As Michael Owen announces that he will call time on his career at the end of this season the usual barrage of warm wishes and plaudits from his fellow professionals have been flooding in. But in my mind there are two quite contrasting ways to look at the career of Michael Owen and in truth I don’t know which one I feel is more appropriate.
So, I’m going to outline them both here and you can make up your own mind. And hopefully I will too.
The first school of thought is that of a career wasted. A tale of what might have been. Sure, Owen won a few trophies and played for some truly illustrious clubs, but couldn’t he have been so much more? When an 18 year old Owen scored ‘that’ goal against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup didn’t we all feel as though we were looking at a man who would dominate football for years to come?
Didn’t we all think that he would go on to be the best striker in the world, the best England striker of all time, that he would smash England’s goal scoring record? Of course, he did none of those things. He was always a goal threat of course, but the player who scored a hat-trick against Germany is a long way from the player who has made it onto the pitch 7 times for Stoke City this season.
He never took the game of football by the scruff of the neck like he threatened to in France nearly 15 years ago now. His explosive pace was quickly eroded by injuries and ultimately Michael Owen just never made his way onto a football pitch enough to be considered one of the all-time greats like he should have been, and that’s a real shame.
The other way of looking at Michael Owen’s career is simply to sum it up with one word, success. A glittering career played at the very highest level. Impressive spells at Liverpool, Real Madrid and Manchester United to name but a few.
During this time he’s won the Premier League, the FA Cup (scoring twice in the final), 3 League Cups and a UEFA Cup. He’s been named World Player of the Year in 2001 and played at 5 major tournaments with England. He’s scored 40 goals for the Three Lions, a feat only bettered by Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker and Jimmy Greaves.
He’s also left us with a number of memories, some of the stand out moments of recent football history, regardless of who you support. There was the goal against Wimbledon on his Liverpool debut aged just 17, the aforementioned goal against Argentina, the hat-trick away in Munich in England’s 5-1 win over Germany. Even in a relatively unsuccessful spell at Man United he’s remembered by the red half of the city fondly for his last minute winner in the Manchester derby in 2009.
Maybe that’s one of the reasons he’s remembered so fondly by all the clubs he has played for. He did score for United against City, not surprising really. He also scored for Liverpool against Everton, for Newcastle against Sunderland and for Real Madrid against Barcelona.
All of the above was achieved even though he was hampered by injuries. Even once his trademark pace had subsided he adapted his game. His movement was such that he didn’t need blistering pace to escape a defender, the defender was never near him in the first place.
How else do you explain a striker like the diminutive Owen scoring so many headers? It’s not because he’s out jumping everyone. It’s partly because he’s clever and partly because he has that habit of being in the right place at the right time. A skill that you cannot teach, being a natural goal scorer.
So, after writing the above, I must admit that I am no closer to knowing how I feel about Michael Owen as he departs the beautiful game. I think what I’ve decided is that it’s probably not as black and white as I first made out.
Maybe it’s easiest to argue that both of the above arguments have their own merits. While Owen never did quite reach the heights that we all expected, the goals he scored and the service he provided for club and country do allow him a special place in football history.
What Owen does next is really up to him. A talent like his simply invites options post-football. He’s already shown that he could have a future in TV punditry or as an owner of race horses, I have no doubt that he would have plenty to offer as a coach and, one day, a manager too.
But to speculate about this now would be disrespectful to Michael Owen, the footballer. He’s not retiring today, he’s retiring in May. And Stoke City may find that he still has something to offer between now and the end of the season. If given a chance at Stoke one thing he can provide, which he absolutely always has, is goals.