He’s got to be doing something with his time…
For
1.
2.
3.
5.
Against
4. Has never been subject to a transfer between two Premiership clubs.
16. Didn’t play a match in this time.
19. Never played with Di Canio.
22. Has never played for a newly promoted Premiership club
The Checklist
(The origins of these clues can be found here)
1. Is he English?
2. Is he currently married?
3. Has he played under at least 4 managers?
4. Has he had a transfer between 2 Premiership clubs?
5. Was he a Premier League player in January 2011?
6. Has he played with a group of French players at one club?
7. Has he played with a striker who refused to move unless the pass went exactly where he wanted it?
8. Did he play for one manager for a considerable amount of time who was great before losing it?
9. Has he played for a manager who lost the dressing room?
10. Does he have a friend who plays for Liverpool?
11. Might he think Harry Redknapp is the Messiah?
12. Has he appeared as a pundit? (TSF probably doesn’t do so)
13. Did he have a long term girlfriend as a younger player?
14. Had/has a strong father figure.
15. Not an Arsenal or Man City player (at end of 2010-11 season).
16. Did he play a match at some point towards the end of March or first few days of April 2011?
17. Not a keeper.
18. Has a daughter.19. He played with Paolo Di Canio –removed by public demand 20. Someone who’s got a chat about ‘another season’ coming up -see revealing tweet post
21. He’s been involved in a last day relegation battle
22. He’s played for a newly promoted Premier League club
23. Has been subject to a deadline day transfer
24. TSF is Caucasian
25. Has a good friend who is African and has played for a team in Russia
26. Has been diagnosed with depression
27. Played in the lower leagues at start of career
28. Played against Liverpool for a lower league club
29. Was one of the best players in a very successful team
30. Played for a club that got themselves in financial trouble
31. Plays the Paul Scholes role
32. Played under a captain who will go down as one of most successful in the club’s history, without having earned it
33. Played under a stand-in captain wearing a large tubi-grip with a marker pen-written ‘C’ as captain’s armband
34. Has played as captain
35. Has played for a club who promoted their assistant manager to manager (and went on to get bad results)
36. Not a Liverpool fan
37. Played in a team that won promotion to the Premiership
38. Following on from clue 21: That team got relegated due to a goal going in at the other end of the country in the dying minutes of the final game of the season
39. Clue 38 was his last game for that club
40. His wage at the time of clues 38 and 39 was the best part of £100,000 per month
41. He went on to play in the Premiership again after the relegation in clue 38
14 responses to “Michael Owen”
“I remember being in talks for a move from one Premier League club to another”
he moved from newcastle, a club that was leaving the PL to man utd. I think it would be silly to dismiss him on that alone
he also had a go at a member of the media the other day on twitter saying:
Owen: “Fair point. The relationship between players and media is poor and needs improving as the people who suffer are fans.”
Holt: “Probably worse now between media and players than back in 97-98 when you burst on to scene. More contact then, I think.”
Owen: “If papers printed what is actually said then i think players would talk to you more openly. I know I would.”
Also 8. manager that lost it would be Keegan
From Owen’s Wiki:
On 22 June Owen confirmed he would not be re-signing for Newcastle, in preference for a move to a Premier League club, or other top flight foreign club. It was reported that Owen would not begin negotiations with any other club until after 30 June when, on expiry of his contract, he would become eligible for a free transfer.
The full TSF quote:
I remember being in talks for a move from one Premier League club to another – nothing overly exciting about that – until a phone call shortly before I was due to sign, from another player at a rival club. It went something like this:
“Have you signed yet?”
“No.”
“Don’t sign whatever you do, our gaffer wants to talk to you.”
That’s how quickly your career can change course. The rival manager calls moments later and begins spouting all the usual ego-boosting rubbish that he hopes will turn my head, and tells me not to sign until I’ve heard him out face to face. I relay this to my agent, who sits me down and explains in plain English why it would be a terrible mistake to leave the boardroom where we currently have an agreed deal in place, albeit not signed.
It lasted 10 minutes but was essentially this: “If you leave this room now, the manager who has just been on the phone will know you can’t set foot in here again for the same terms that we have already agreed. As a consequence, your arrival at the second club will be greeted with a derisory contract offer, which you, of course, will reject. And so when you come back to this club, they will cancel what we have already agreed and make you a take-it-or-leave-it offer knowing you now have nowhere else to go and that they would, essentially, be bidding against themselves.” With me?
At this point, my potential employers have sensed something is going on and I’m whisked out of the room and fed Mars Bars and Coca-Cola while two people talk to me about anything and everything, ensuring my agent and I are kept apart – it’s a classic pincer manoeuvre. As long as we stay, though, the manager of the club where we are has a dilemma: he doesn’t know who this new club sniffing around is but he has to assume it’s a club at least as big as his own given the figures involved, so what should he do with his contract offer now?
The negotiations there could quite easily be after he has left newcastle and was say in talks with Everton about signing when Sir Alex got in touch. From what was said at that time it seemed that Owen signing for man utd was a last minute thing
“I remember being in talks for a move from one Premier League club to another”
It actually doesn’t has to mean that the deal went through
If you read on in the article he confirms he did sign: “In truth, I already knew where I was going to sign; the offer was very good and I loved the way they kept giving me chocolate.”
While it’s looking more and more likely to be Danny Murphy, I wouldn’t rule out Michael Owen just on the transfer thing, and would’ve him back to your “possibles” list. The transfer saga TSF describes could easily have been Everton trying to poach Owen from Man Utd as he neared the end of his Newcastle contract.
Michael Owen seems plausible. More evidence is that on May 16th he wrote on Twitter:
“Filling out the forms so I can buy my allocation of 16 tickets for the Champions League Final. Just seen the price of them. £225 each. Joke.”
Later that night, TSF tweeted:
“Mr Platini, if you want a starting point for your ‘revolution in football’ then maybe Chmps Lge ticket prices could be a good place to start”
TSF did retweet Owen’s original message though but that could be a double bluff.
Another plus point for Owen is that he writes well on Twitter, which shows that he has the capability to pen an article for the Guardian. Probably a wild goose chase but a definitely maybe.
its michael owen
Hi,
Not sure if you’ve noticed but this article has it’s image removed, the picture was of Newcastle actually being relegated. Maybe nothing but hey intriguing mention and I can’t understand why the image was removed. Many people in the comments suggest it’s Owen.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/may/21/premier-league-relegation-secret-footballer
There are various reasons why it can’t be Michael Owen (see ‘Against’ above)
TSF talks about causing a rise in the sale of frosted Shreddies
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NESTLE-UK-Cereal-2002-New-SPORTIES-Shredded-Wheat-MICHAEL-OWEN-World-Cup-/390413343091#ht_500wt_922
And yes i do know A lot of stuff point in the directions of some one else. But who else is still a “active ” footballer and arriwed at the cheltenham race in a white limo?
“Has never played for a newly promoted Premiership club”
Newcastle?
“Has never been subject to a transfer between two Premiership clubs.”
Newcastle to Man Utd?
He played for Newcastle between 2005 and 2009, in all of those years they were an established Premiership side.
He didn’t transfer from Newcastle to Man Utd. He left Newcastle as a free agent, then joined Man Utd.