The Sun is reporting today that Aston Villa are ready to pay what it takes to sign Michael Owen in the January transfer window.
O’Neill – taking advantage of Newcastle uncertainty for second time?
We wouldn’t be at all surprised if this story is true, because Martin has already taken one of our best players to Villa, by paying a hefty transfer fee, and he may be willing to do that again with Newcastle captain Owen.
Ashley and his people were unable to turn down the £12M offered for Milner, and Newcastle got 80% of the fee (£9.6M), with 20% going to Leeds United (£2.4M).
O’Neill wants to bring in an experienced striker with a proven goalscoring record, to help out current strikers Gabby Agbonlahor and John Carew. And if Mike Ashley and his people are still here in January, he could again take the money and let Owen go, although interim manager Joe Kinnear will resist it mightily.
But so did Kevin Keegan in August, who certainly didn’t want to lose James Milner, whom he called a gem of a player, but money talked with Ashley and his cronies. It was a good price for James, no doubt about that, but we would prefer to keep our best young players, and James was a great lad and a smashing little player.
Michael Owen - clubs can talk to him on January 1st
It seems that Martin has received American owner Randy Lerner’s backing to go after Michael Owen, if Newcastle’s star striker becomes available.
But if nothing happens at the club before January, which is starting to look possible, Newcastle don’t have much say in things, unless they are willing to offer Michael a new contract, and it’s unlikely Michael will sign one, when he doesn’t know who the new owner and new permanent manager will be.
Owen, 28, is now in his final season of his initial 4 year contract when he signed in August, 2005 from Real Madrid for £17M. His contract is around £105K/week give or take a few thousand here or there. 
Newcastle did offer Michael an improved three-year contract in August, but that was just before the blow-up between Kevin Keegan and the Newcastle Board, and that blow-up actually started with Milner’s transfer to Aston Villa about 5 days prior to the blow up, which erupted on Monday afternoon, September 1st, the last day of the transfer window.
Mlner was sold against the wishes of the Newcastle manager.
What a way to run a club, and it hasn’t got much better since then – because we never hear from the Newcastle Board or Mike Ashley at all, and have absolutely no idea what is going on.
We’re just pleased Joe Kinnear has come in, when other managers wouldn’t, and taken care of all things at the club, and even put Newcastle onto winning ways. The Under-18 and Reserve sides are now doing very well under Richard Money and the rest of our very small coaching staff, and they’ve all done a terrific job in very trying circumstances.
We don’t know where we’d be if Kinnear hadn’t come in and given his all for the Newcastle United club, over these last 7 weeks, but it looks like the soap opera of Mike Ashley’s ownership of our proud club still has several weeks to run.
Comments welcome.
51 responses so far ↓
1 ELFER // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:01 AM
If we keep kinnear there’s a decent chance owen stays, becouse he simply must feel to have to give something back to us!!
2 AO // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Cant see kinnear being a deciding factor in wether Owen stays or not.
Owen will want to get back in the England squad as that is more important to him than club football. I doubt he feels he owes newcastle anything although i agree with you that he does.
3 Nick // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:15 AM
We can’t keep going with that ”he owes us something” approach. Owen has never stayed fit for half a season, let alone a full one. He’s a luxury item. Cut our losses and bring on Ranger. Why are we so scared to play youngsters at NUFC.
4 Ever seen a mackem in Milan? // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Mike Ashley will see the £££ will like the look of it. But would he sell the clubs most valuable asset before someone takes over? What would prospective buyers think of that?
5 hitman // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:21 AM
good ridence i say,hes always put country before club…
6 Ian // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Agree about bringing on Ranger, the lad needs to understand the quality he needs to reach to be first team standard, he and us have nothing to lose by trying him, he either fits in and becomes a first team striker or understands the level he needs to reach and understands why, even though he scores in the reserves, he still needs to train hard and develop, otherwise we get another Carroll, superb in the reserves so takes his foot off the pedal and starts being the playboy and ends up a waste of space.
7 Geordie69 // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Sell Owen we have a better play already in Nile Ranger!
8 Ever seen a mackem in Milan? // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:32 AM
We arent in a position to be playing Ranger or any other reserves. Arsenal do it because they arent threatened by relegation and the Carling Cup doesnt mean much to them because they are going for the Premier and Champions League. Only way our reserves will get experience is if they go out on loan.
9 beyethegreat // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:33 AM
i would be gutted to see owen leave and i dont think his best days are over but we have managed without before and i think we could do it again even though owen is englands best goalscorer
10 LooneyToon // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:33 AM
The Sun!? Enough said….
personally I think the lad will stay…No one in there right mind would sign a contract at the minute. However the club will be sold (hopefully) in the not to distant future, a perm manager appointed, and hopefully investment in the 1st team squad will follow. Nicky Butt has already said Owen wants to stay.
Proof will be in the pudding however, as actions speak much louder than words….
ps…someone tell Orville to stick his beak up Harris’s backside and move this sale along…Pronto….We are in limbo…if the manager had been backed in the summer with a left back, and quality creative midfielder, there is no reason why we couldnt have been in 5th or 6th spot at present. 12 points have been dropped against Hull, Fulham, Sunderland and Blackburn. Enough said…
11 Ever seen a mackem in Milan? // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Geordie69 – Then why arent Villa after Ranger then?
12 Matthew Tom // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Did we offer Owen an improved three year deal? All the talk at the time was that he was being offered a pay cut to around £80,000 a week with the rest coming in appearance and goal bonuses. Hardly an improvement on a guaranteed £105,000 a week!
13 sirjasontoon // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Milner has been shocking for Villa I live in the midlands and was listening to the phone in after the game against boro with big ron and villa fans think he is rubbish…no end product.
Owen will go…bring in Nile Ranger,young hungry and fit.
14 UTD111 // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Clearly, like he did last time, the poison dwarf is going round the clubs touting Owen (and no doubt other players) as available to the highest bidder.
Cashley will just see the £££ signs and a few “free” nights in the casino funded by the money he will get.
These people have a lot to answer for.
15 Ever seen a mackem in Milan? // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:45 AM
sirjasontoon – we knew that before he left
what a waste of £12 million 
16 UTD111 // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:46 AM
This vision of Nile Ranger is getting out of hand too. History has proven – you don’t avoid relegation by playing kids. Let the boy grow and develop – if he’s thrown in too early it could ruin him.
17 Karltoon // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:50 AM
Ranger’s in the guardians top 20 list of Under-18s in England.. and i quote “The prolific striker…is tipped for Shearer-esque scoring feats.”
18 Ever seen a mackem in Milan? // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Got a link to that? Ill only believe it when i see it.
19 AO // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:54 AM
Here is a message for the whining, whingeing, self-pitying, self-indulgent and deluded fans on Tyneside, otherwise known as the Toon Army: Kevin Keegan is not the Messiah; Alan Shearer is not an aspect of the trinity; Mike Ashley is not the Devil; Tony Jimenez is not on the secret payroll of Sunderland; and Dennis Wise is not an evil dwarf.
Newcastle United are not a “massive” club and do not have a divine right to remain in the Premier League; St James’ Park is not the world’s greatest stadium; and, in case you were wondering, your team will not break into the top four any time soon, with or without Ashley, Keegan, Wise or any of the other men who are heroes, villains and sometimes both in the febrile imaginations of the world’s most whimsical supporters.
Oh, and you are not the most loyal, valiant and wonderfully dependable fans on the planet. Check out the attendances when Newcastle were languishing in the second division at the start of the 1990s and you will get the measure of the myth that has clung to the black-and-white-shirted men and women for far too long. That’s right, they were often much fewer than 20,000 and with the Gallowgate end partially deserted. Is that what you call loyalty?
The banners castigating Ashley for being a southerner during Saturday’s comically self-important protest were the final straw for many of us who have long endured the tedious soap opera on Tyneside. That and the ill-informed, conspiracy-laden and melodramatic messages posted on the dozens of message boards that these fans seem to spend their lives reading.
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Where is the gallows humour, the sense of irony, the satirical edge? Where is the old-fashioned self-mockery that characterises most other groups of English football fans when their team are having a bad time of it?
The only way that Newcastle fans are ever going to be truly happy is when they have formed a collective to buy the club and have made a pig’s ear, as they inevitably would, of a kind that would make Freddy Shepherd’s last remaining strands stand on end. When they have rehired Keegan to manage the team, Shearer to be his assistant and the ghost of Jackie Milburn to do the scouting. When they have got control of the club and discovered that their own volatility makes it practically ungovernable.
Sure, passion and commitment are great things and we all know that in a big city with only one football club, there is bound to be a siege mentality and more than a little self-absorption. But many Newcastle fans have turned navel-gazing into an art form. They need to get out more and discover that their beloved club, who have not won a trophy for decades, are virtually unknown beyond these shores. They need a little perspective, not least in terms that passion does not equate to knowledge, nor does enthusiasm equate to expertise on how to run a football club.
This is a group of fans who agitated for the sacking of Sam Allardyce after only six months because the football was not pretty enough, even though he had put in place a much-needed science support structure and cleared out the dead wood from the Shepherd era. These are fans who want nothing to do with Ashley because he is from “down South” and because he insisted on a continental scouting system to support a manger who, by his own admission, had not attended a live match for three years and so was the last person who could have done the scouting job.
Sure, mistakes were made by Ashley, not least in the appointment of Keegan – something that was bound to end in tears – and in spheres of responsibility not being properly spelt out to the main protagonists. But let’s get real. The fundamental problem with Newcastle is no longer the corporate management, but those who used to be described as the club’s greatest assets: the fans – or at least those who are making all the noise at present.
20 Sav // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:59 AM
If Ashley cannot sell and doesn’t resolve his differences and show commitment by investing in Jan. I’d guess that would be the deciding factor for Owen. He’s got to be looking towards a last big contract, regaining his status as England player and a stable club with prospects above survival, which is where we are at the present time.
Not saying he shouldn’t be repaying the club but I wouldn’t blame him at all for taking the rational decision to move. The club have already tried to flog him, after all. If we got 5 million in, and his 110k per week taken care of, it would be considered a good deal by the club owner. And would he reinvest it all or pocket the fee against the loss of anticipated profit in the sale price of the club? We’ll see.
21 Karltoon // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Months old that you ManU/Spurs tosser.. Course your gonna be more succesful if you support 2 premiership clubs
Fool
Are you trying to portray it as your own thinking?
Fat chance the spelling is almost immaculate.
22 Ever seen a mackem in Milan? // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:02 PM
AO, none of us expect to be in the top 4 etc, to survive relegation and all the rest of it. All the people who make these statements about us dont have clue. Spurs have had a turn of fortunes but the fans are still some of the most self important w******s i have ever seen. Good luck to you for the rest of season and have a good day.
23 UTD111 // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Are you called AO for A*se Ole??
24 AO // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:14 PM
Karltoon- successful
25 AO // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:16 PM
karltoon- it might be months old but it still rings true. Great piece of journalism!
26 UTD111 // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:23 PM
AO – this fixation you have with United fans – I’ve come across this many times in my profession as a psychiatrist. Tell me, do you sleep in a United shirt and find yourself waking in the middle of the night with a tell-tale damp spot in your bed?
27 Shot Bru! // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:26 PM
AO
A long and tedious soap opera on Tyneside. Not for you by the sounds of things with the regularity you appear on this blog and in particular your long winded synopsis at post 19. However you give an interesting insight into how other fans view Nufc. By the way which team do you support?
28 Stevo // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:29 PM
AO – well done man….you found the copy/paste function on your keyboard. Wa*ker.
29 AO // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:33 PM
stevo-copy, paste? I wrote it all down in my notepad and then typed it all out.
30 AO // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:34 PM
I ment copied it down on my pad from a great site.
31 Stevo // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:39 PM
AO – Well done to you then. Bet you posted it on a few blog sites to counteract your inferior complex. Giving it all the big man etc……
32 Shot Bru! // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:40 PM
AO-meant
33 Karltoon // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:43 PM
AO – You missed :-
gonna – going to
your – you’re
I was referring to your poor abillity to spell and construct a sentense.. Not my own, nice how you turned it round though, you witty swine..
Wait for it..
34 Stevo // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:47 PM
AO – Thought your spelling was too immaculate……..your last comment should read ‘meant’ instead of ‘ment’.
I would have highlighted that for you if there was colour options but don’t worry you know the copy/paste function now you can progress to the next level……’How to form a personal opinion’
Make sure you have the reverse of a postage stamp at the ready for that one.
P.S that little red line under a word means you’ve spelt the word wrong.
35 Karltoon // Nov 13, 2008 at 12:49 PM
One day he’ll figure out the squiggly green one as well..
Punctuate be-atch
36 toonoholic // Nov 13, 2008 at 1:24 PM
wow and i thought they had only girls who pmsed real bad until i saw AO’s post.
37 lesh // Nov 13, 2008 at 1:32 PM
Who’s this AO?
What do the in initials stand for?
I wonder whether he/ she’s a cockney who doesn’t sound the ‘h’ that comes before ‘O’ in his surname!!
38 lesh // Nov 13, 2008 at 1:35 PM
Re UTD111 // Nov 13, 2008 at 11:46 who posted …. ‘This vision of Nile Ranger is getting out of hand too. History has proven – you don’t avoid relegation by playing kids. Let the boy grow and develop – if he’s thrown in too early it could ruin him’ -
Totally agree, and Ranger needs to be nurtured as Wenger did with Walcott.
39 bowburnmag // Nov 13, 2008 at 1:46 PM
AO – when I originally read it, back in the day, my first thought was – of course there will be elements of truth in it. But if this is “the final straw for many of us who have long endured the tedious soap opera on Tyneside.” then we should expect people to stop making money by writing about us if we’re so disinteresting. I didn’t hold my breath, fortunately. No matter about journalistic integrity, when journalists(sic) like yourself and writers from The Times indulge in a good wind-up eh? The self-derprication and irony is still there under the surface but away from the lighter note, it stopped being funny a while ago to be honest. The satirical edge was blunted by nonsense like this being written by overpaid charlatans. I see Chelsea underestimated the Carling Cup underdogs just as we did with you lot?
40 AO // Nov 13, 2008 at 2:22 PM
bowburnmag- you put out the strongest available team in the carling cup. Unfortunatly you have no strengh in depth unlike ourselves who can make 7 changes from the side that beat man city and still spank liverpool.
It always makes me giggle wn those teams knocked out of the cup claim they didnt care about it. I agree that avoiding relegation should be newcastles main aim but we both know that if newcastle were to win the carling cup your supporters would be celebrating for weeks.
41 Nick // Nov 13, 2008 at 2:27 PM
Owen Rooney and loads others have played first team football at 17. Suck it and see. Lose the fear factor, it’s so very negative and gloomy.
42 bowburnmag // Nov 13, 2008 at 2:32 PM
I couldn’t care less about the Carling Cup, or the FA Cup or Premiership or any other competition. I’m not interested in winning, just being entertained. All we want to see and all that we demand is to be perpetually entertained in Keeganesque fashion and for our unwavering support to be recognised throughout the globe to support our thesis that we are indeed “the loyalest footballer supporters the world has ever had”. Can you not glean a red-top snippet along these lines too, just to mix it up? After all, The Times is a remarkably succinct article but a little high brow for us neanderthals up norf and is hardly representative of our niche, is it not?
43 irish_al // Nov 13, 2008 at 3:26 PM
sad thing is rather than discussing the points made people are focusiing on spelling or gramatical errors
althought i do not like what i percieve to be a rather sniping attitude expressed by AO i do feel their are many a valid point in the article
44 THE BEAT. // Nov 13, 2008 at 3:39 PM
wouldn,t be a suprise if michael owen jumps ship with mike ashley running the club,we a going to the wall.
45 THE BEAT. // Nov 13, 2008 at 3:45 PM
AO,if any club won the carling cup they would celebrate.
i,ve read some of your posts AO and i just dont get where your coming from to be honest.
you say we are a small club etc,etc why bother wasting your time on here?
if newcastle are so low down on your list of priorities why spend alot of time on here,it really is a waste of energy to be honest.
think about it fella you know it makes sense.
46 Turkish Magpie // Nov 13, 2008 at 3:48 PM
if it’s the sun- not true
47 Turkish Magpie // Nov 13, 2008 at 3:52 PM
Ao- evrything you said was a lie except we wont get into the top 4 with Ashley and wise so go suck Ashleys cockney fan*y and Fu*k off!
48 Gary Denness // Nov 13, 2008 at 5:35 PM
I can’t lie…as a Liverpool fan I wasn’t that upset to see him go. He hadn’t done enough in his last couple of seasons for us, due to his continual injuries. In hindsight, I was right to not be too upset. On his day he’s one of the best in the Premier League, sure. But on one of her good day’s my Alzheimer ridden granny could remember to turn off the gas after boiling a brew. But there are too many bad days. I always declined a cuppa at grannys.
49 CHUCK // Nov 13, 2008 at 6:53 PM
Heh, heh, c`mon relax, this guy`s got you totally wound, you are begining to sound ugly.
As far as Owen, if MO`N. is willing to spend the same amount he spent on Milner , grab it !
Milner was`nt that great, had great promise as a 17 yr. old but never lived lived up to it, a club player.
Owen, a sick note, damaged goods, too much milage, let him go.
If we can get a few bucks for Owen, take it and bid on the Egyptian guy at Wigan is it ?, seems to be a traditional CF in the Shearer mode.
Could make a decent pairing with Martins.
Whadda y think ?
50 51times // Nov 13, 2008 at 7:37 PM
“Egyptian guy at Wigan” – CHUCK displays his amazing football knowledge once again. Scary sh*t, guys, I think he’d really dominate a pub quiz.
51 fredydownunder // Nov 14, 2008 at 3:48 AM
take 8-9 million would be a good result
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