Fourth spot scant relief for Owen

Michael Owen insists that Anfield celebrations will be suitably low-key if, as now looks certain, Liverpool clinch a Champions League spot in the last week of the Premiership season.

They may have to earn a draw at home to Newcastle next Saturday to clinch fourth place in the table but even that will not be necessary if the Magpies fail to win at Southampton tomorrow night.

“Whatever the case, we know it hasn’t been a very good season,” admits England striker Owen. “The players know it and the manager knows it.

“Getting into the Champions League is always crucial at the start of every season for Liverpool but fourth place is not good enough for a club like this, especially as the top three have finished so far ahead of us.

“We can’t settle for fourth. There has got to be an improvement next season. So I don’t imagine the lap of honour at Anfield next Saturday will be particularly brilliant – whatever the result.”

There are still fears on Merseyside that Liverpool’s recent under-achievement during the free-spending reign of French manager Gerard Houllier – they missed out on the Champions League last season when losing the last game of the season at Chelsea – will drive Owen out of Anfield.

And their removal from the UEFA Cup in the quarter-finals by Olympique Marseilles was another bitter blow.

But the star striker continues to confound the cynics by making positive noises about his future with the club.

He also admits he has fallen short of his standards this season and, despite 18 goals in 36 games, shares the blame for the Reds’ disappointing performances.

Owen said: “Talks have already started over a new contract for me and I expect they will go on through the summer.

“But I’ve got the rest of this year and all the next still on my agreement and I’m not going to just sit it out and leave at the end of it on a Bosman-type free transfer.

“I’ve told the manager that and he knows how I feel. Apparently he’s said he thinks I will go abroad at some stage but those are his words, not mine.

“I might do. It could be in two years time, four years time or never. It all depends how high I can see myself going in the game.

“I’m not in it for the money. I want to win things. That’s the most important aspect for me even though I’ve got a tidy little collection of medals already.

“And I certainly see myself as a Liverpool player next year. I’m sure everything will be settled amicably in the contract talks but they are not going to be all over and done in a week or so. They are complex and will take time.”

Owen has been repeatedly accused of stalling over the new deal and would be entitled to speak to would-be buyers like Real Madrid next January if he had not accepted Liverpool’s latest offer.

“I can’t rule anything out, because I am ambitious as a football player,” he admitted. “But I love playing in the Premiership and I could get to the highest possible level with Liverpool. Why not?”

Owen is optimistic about the £65m (€96.7m) investment that Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is reportedly ready to make in the club.

Owen says: “Maybe it is not quite in the same league as Chelsea last year but it would still be a big boost for the manager to bring in new players and the club to build a new stadium.”

Owen, 24, looks set to have a new Anfield strike-partner next season in French forward Djibril Cisse, whom Liverpool look set to sign this summer, but he still lauds the qualities of his current Liverpool side-kick Emile Heskey, warmly tipped to join Birmingham.

“Emile gets criticism but on his day, when you can get him fired up, he is a real handful and great to play alongside whether it is with Liverpool or England,” said Owen.

Meanwhile, as all the speculation goes on, Owen has signed one new deal at least – with kit manufacturers and boot-makers Umbro. He has agreed a record £15m (€22m) personal sponsorship extension – to last for another 15 years.

Owen, who will be 39 when it expires, said: “I’ve been associated with Umbro since I was 15 years of age. So I’ve no qualms about signing such a long-term deal. It is reassuring to work with people I know I can trust.”