Owen anxious over new manager

Michael Owen insisted he will wait to find out the identity of the new Liverpool manager before making any final decision on whether to sign a new contract at Anfield.

Owen expressed his “sick feeling in the stomach” at the news that Gerard Houllier, the Frenchman who has coached him for the past six years, is leaving the club.

He once again reassured the club that he has no intention of leaving on a free Bosman transfer at the end of his current contract next year, insisting that “something will be sorted in the summer“.

However, despite his self-professed “loyalty” to Liverpool, Owen still needs to be reassured of the club’s ambitions if he is to sign anything more than a one-year extension.

What is now crucial is not only where Liverpool turn in appointing a successor to Gerard Houllier, but also in the investment which they plough into a squad which only took them to fourth place.

Valencia president Jaime Orti today issued a hands-off warning relating to one leading candidate, coach Rafael Benitez, who has just led the club to success in the Primera Liga and the UEFA Cup.

“Benitez has one more year left on his contract with Valencia and our intention is to extend our relationship with him even further,” Orti told PA International. “He will coach Valencia next season.”

Porto boss Jose Mourinho, who is also linked with Chelsea, Alan Curbishley and Gordon Strachan are nevertheless reported to be in the frame as well.

Owen, meanwhile, insists he will not seek to influence the board’s decision, stressing that he had played no part in Houllier’s effective dismissal.

However, he revealed: “I am intrigued to see who the manager is, but also the whole package. I would love to see improvement in the squad and I would love to see a good manager come in.

“Obviously the new stadium is being built, which is right for the club. It sounds like you are holding everyone to ransom but I am not. I just want to be playing in a top team.

“We got to second in the league a few years ago. It obviously needs improvement because we were fourth this season and 30 points behind Arsenal.

“It’s a massive gap. I do think the gap will close naturally but to close with us getting level, we need to improve. Who knows what changes the new manager will bring?

“The chairman is saying it may take a while to appoint a new manager so I will just sit tight. I can’t put a percentage chance on me signing a new contract.

“But I am not trying to strangle every last penny out of everyone. I just want to play in the best team.

“I am as loyal a person as anyone could wish to meet. Hopefully we can improve because we do need to, to make that step and be one of the best.”

Owen went on to offer his own tribute to Houllier’s influence at Anfield, especially in bringing the cup treble to the club in 2001.

“We had six great years. I haven’t got a bad word to say about him,” the striker added amid England’s pre-Euro 2004 preparations in Sardinia.

“I don’t really want to say whether it is right or wrong but you always get that sad feeling, that sick feeling in your stomach, when you see someone you know going through a bad experience.

“I have seen Glenn Hoddle get sacked, having to go up on the telly, and the same with Kevin Keegan, you get a sick feeling but life goes on.

“Gerard Houllier joined Liverpool after the 1998 World Cup, so most of my career has been under him.

“He’s seen me grow as a player, he’s worked on different things and I would like to think I am a better all-round player as a result.

“He’s just about the only manager I have known so I don’t know different at the moment.”

That is about to change. The decision, however, could hold the key to not only Liverpool’s, but also Owen’s, future.