Andy Proudfoot: Michael Owen may yet win title for Liverpool FC
DO we care that Michael Owen's signed for Manchester United?
If you judge these things by the strength of venom expressed on the various website blogs, then you'll be clear that some form of inexcusable treason has been committed, and that many would be happy to see Owen's Liverpool record expunged and his goals assigned to someone more palatable, perhaps Eric Meijer.
Clearly this traitorous act shows that he never really cared about Liverpool, was in it for himself, was more an England man etc, etc, etc.
Most of the invective hurled at Owen since his departure from Anfield has been wide of the mark, and you can hardly blame him now if, faced with the prospect of playing for Hull or Stoke, he bites Ferguson's hand off given the chance to play in the Champions' League next season and in the company of colleagues slightly more competent and committed than he became used to at St James's Park.
His arrival at Old Trafford is two stages removed from Wayne Rooney's shift down the East Lancs, whose impatient rejection of David Moyes' careful grooming belied his professed dedication to the blue cause.
It's not as if he's rejected us further either, having clearly attempted to engineer a move back to Anfield on two occasions, both rebuffed on sensible commercial grounds rather than borne of any lingering grudge.
So for me there's no reason to pillory Owen on any emotional grounds; time has lessened any attachment of this sort and anyway, nothing can remove the memories of his inspirational deeds in a Liverpool shirt, the 2001 FA Cup final the highlight among them.
No, my deliberations have revolved solely around whether his move weakens, or strengthens, our chances of winning the Premiership next season.
Which is of course the same as saying has Fergie stuffed up?
Despite the loss of his blistering pace, I've no doubt that Owen remains one of the best strikers in the business, and he'll definitely benefit from playing alongside decent players compared to the dross at Newcastle.
But the key question is just how often will he be fit to play?
Everyone knows that Owen needs four or five games after an injury to get back into the flow and start scoring goals; this was even true in his heyday at Anfield.
His recent record suggests it's a fairly safe bet he will get injured at some stage, and he will be injured again before he gets up a head of steam.
Add in the nature of Fergie's 'squad system' (as opposed to Rafa's 'rotation') and you begin to doubt that Owen will ever get a run of games which will see him contribute effectively to United's title challenge.
So this looks like good news to me; and Michael may yet claim a further part in Liverpool's history by helping us land that elusive first title since 1990.
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I can see where you are coming from. The only problem is, he'll have at least 4-5 chances within 20 minutes with United. Even Andy Cole scored for United.
When Owen left us it coincided with Rooney joining Manure. Neither won anythiing with their new clubs then and quite possibly it could be taken as another good omen. Thanks to Owen for the period when you would have put your mortgage on him scoring when put through. Sadly I can vividly remember the first time I was gutted that this had stopped. Owen on the other hand has single handedly scuppered himself. He will possibly only get two outing this season as his reason to be at his new home is singly to wind us up. I perhaps would have brought him back but Rafa uiis wiser and has more guts and resolve. I'd much rather have Voronin to fall back on as a squad player, at least he wants to play for us despite being slagged off even whilst he is playin and warming up - 12th man some people haven't got a clue and that is what Fungus face is hoping he can turn against us by using Owen.
As a Liverpool season ticket holder of many years I can say that the abuse that Owen got before this move was not wide of the mark at all.
The only two things Michael Owen has ever been interested in are Michael Owen and England. Nothing else.
The way he left running down his contract and repeatedly lying about his agent being away and he was going to sign it and other rubbish was just that - rubbish. If it weren't for Rafa then Liverpool wouldn't have even got the £8M + Nunez.
When he returned from Real Madrid he chose to go to Newcastle (I didn't want the horrible git back at our club then).
The only concern I had was that the little rat might be bought by Rafa - but thankfully the boss stuck to his guns and the idiot was never coming back.
I'm delighted he went to Manchester United because they make a perfect match. I'm sure he can continue his diving and whining there.
Will be interesting to see what happens when Ferguson (As always) will block his playing in England friendlies (if selected). Expect fireworks.
I don't have any venom for the guy at all. He's followed his priorities i.e. 'playing for England' and it hasn't brought him much luck - he may well end up with a feeling of deja vu - who knows.
At the end of the day, we were over reliant on Owen for goals when he was with us. We got sussed out as a counter attacking team, any players with flair Houllier seemed to ditch after a year (Litmanen and Titi Camara anyone!!) and Heskey scored, well not many. As soon as Owen was injured we were done for.
Credit to Rafa for building a totally different team where goals come not only from a great striker but all over the pitch.