozas training headquarters as his old team kick off against Sunderland this afternoon with Luis Garcia wearing their No 10 shirt. The Spanish league season begins next weekend and there are no guarantees even of a seat on the substitutes' bench for Madrid's No 11. A year in the Real world has left England's fairy-tale prince wondering and worrying about that happy ending.
