Newcastle desperate for Owen gamble to pay off

SOMETIMES in life there is no option but to take the least attractive option.

And so Michael Owen has agreed to join Newcastle.

In a perfect world, England’s best striking talent would be playing for Chelsea, Manchester United or Arsenal, enjoying European football, pitting his talents week in and week out against the best in the world.

But the Premiership’s big three did not want Owen. Neither did his old club Liverpool, at least not at double the £8m they received from Real Madrid for him 12 months ago.

So rather than remain redundant in Spain, Owen has agreed a four-year deal at a club he insisted days ago that he would join as a last resort only on a 12-month loan.

What made Owen change his mind? What made the least attractive option suddenly the best option?

Much has been made of Alan Shearer’s influence in taking Owen to Tyneside and there’s no doubt Shearer would have filled Owen’s head with talk of the Toon Army, how they revere their strikers and how the former international pairing could galvanise the Geordies.

Yet it’s difficult to see how Shearer was able to answer any of Owen’s more pressing questions. How many trophies have you won since you came Alan?

How many managers have come and gone since you arrived at Newcastle?

“That would be five Michael.”

How many players have disgraced the club’s name on and off the field in that time?

“Sorry Michael, lost count.”

Whichever way you wrap it up Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd, himself pilloried justifiably in recent seasons, has performed something of a footballing ‘miracle’ to lure Owen to a club which has suffered such frequent turmoil and still faces an uncertain future.

Owen is in his 25-year-old prime. He has proven himself consistently at the highest level. And yet he has been persuaded to join a club which is out of Europe and which finished 14th last season, 51 points behind champions Chelsea, and which has yet to score a goal, let alone win a game, in this season’s Premiership.

News of the signing prompted mixed feelings on Merseyside where many feel Owen let Liverpool down by leaving for Real Madrid to “realise his ambitions”.

Others, understandably, can’t understand how Benitez could prefer a beanpole such as Peter Crouch to a natural goalscorer like Owen.

In the end, however, the bottom line comes down to the fact that Owen was desperate to protect his England place in a World Cup year.

Another season on the bench in Spain could have seen England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson forced to look at alternatives. He had told the striker as much, and being forced to sit in the stands in Spain last weekend would have crystallised those fears.

He needed to play games and with tonight’s transfer deadline fast approaching, Newcastle provided the only route to his greatest ambition. In that respect the move is good for England, good for Newcastle, good for Owen and potentially job-saving for manager Graeme Souness.

Newcastle’s glaring problems have been in defence, where they continue to ship goals, and in attack where there has been a lack of pace.

Owen will rectify the latter but can he gel with Shearer? Their England partnership was not hugely successful, both too often wanting to occupy the same space. Shearer’s work these days is not as dynamic and confined largely to the penalty box. Owen, however, has scored goals at every level and wherever he has been, even as a perpetual substitute at Real, Souness has no doubts.

“Owen will become a club legend,” he said.

The manager’s job, Newcastle’s credibility, not to mention England’s World Cup hopes, could depend on it.