If Owen, as expected, completes a free transfer move to Manchester United it will be one of the most remarkable pieces of transfer business since, erm, let me think, Newcastle signed him from Real Madrid for £16.5m four years ago.
]]> The papers have been fall of it this summer - no not that - how Manchester United are only going to sign players under the age of 26. Yet here they are, preparing the final touches to sign a 29-year-old with the highest profile injury reputation in the domestic game.Like everyone else, I didn't see this coming at all, I thought Michael would end up at Everton, but on reflection it isn't that surprising.
He will cost Manchester United nothing, other than wages and I'm sure his deal will have plenty of clauses in which will amount to a modest basic wage - by his standards - and more attached to appearances and goals.
Given Owen's tendency to pick up knocks and strains the transfer is a risk by Manchester United, but it is a risk they can afford for a player who, despite everything, still has a goals-per-game record of roughly one every other game
Whereas most top flight clubs would use Owen as their main striker, Manchester United can afford to use him as a squad player. They have plenty of options in attack and if Owen is injured there is more than adequate cover for him in the squad.
It is a calculated gamble by Sir Alex Ferguson, but one he knows he can make because of the strength in depth he has at Old Trafford. No other manager in the Premier League has the chips stacked in his favour quite like Fergie.
As for Michael, he will be thrilled to bits, particularly as he intended to join Manchester United after his first season at St James's Park only for his knee to collapse at the World Cup in Germany.
He has been mocked and criticised more than ever over the last 12 months and there did seem to be something rather desperate about that 32-page brochure his management produced to advertise their client's wares.
But, as has been so often the case in his career, it looks as though Michael will have the last laugh. At 29, in theory, there is plenty of football left in those battered legs and he has joined the reigning Premier League champions who will be among the favourites to win the Champions League again.
Newcastle fans should probably just be glad they won't have to face him next season because you can bet your last pound shilling he would have scored against them!
]]>In launching Sunderland's bid to become a host city for the 2018 World Cup - should England get the nod from Fifa which is far from a formality - Quinn has once again shown he is not only ambitious, but also sharp and clinical when he needs to be.
While Newcastle may also be in the race to become a host city, you won't have heard much about it. In fact, have you heard anything from any of the other 14 cities hoping to impress the FA in the coming weeks? I haven't.
There was also a DVD with lots of pictures on it, promoting famous Sunderland landmarks like the Penshaw Monument, Durham Cathedral and the erm, Millenium Bridge on the banks of the Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead! Only 12 miles away of course, which is marginally closer than Bamburgh Castle, which was also used in the DVD.
On the face of things, Sunderland are fighting a losing battle. Whether you like it or not, Sunderland, as far as the rest of the country is concerned, is Newcastle's poor relation, its less attractive, less exciting cousin.
Look, don't shout at your computer screen, I'm just saying what most people in Britain think. I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that's how it is. Newcastle is the North East for many people because that is all they know and it is certainly seen as the leading city north of Leeds.
It is an established and extremely popular city tourist destination. It has glamour and kudos, it's fashionable and has a reputation - not always positive of course - around Europe for its nightlife, culture and so on.
And, although it may only be half empty next season, St James's Park is the third largest club ground in the country. 4,000 extra tickets equals more money and that will always talk loudest with Fifa/FA.
It also has its own international airport and regular trains to London and Edinburgh. As a result, it will be the automatic favourite to win the right to stage World Cup games in these parts.
Yet, Quinn knows this may even work to Sunderland's advantage. After all, if Sunderland get to host games, visitors can also enjoy the sights and sounds of their neighbours. They can even stay in one of its large hotels on the Quayside, but it will be the Stadium of Light and Sunderland which actually gets the World Cup!
Newcastle football club is in a mess, leaderless and clueless. Sunderland have also looked to take advantage of that, launching their bid with as much fuss and noise as they can to grab attention while their rivals plunge to new lows as Mike Ashley tries to find a buyer.
Newcastle might be the favourite to become a host city for all of the above, but its arrogance could be its downfall. Sunderland are trying to show they want it more and let's not forget, it was exactly that trick which Liverpool pulled off to become European Capital of Culture even though Newcastle's was the superior bid.
It is no coincidence that, just as I'm writing this blog, an email has arrived from a public relations company looking to promote the bid by Newcastle/Gateshead. Hmm, Sunderland have clearly rattled somebody's cage!
In an ideal world, Newcastle and Sunderland will both host games in 2018. It is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility, particularly as two of the grounds which staged games in Euro 96 - Elland Roads in Leeds and Hillsborough in Sheffield - are increasingly old-fashioned and will need major investment to meet Fifa requirements.
That would be fantastic for the region, but can anyone see the North-East getting such an honour when London will have three stadiums - Wembley, Arsenal and Tottenham - with capacities above or around 60,000 and the likes of Sheffield and Leeds will still be desperate to be involved?
Personally, I think it will be or the other and whereas I would once have said Newcastle were a shoe in, is Sunderland's public relations drive and attempt to get public support behind them enough to pull off a surprise?
]]>Like so many sports, we gave tennis to the world as a gift, a Victorian hobby passed on to the natives, and they took it from us and have taken great pleasure in being better than us at it ever since. For tennis, read football, cricket, boxing, rugby, and baseball (well it's basically rounders isn't it).
If anyone has been watching the excellent BBC Documentary Empire of cricket you will know exactly what I mean. At one stage or another over the last 50 years, a former colony has formed part of a new national identity by humiliating us in the sporting arena. But in tennis, the entire world has.
]]> Britain's biggest contribution to modern tennis? No, it is not 'Come on Tim' Henman, it's not even Andrew Murray, it's Fred Perry clothing, named in honour of the man who last won the Wimbledon title in 1936.At least we can take some pride in the fact that, at various times over the last 73 years, we have clothed the superstars who have lifted the game's biggest prizes.
Well done guys, great stuff. A good return on the millions of pounds which has been pumped into a sport played almost exclusively by the middle classes in elitist, clique tennis clubs in leafy suburbs up and down the country.
But no, this year, I'm going to throw off my cloak of cynicism and I'm actually going to get excited about Wimbledon for a change. Well, excited might be pushing it a little bit, but I'm going to take some genuine interest for a change and most of that is down to Murray.
What do I like about Murray? He deliberately opted out of the Lawn Tennis Association (so pompous, why is it not just be called the British Tennis Association?!) programme as a youngster and has been ploughing his own furrow ever since.
He is Scottish, he is a little bit posh, but not too much and he isn't polite and nice, he's aggressive and he's passionate. In other words, he isn't Tim Henman.
It probably isn't Tim's fault. He was ranked in the top ten for the majority of his career which is a major achievement in any discipline, but he just got on my nerves.
Or rather Henmania and Henman hill annoyed the pee out of me. Oh and Tim never did win that Grand Slam did he, he just kept up the habit of glorious sporting failures we Brits do so well.
Somehow I just believe Murray - who is sponsored by Fred Perry as it happens - will be different, that he might just lift a Grand Slam and that Britain will have a Wimbledon champions again so I'm jumping on the bandwagon like everyone else!
Come on Andy...... sorry what was that about first round upset?!
Then again, we've been here before haven't we? We were supposed to be getting a decision back from the banks two weeks ago and then, nothing, diddly squat, just rumours, hushed briefings from sources and insiders.
This time, though, it does feel a little different. The takeover process appears to be gathering momentum judging by Derek Llambias comments in The Journal and Shearer himself has been told that is likely to be a big week in terms of both his and Newcastle United future.
If you think about it, Manchester City signed Robinho from Manchester City before the oil-rich Sheikhs had taken control of the club and that meant splashing out £30m on the Brazilian.
The point is, even though nothing was signed, sealed and delivered it was only a matter of time until it was and that was enough for the new owners to start making firm decisions.
This is crunch time for the array of "interested parties" who have claimed they want to buy the club. Prove they have the money by the end of play on Tuesday and they will be given the chance to look through the books. Fail to do so and they will have to look elsewhere for some free publicity.
When Mike Ashley has that list of serious bidders he can ask them about the Shearer situation. As far as I know, all of the main players want Shearer as manager should they be successful in buying the club so there is nothing to prevent Ashley from ending the weeks of uncertainty and making Shearer boss.
That is definitely the best outcome for the long term health of the club. As things stand, there is nothing to even attach a football club to. A group of players who are all up for sale, no manager, no pre-season friendlies, no clue as to how the Magpies are ever going to get back into the Premier League.
At least if Shearer is manager there is something to cling to. He might prove to be a poor manager, a pale imitation of the brilliance of the player, but at least he gives the club something.
He gives them leadership and he gives them a figurehead. He gives them a star name and he gives them pulling power in the transfer market, the sort of pulling power no other Championship club will have. He also gives them hope, hope that someone who understands the club and genuinely feels for it is in a position of power.
If Shearer turns out to be a bad manager, that is risk I think is worth taking at the moment because who else is there to rebuild the club and restore the bond between those who are employed by it and those who follow it?
Ipswich Town may have Roy Keane, but his reputation has suffered a little after the Sunderland experience, most notably among players who will have heard plenty of stories about his erratic behaviour behind the scenes.
Shearer doesn't have that stain on his managerial history book. He still has kudos, charisma and mystery - and if you are a young striker who else would you rather play for?
If you have the choice between playing for Shearer in a team which, despite all its troubles, remains among the favourites to win promotion in the Championship or for a team in the Premier League which is favourite to come down, who would you sign for?
It's certainly a dilemma, a dilemma that probably wouldn't exist without Shearer at the helm.
This has gone on too long, it needs to be resolved and it needs to be resolved quickly. The Championship fixtures are released on Wednesday, hopefully we will have an announcement about Shearer before the end of the week. Then perhaps we can start to look forward rather than back...
]]>Well, at least they will be until the England selectors, having seen us go 2-0 down to Australia in the Ashes, decide to replace the injured Graham Onions with the in-form Stephen Harmison and Durham are left to get on with things the best they can.
There is no doubt that, with Onions and Harmison bowling in tandem, Durham are a frightening prospect for any county batsman trotting out to face them. They were, at times, unplayable against Lancashire.
]]> But are either of them good enough to trouble the Aussies? After all, Onions has only taken Test wickets against a very ordinary West Indian side which didn't really want to be here in the first place, while Harmison has had more chances in international cricket than a five-year-old playing Guess Who?In reality, only one of them is likely to be in the England team for the First Test at Cardiff - it still rankles that the Welsh are staging the First Test but anyway let's not get distracted by the misuse of taxpayer's money by the Welsh Assembly - and that will be Onions.
England's bowling unit is pretty much decided. Stuart Broad and James Anderson will both play, and Flintoff, presuming he can actually stay fit this time, will be the all-rounder. Onions deserves to keep his spot in the team given the superb way he has bowled for both England and Durham this season.
That leaves one place open and even that is not certain to be given to a bowler if Flintoff plays as a specialist bowler rather than an all-rounder who hasn't scored any runs for donkey's years.
Given his face and curly hair seem to fit into the current set up, Ryan Sidebottom will probably get the nod with his left arm swing bowling.
Harmison may get a call up into the England Lions - a fancy name for a B Team - to play Australia in a warm up game to keep him interested, but I don't think the 30-year-old, no matter how well he is bowling at the moment, will be considered for Cardiff.
That will suit Durham. Head Coach Geoff Cook may point to the strength in depth he has in terms with bowlers with both Liam Plunkett and Mark Davies currently out of the team because of injury, but he knows Harmison is the difference between a highly competitive county team and County champions for the second year running.
Durham travel to Warwickshire this week looking to make it three wins out of three but Onions and Harmison really will have their work cut out at Edgbaston.
The pitch is flat and docile and offers little for seam bowlers other than hardwork and sweat. If either can wickets in large numbers on this ground then the England selectors really will get excited.
However, while Onions and Harmison are winning all the rave reviews at the moment, others have made significant contributions to the team, not least Ian Blackwell.
The former Somerset man always looked like a good signing and not just for those who believe sportsmen do not necessarily have to look, erm, well athletic I suppose.
His runs, when they have come, have come when they are needed most and if Durham were a strong side last year they are an even stronger one with him in their midst of their batting line up.
]]>Quite why we are still waiting for an answer is beyond me and, if anything, I'm being given the distinct impression Mike Ashley has no intention of appointing Shearer as manager.
Instead, the rotund businessman who has, despite his good intentions, made a complete and utter cock up of his time at St James's Park, decides to run away as soon as the real problems start following relegation. No feeling of responsibility, no intention of trying to right the wrong, just a rapid escape to lick his own self-inflicted wounds.
Surely it doesn't take a bunch of accountants more than a week to sign off on a financial package which would make Shearer manager. Was that information just a smoke screen, given to the media and Shearer himself to buy some time? It's starting to look like it.
Well I'm sorry Mike but that is going to have to change. If you don't appoint Alan Shearer as manager, even though you are trying to sell the club, then you will be making a monumental blunder - even by your standards.
If the new owners don't want Shearer they are stupid. Why wouldn't they want the man who is the overwhelming choice of those who support and, ultimately in the Championship, l bankroll the club.
If a four-year contract is too long for prospective owners why isn't there a compromise? Why isn't Alan offered a three-year or even a two-year deal because in the short term at least he is the only appointment that makes sense, financially and emotionally.
With Shearer as manager I can see Newcastle starting next season with crowds hovering around the 40,000 mark. Without him there will probably be less than 20,000 as the feelings of disillusionment and betrayal really start to kick in.
With Shearer as manager I can see enough good players coming to St James's Park to get the team back into the Premier League at the first attempt. Without him I can see a shell of a first team squad which might even struggle to stay in the Championship. Alarmist? Perhaps, but who will be left and who on earth is going to sign for them?
Every day that passes without a resolution is costly and I wonder whether we are getting close to the stage where Shearer decides enough is enough and walks away, hoping new owners will be in place in time to appoint him (or someone else) before the damage done during this state of limbo is irreversible.
He wants to help his football club in their hour of need, but time is of the essence. As things stand Newcastle United are in more of a mess than ever before.
Relegation was bad enough but it could just have been the start of something a lot worse....
]]>Steve Bruce is a Newcastle fan. Well he is when it suits him. Like when he is touting himself for the manager's job at St James's Park, but he didn't exactly shout it from the rooftops when he was playing for Manchester United did he?!
Suddenly it was Corbridge this, Tyneside that, bottle of Broon ale this. Did you know he used to walk to the Gallowgate kicking a lump of coal around as a child, singing the Blaydon Races at the top of his voice? No, that's because he didn't.
I was one of those who believed Bruce would have been a good appointment for Newcastle and he did want the job, I'm not denying that.
But football is his profession and if he becomes Sunderland manager he's not going to be some sort of elaborate double agent, slipping into a position of power at the Stadium of Light so he can cause havoc from within.
He will do the job to the best of his ability and if he can replicate the success he has had at Wigan with better resources then Niall Quinn will have quickly removed the black mark of Ricky Sbragia's appointment from his Black Cats copy book.
Bruce has done a wonderful job at Wigan, but he wants a new challenge because he knows he has already taken the Latics as far as he can.
They are not a proper football club in the traditional sense - no matter how annoyed their fans get when people say it - and Bruce knows (like his pal Roy Keane) that Sunderland, for all of their problems last season, have the potential to be a major player in the Premier League.
If Bruce gets it right on Wearside he will be worshipped by fanatical crowds of 48,000. If he continued to get it right at Wigan he would still probably play second fiddle to the Rugby League team which shares the dreary Lancashire town.
With Ellis Short on board, Bruce knows he will have money to spend at a club which will finally give him the backing to prove he isn't just a manager who can make the best out of a bad hand.
Ultimately, if Bruce does well as Sunderland manager, nobody will care about his past affiliation. Sure, he'll have to win a few sceptics round at first but what manager doesn't? Even Alan Shearer has a few doubters on Tyneside after one win in eight games!
But if he struggles, it won't take long for the mood to turn ugly. Few managers get the luxury of time, but a Geordie who says he was a Newcastle fan will get even less than most....
]]>It looked like a no-brainer to me, even from the piazzas of Verona and Venice. Went Newcastle went down there was only one direction for the club to turn - towards the slightly balding former skipper who feels the club in his bones.
Shearer wants the job and Mike Ashley wanted to give it to him. It should have been wrapped up in a couple if stays. Instead, after a week of deadlock we are told Shearer's future will be decided by a bunch of bankers and we all know what that rhymes with.
]]> They are in control of the purse strings at St James's Park following the decision by Ashley to put the club up for sale for the second time in 10 months and they will decide whether Shearer's appointment can go ahead within the strict financial perimeters they have been forced to impose following relegation..It is interesting that details of Shearer's wage demands have been leaked. At £2.5m a year Shearer is asking for a lot and don't forget Iain Dowie and Paul Ferris also need to be looked after), especially when you consider the average wage for a Championship manager is only £500,000, but is he worth it?
Shearer won just one game out of eight and he failed to keep the Magpies up. Does that really offer value for money? That is what the men in suits might think when they are presented with the cruel hard facts to accompany their balance sheets this week.
As for putting the banks in charge of a managerial appointment? Didn't exactly cover themselves in glory with the old credit crunch did they!
It's quite scary when you think about it. Accountants making a call based purely on money which potentially has dire consequences for the future of Newcastle United.
It's not quite that black and white. The banks have been asked to seal the deal, but there is a feeling within the club that Shearer's wage demands, as well as his request for a £20m transfer kitty and the guaranteed non-sale of certain players, could cause the whole thing to come tumbling down.
And if Shearer walks away, back to the BBC studio with the Match of the Day sofa, who on earth would want to take charge of a club which is up for sale? Oh no, what's that coming over the hill it's Joe Kinnear, Joe Kinnear......
]]>Will the sad story have an unexpectedly happy ending or will the end be as agonising as the build up to it.
The bottle is about to stop spinning, the roulette wheel is slowing down, but will it fall on red or black and white stripes. Fates are about to be decided, fortunes made or broken. It's not a time for the feint hearted.
We used to talk about progress, European football and challenging for silverware. Now all we talk about is damage limitation and survival. If either drop into the Championship it will be a disaster for all concerned.
Sunderland are the better prepared of the two, their recent experience of English football's second tier, plus the safety net of wage cuts for players if they are relegated, as well as the financial backing of Ellis Short, means they are well equipped to survive the fall and be in shape to fightback.
At Newcastle, the ramifications will be huge, but no more hurtful. They have no recent experience of the Championship and they do not have a safety valve in place in any contracts to relieve the financial pressure of relegation.
They will have big name stars on big wages who they must sell if the club is going to avoid meltdown over the next year or so.
Whatever is left will be a shell of a first team squad and is highly unlikely there will be the sort of money needed to rebuild it in the short term.
It could take years to recover from. If Newcastle go down they will have to come straight back up the following year. If they don't, United fans had better take a close look at where Leeds United are now.
And it all hangs on 90 minutes of football. Just a game? I don't think so.
Of course, having said this isn't a weekend for the feint hearted I would like to stress there is nothing wrong with my heart, it's very strong and healthy thanks.
However, on the biggest day in North East football for decades I will be on holiday in Italy. Last day of the season, as if anything will be riding on that says the Journal's Chief Sports Writer as he hands in his holiday request form!
Mind you, fine food, fine wine, little day trip to Venice, few days in the sunshine by Lake Garda. I'll be thinking of you all...
]]>The American's millions are like a warm, reassuring hug from your mum after a nightmare.
Whether his money is needed to help soften the financial disaster of relegation or fund another bold recruitment drive in the Premier League, he is, according to Niall Quinn, absolutely vital if the club is going to have any chance of realising its ambition.
It is difficult to see how Sbragia could possible hold on to his job. Despite providing an initial lift in the immediate aftermath of Roy Keane's departure, performances have been poor, results even worse.
Sunderland have the look and feel of a divided team which has been drifting towards the end of the season under a manager who always suspected he would be moving back to a coaching role in the summer. Their complacency could still be their Achilles Heel.
Results will have to go against them on Sunday, but at this stage of the season, on the last day of a long campaign when all sorts of weird and wonderful things can happen, it would be a foolish man/woman who believed they were safe.
Personally, I think certain people at the Stadium of Light believed they were safe weeks ago and that has been their biggest mistake. After beating Stoke City at the start of February, some even began to talk about mounting a late push for a European place.
They were not prepared for a relegation battle and have found it difficult to cope once it became clear they were being dragged back into one. Yes, missed chances in front of goal have cost them dear, but so too has some dreadful defending and so has their collective attitude.
That has happened on Sbragia's watch and I just cannot see how or why the Scot would be kept on as manager. Quinn warned him he had nine games to keep his job and after eight I think it's safe to say he hasn't.
Sbragia was probably a reluctant manager in the first place, but stepped up to fill the breach as a short term project. He thought he could do enough to keep them up in the Premier League, but he has always given the impression he enjoys coaching players, not leading them.
For what it's worth, I don't think Sunderland will go down. I can't see both Hull City and Newcastle United winning on Sunday given the form they have been in this year, but it is far too close for comfort for the Black Cats who have had plenty of chances to get themselves out of this mess.
Had Short been just another foreign investor looking to make a quick buck - this may still be his intention, of course, only over a longer period - he would have run back to Dallas faster than you could say pound sterling if the club were relegated.
Instead, he is willing to stay and commit to a project he clearly feels, with the help of Quinn, has considerable potential.
Their first big decision will be the appointment of a manager who gives the club a chance to realise its potential on the pitch, not one who is a nice guy trying his best to be Sam Allardyce.
]]>Given the financial implosion it could cause and the long term damage it could do to the club, it is a viewpoint littered with risks and fraught with danger, but perhaps it is not as crazy as you think.
For example, if I could guarantee every Newcastle supporter out there that United would go down to the Championship for one season, and one season only, would it be such a terrible, repugnant and wretched outcome?
If Newcastle go down they could stay down for years, they might even follow Leeds United - who had 35,000 people at their play-off semi-final against Millwall last week - into League One.
As much as I'd love to see Newcastle playing Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road in 2010, I really don't think that's a league fixture anyone on Tyneside would want, accept maybe the odd Sunderland fan, although I reckon even they'd miss the intensity of the North East derby.
However, one season in the Championship might not be such a bad thing. Lots of different grounds to visit, new teams to begrudgingly admire or despise, the whole thing could be a refreshing change.
A year's break from the relentless poundings handed out by Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool and a little time away from the same old teams in the Premier League with the same old faces.
The Premier League might be the best league in the world, the most exciting, but as Kevin Keegan once said, it is also the most predictable and therefore the most boring because the same four teams finish in the top four positions year after year after year.
It is a juxtaposition Keegan was frustrated by long before he spat his dummy out and walked out on the club in protest at its transfer strategy four months later.
It would also, in theory, give Newcastle a chance to detox, to clear out the dead wood, to get its house in order, whatever you want to call it.
There are too many over-paid, over-rated players on the books at St James's Park and relegation would mean there was no option but to get rid of them in vast numbers.
If Newcastle went down, Michael Owen, Mark Viduka, Cacapa, Geremi, Fabricio Coloccini, Jonas Guteirrez, Alan Smith, Joey Barton, Jose Enrique and Obafemi Martins would all be expected to leave. They could well be joined by Habib Beye and Sebastien Bassong, although I would expect Shearer to fight to keep them.
By my reckoning, even if United keep Beye and Bassong, that would save the club around £600,000 a week in wages, or if you prefer, £31.2m a year, which is almost 50% of the current wage bill. That, I should point out, is based on a conservative estimate.
Granted that doesn't leave much behind to work with in terms of getting the club promoted again, but if Shearer can work his magic, spend whatever little money he has wisely and the Magpies fly straight back into the top flight it would arguably give the club far stronger foundations financially.
Look, I'm clutching at straws to an extent. Nobody wants to be relegated, it would be horrible. Newcastle need to go to Aston Villa next weekend and all these players whose incomes I have highlighted need to pull something special out of the fire.
As unlikely as it seems after the performance against Fulham, it's not over yet, honest....
]]>According to one national newspaper the Newcastle captain intended to quit at the end of the season as he no longer felt he could compete at the top level and wanted to concentrate on horse training.
Owen is many things - although I'd question Europe's best player was ever one of them - but he most certainly, most definitely, unwaveringly is not a quitter.
Actually, let me rephrase that. He will quit at some point, every player has to hang up their boots eventually, but at 29 and with ten goals in 24 starts this season in a poor side, surely it is not going to be anytime soon?
]]> Yes, Owen loves horses as much as he loves football, but he will also know the former can wait until the latter has finished. There is also the small matter of earning the money from the latter to pay for the former.I'm sure nobody needs to be reminded, but Owen is out of contract at the end of the season.
For all of his recent troubles - one goal in 16 games, dropped by Alan Shearer for the game against Liverpool, substituted against Middlesbrough and so on and so on - Owen will have plenty of options when his contract eventually does expire next month.
For one, I would still expect Newcastle to offer him a new contract despite his recent barren run in front of goal.
There are also strong rumours that Everton are prepared to offer him something in the summer as well, and it would be foolish to exclude Manchester City at this stage because they have so much money they are capable of bidding for anyone.
Owen has been a major disappointment these last few weeks. He looks short on pace, sharpness and, most worryingly of all for a player of his stature, confidence in front of goal.
Yet, all strikers have these spells in their career, whether they are Gary Lineker, Ian Rush, Gerd Muller, Emilio Butragueno or even, dare I say it, Alan Shearer himself.
This is not the first time Owen has been written off, yet each time he has managed to do enough to silence his detractors. It would be a brave man or woman who bet against him doing the same this time...
]]>It is sometimes called 'Second Album syndrome', the difficult task of trying to replicate the brilliance which brought you so much success and critical acclaim.
It is a frustrating, infuriating situation to be in and one which can seem impossible to escape from as all the things which seemed so easy to achieve suddenly take on Everest-like proportions.
]]> Durham were rightly lauded for their achievements in 2008. County Champions for the first time, Friends Provident Trophy semi-finalists, Twenty20 Cup semi-finalists and third-place in the Pro40 League. It was a remarkable season by anyone's standards.Perhaps inevitably, this year, Durham have failed to live up to expectations. They have already been knocked out of the Friends Provident Trophy with five defeats in six games and, despite playing some decent stuff, are yet to register a win in the Liverpool Victoria County Championship.
While Graham Onions may have dominated national attention with an England call-up and a stunning debut at Lord's where he took 5-38 in the first innings, Steve Harmison is labouring ineffectually and may even require surgery on a shin problem which would sideline him for up to three months. So much for that Ashes recall.
Yet, it is not just the Durham team which is finding things trickier. It was the first day of the Riverside Test on Thursday and the crowd was so small it looked like a County game. In this day and age, that is about the biggest insult you can find.
Durham will inevitably be forced to take the brunt of the criticism and people will question the passion for cricket - and therefore the Riverside as a Test venue - in the North East as a result of the poor ticket sales. Yet, it is the ECB which should hang its head in shame.
They are the ones who decided to charge £40 for a ticket in the middle of the worst recession this country has seen since the Great Depression and they are the ones who, in their greed for sponsorship money and television income, decided to put on a Test match in May when the football season still hasn't finished and most of the world's best players are earning some corn in the Indian Premier League.
Durham thought they would be getting an Ashes Test this summer having done everything the ECB had asked of them. Yet, that lucrative sell out has gone to Cardiff instead because the Welsh Assembly offered the game's governing body more money to stage it.
Instead, Durham were fobbed off with a meaningless Test against Zimbabwe, which was then changed to Sri Lanka when Zimbabwe were banned by the ICB for political reasons and then, because of the IPL, switched again to a reluctant West Indian side they had only finished playing against last month in the Caribbean.
Cricket still hasn't come to terms with the rise of Twenty20 cricket and I'm not entirely sure it ever will in its present form. All the ECB are doing is chasing the tail of the IPL, a competition we are supposed to be excited by, but do you know anyone in this country who has taken the slightest bit of interest other than those who wanted to earn money playing in it?
Do you know who is leading the IPL? Do you know who has done well? Do you know which players are playing for which team? Twenty20 cricket has novelty value, particularly on the sub-continent, but I wonder, as English cricket sacrifices so much to try and compete with the IPL, is its popularity already waning?
In the meantime, as we pander to the desire of players to earn a few extra pounds, what has happened to Test cricket?
When Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, says he would rather be playing Twenty20 cricket because nobody cares about Tests anymore it is a dreadful time for anyone who believes the Five Day game remains the sport's truest form.
Sitting watching Test matches at Lord's and the Riverside against a backdrop of rows and rows of empty seats is even worse. Cricket is in a mess and I don't think a few more Twenty20 games every summer is going to help in the long run.
If you tell people often enough that something is the future you will always be in danger of degrading the present...
]]>I'm sure Middlesbrough fans aren't in such a positive frame of mind, but there was something special about Newcastle's display and the result which came with it.
]]> After so many false-dawns this season; so many must-win games which have not been won; so many big games in which those in black and white have fallen flat on their faces, Monday night's 3-1 win over Middlesbrough felt like the end of something traumatic and the start of something exciting at last.Alan Shearer's first win as a manager but surely not the last.
Newcastle vs Middlesbrough - May 11th 2009. It was always going to be one of those 'where were you when moments' and it did not disappoint.
It was like shooting up adrenaline into a main vein, a rush Newcastle United fans had been waiting for since December when Tottenham were dispatched and Mike Ashley decided to get over-excited and predict a European push!
But this is not the time to dwell on the foolish naivety of an owner, this is a time to focus on what this means for a manager and a group of players who have been battered from every side this season.
For the first time in ages, Newcastle did not just try to make something happen without ever really looking capable of doing so, they huffed and they puffed and actually managed to look good doing it.
There were excellent performances all over the pitch from the big name players who have been dining out on reputations for far too long on Tyneside.
Where once there were over-paid, fallen stars, now there were heroes in black and white stripes appearing all over the pitch.
Steve Harper recovered from a shaky start and made some vital saves. Steven Taylor was immense, Sebastien Bassong and Habib Beye as good as ever, Damien Duff brilliant playing out of position at left-back.
In midfield, Kevin Nolan looked half a stone lighter and played like it, Nicky Butt the wise old head alongside him who maintained calm, Jonas Gutierrez remembered how to be positive while Danny Guthrie's performance was a coming of age one.
In attack, Mark Viduka was simply brilliant, a reminder that if the Australian had tried as hard as this throughout his career he would have been up there with the world's best strikers.
As for Michael Owen, it is easy to criticise because it was his replacement who scored the goal which broke Boro's resistance, but he looked sharp and ran and ran for the team he led out on to the pitch.
And what can you say about Obafemi Martins? I have criticised him this season and rightly so. I have not been the only one as the Nigerian simply wasn't doing enough to justify the hero worship that came his way.
He has missed too many chances and gone missing in too many games, but he came off the bench last night to not only go a long way to saving a football club from relegation, but possibly from implosion.
He has etched his name into the history books and, as such, his deeds will ensure he is now immortal on Tyneside, that goal replayed in supporters' heads for decades to come.
As for Peter Lovenkrands. Washed up, unfit and devoid of pace. That was the verdict of many when he signed on a free transfer from Schalke in January - including the club's unpopular former director of football Dennis Wise.
But he has done nothing by try his best for Newcastle - all anyone really asks - and he has had his reward. His goal to kill off the game here was his third since he came to the club, more than Martins, more than Owen and more than Viduka in 2009. That says it all.
Newcastle, it must be stressed, are not safe yet. They need to beat Fulham on Saturday to start celebrating anything, but as the chants of Shearer, Shearer, Shearer reverberated around St James's Park on Monday night it finally feels like the tide has turned in their favour.
A fantastic evening, even if my wife was so excited when I got home that she kept me talking about the game until after 1am.
You have no idea how many times I heard about how she broke her flag celebrating the first goal, or the Smoggies who were singing "your support is s*it" before Martins scored.....
]]>More importantly, has it now become impossible to defend him? Having been forgiven for two separate assault charges and ensuing prison terms last summer, will Barton's ridiculous sending off against Liverpool be seen as unforgivable by those who were willing to give him yet another chance a few months ago?
]]> As far as I'm concerned, Barton's ineffectual performance against Liverpool is probably the last we will see of him in a black and white shirt.Even if the Magpies pull off a great escape - which looks less and less likely every time I see them play - I fully expect the club to sell to whoever is willing to take him in the summer.
Certainly, with Alan Shearer clearly looking to take the job on permanently at the end of the season, relegation or not, I can't see how Barton is going to get himself out of trouble this time.
Shearer condemned his behaviour after the game, brushing off the player's attempt to apologise in the process and the message to the 26-year-old was clear - you have let me down, the club down, your teammates down and the supporters down... again!
Sorry simply isn't good enough. For almost £60,000-a-week, Newcastle United have got nine appearances out of the midfielder this season because of injury and, having waited patiently for his return, Barton rewards them with a wild and un-necessary tackle in a game which was already lost.
Stupid ,rash and idiotic, yet utterly in keeping with the character of the man who must have a blister on the end of his finger so often does he press the self-destruct button.
As for the rest of Newcastle's afternoon, well Barton's red card at least managed to deflect attention away from another dismal display from players who were hopelessly out-classed from first whistle to last.
In fact, given the anonymous performances of some in Newcastle's side - Alan Smith, Nicky Butt, Obafemi Martins to name just three - perhaps Barton should be thanked for turning himself into the villain of the piece once more.
The only good news to come out Anfield was that Newcastle only lost by three goals because it could easily have been five or six such was the level of Liverpool's dominance. Newcastle's goal difference, as a result, remains superior to Hull City's and that could be crucial in three game's time.
And so we turn our attention to the Middlesbrough game, the biggest North-East derby since the Magpies took on Sunderland in the old Second Division play-offs 19 years ago.
Nobody will need to be reminded that Newcastle lost that game, while on this occasion a draw would also be a dreadful result in the circumstances.
It's win or die, not literally, of course, you can't go around shooting players just because they get relegated.
Although it would be nice if a few of them fell on their swords and agreed to terminate their lucrative contracts wouldn't it? Nice, but highly unlikely because performance related pay is an alien concept in professional football.
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