http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sp...l_Owen_deserved_everything_that_came_his_way/
Why Michael Owen deserved everything that came his way
by Scott Wilson
WHEN people discover I'm a sports writer, there's generally one thing they want to know. 'Who's the nicest person you've dealt with, and who's the person you've had least time for?'
Having spent seven-and-a-half years on The Northern Echo, there's plenty of people that fall into the first camp so it's incredibly hard to give an answer.
The second part of the query, however, is rather easier to respond to. One person stands out a mile - and to my mind, he got exactly what he deserved on Tuesday night.
"I knew I would get booed as that's what a lot of fans do," said Michael Owen, after his substitute appearance at St James' Park was accompanied by a chorus of catcalls. "But if they knew the facts, then they may have a different opinion."
Okay Michael, well here are some facts to be going on with.
In his four years at Newcastle United, Owen earned just short of £5m. He scored 30 goals and, in his final season, was unable to prevent the Magpies being relegated into the Championship.
He was also thoroughly objectionable from first moment to last.
The days of journalists and footballers rubbing shoulders as equals are long gone, but in my experience, the vast majority of players at Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough have done their best to assist the local and regional press.
They might not like us - particularly when they've just been given four out of ten on a Monday morning - but they accept that papers like The Northern Echo are a valuable link to the supporters that pay their wages.
Not Owen. From the moment he arrived in the North-East, Newcastle's record signing made it quite clear that he had absolutely no interest in speaking to the local media.
Interview requests were repeatedly turned down. Post-match questions were assiduously ignored. The entire regional press pack, not just The Northern Echo, were treated with a mixture of arrogance and contempt.
When Kevin Keegan made Owen captain, we thought things would get better. Instead, they became worse.
As Newcastle careered towards the Championship, their skipper became the invisible man, unable to affect things on the pitch because of injury, unwilling to display the leadership that was required off the park.
Gradually, supporters sensed an indifference to the club's plight, a lack of empathy for Newcastle United as an institution and a refusal to even begin to understand what the club means to the city and its surrounding region.
I could give dozens of examples of Owen being objectionable, but I think this one sums it up best.
Ahead of a derby game with Sunderland, we discovered that Owen had played in the same district youth team as Danny Collins.
I headed off to North Wales and interviewed the pair's teachers and some of the coaches who had guided them through their careers in youth football.
A few days later, I spoke to Collins, who could not have been more helpful as he reminisced about his youth, dug out a few personal old photographs and conveyed a great respect for the volunteers who had helped him as a youngster.
The hope was that Owen would do the same. Three interview requests went in to the player, his agent and Newcastle's media office. All three were turned down.
Even when we promised to ignore anything relating to the derby, and offered to only ask questions relating to his time in the same team as Collins, our pleas were rebuffed.
A day before the piece was due to run, my colleague, Paul Fraser, spotted Owen in the car park at Newcastle's training ground.
He introduced himself to the striker - four years on Tyneside, and he still didn't know who any of the local reporters were - and outlined the piece we had prepared.
"We'd just like to ask you about some of the people who worked with you at that time," he said. "Do you remember a guy called Cledwyn Ashford who managed your old Deesside football team? What impact did he have on your career?"
Owen looked Paul up and down. "No impact at all". And with that, his car door slammed shut.
That's why the booing on Tuesday night was one of my favourite moments of the season so far.