Michael Owen
Michael Owen
Michael James Owenis a former English footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. He is a regular pundit and co-commentator on BT Sport football coverage, and sometimes appears on BBC's Match of the Day as a pundit. Since retiring from football, he has become a successful racehorse breeder and owner...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionSoccer Player
Date of Birth14 December 1979
CityChester, England
You're obviously conscious of being brash or big-headed but I always knew I was going to be a footballer when I was seven or eight. I didn't just think I wanted to be one, I knew I was going to be one. Nothing ever surprised me really.
An emotion that lives with me is a sense of 'what might have been' had injuries not robbed me of my most lethal weapon - speed.
If you have any setback in your life, like not being in the England squad was for me - any setback, like losing a family member - everyone handles it in different ways. When I first wasn't included I was numb. I'd been the main England striker for years and years. It was really disappointing.
I'm confident in my own ability. If that wasn't the case you might as well pack it in now. If you think too much, you start doubting yourself, doubting your quality, so you have to train yourself in a certain way.
I'd love to go and I'd love to play for my country and go to a World Cup again. I've got to accept I'm not in the current squad and just think, 'If I get it, it's a bonus and I'll give it everything.' But it's hard to do when you've been thinking a different way all your life.
At 18 to 20, I was probably one of the quickest things around, at the peak of my powers.
We all had that in common and that was one of the main things we'd talk about out there.
One thing I will guarantee you is goals.
On the journey home from those talks, my mind was spinning,
She was a nice lady. She'd come around and wonder how your day was going.
When you're a kid you just think about where you are going to be to put yourself in a position for the next scoring chance. But as you develop, you start to do things that may not catch the eye of the normal football watcher, the dropping back, the closing down.
There's not a whole lot of difference to what we normally play,
I wanted to get back to the Premiership,
The one thing I can guarantee is goals. I have never seen anything like this, even at Real Madrid. I hope the fans will be watching me for four years. I want to win a trophy and medals here.