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Owen: Magpie

So much for my career in football punditry...

Michael Owen, here, is visibly humbled by the 25,000 Newcastle fans who showed up to greet himOwen_magpiewarmly at St. James Park. The reception must feel to him he's made a good decision and will help the soreness of not returning to don a red shirt.

In the signing photos, you can see the satisfaction on the faces of Freddy Shepherd and Graeme Souness -- both are unemotive types -- who rightly feel their work rewarded.  They have reeled in a big one.

Anybody who cares about quality football will relish the chemistry possible at Newcastle who have Carr, Parker, and now Owen (but lose Jermaine Jenas) alongside Alan Shearer as a possible long-term mentor. It will be interesting how Owen and Shearer play together, if ever they do; and how Souness adapts the team's style to factor Owen's abilities in.

August 31, 2005 in Michael Owen, Newcastle United | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Michael Must Play

Despite that Newcastle United are the only ones to meet Real Madrid's transfer terms, one does not see Michael Owen in vertical black & white stripes. Owen3

And it is hard to imagine Alan Shearer's, Greame Souness's and Freddy Shepherd's full-court press having any effect on Owen, whose primary wish is to return to Liverpool. Owen would consider loan terms for a year Tyneside, but Newcastle shun the notion.

August 29, 2005 in Liverpool FC, Michael Owen, Newcastle United | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Robson on Mourinho

Donald McRea's lovely piece on Sir Bobby in The Guardian reveals much about the widely loved ex-England and Newcastle manager.  Of particular note, Sir Bobby has a special place for Chelsea Manager, Jose Mourinho:
Robson_barca_getty_2

Even in the unlikely event of Arsenal signing Jenas, Wenger will struggle to keep up with Mourinho. If Robson follows that managerial battle with a mixture of pride and envy, his warm memories of Mourinho carry no such ambivalence. They first met when Robson took over as manager of Sporting Lisbon in the early 90s.

He introduced himself at the airport. 'Hello Mister. My name is Jose Mourinho and the president has hired me as your interpreter. I hope I can do a good job for you, Mister.' He always called me Mister. That was Jose. Very nice, very respectful, very handsome. But, if I said something hard and direct, he never tried to soften it in translation. Jose was strong but he developed a nice, positive rapport with everyone. The players loved him.

One of my stipulations in moving to Barcelona was that Jose should accompany me [as he had to Porto]. You should have seen him with Ronaldo, whom I'd just signed for £20m. Ronaldo, for the short time we had him at Barcelona, was phenomenal. There were no girls for Ronaldo then. No disco, no fashion, no earrings, no flash cars. He had the need to be a great player - and so he listened to Jose. It didn't matter that Jose had done nothing as a player. With a young genius like Ronaldo, he was perfect. Jose knew how to speak to him.

Robson vows he'll be back in the game; he even expresses regret about having turned down Wolves, Hearts and Derby just after his ignominious exit from Newcastle.  I've no doubt Sir Bobby will return.

July 25, 2005 in Chelsea FC, Newcastle United | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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