Owen: "1 boo and the rest follow".Ex Newcastle United striker, Michael Owen, who was a late substitute for Manchester United in yesterday evening’s game against the Magpies, has been giving it both barrels about Newcastle fans on his ‘Twitter’ page, where he humbly refers to himself as ‘the’ Michael Owen, to avoid confusion with a web developing namesake on the ‘micro-blogging’ site.
Owen, who had a disappointing career plagued by injury on Tyneside after being signed by Graeme Souness in August, 2005, complained that his reception was “disappointing”, later claiming that he played well under Kevin Keegan, and that both Newcastle and Liverpool fans “respect” what he’s done for their clubs when he meets them. Amongst other things, fans chanted “There’s only one greedy bastard” as he made his late entry as an 82nd minute substitute in the game.
To be fair, the pint sized assassin did give credit to the Newcastle side for a good performance against the League leaders. In his first post-gane ‘tweet’ he wrote:
“Disappointing result but credit to Newcastle, they played well and put us under plenty of pressure especially in the first half an hour.”
Hope he has this face after the gameSir Alex Ferguson reckons Tuesday’s game again Newcastle could be a ‘defining result’ for Manchester United.
Having just been turned over by Manchester City in the FA Cup, I suspect Man Utd will arrive at St James’ Park on Tuesday in what you might call a ‘bad mood’.
They will certainly be up for it and I think we’ll have to play out of our skins to get anything from the game.
Man Utd’s perpetual gum-chewing manager said:
“The Newcastle game is even more important than the matches we have just had, because it comes in a week when we also play Everton at home and that will leave us with only four games left – starting at Arsenal.
“So the Newcastle match is that crucial and we are well aware that it is a game we have to win.
“We have had some defining results there and big wins in fantastic, high-scoring matches and we need another.
“But we also once got slaughtered 5-0 at Newcastle – they are still selling the videos of that match up there!” (more…)
The gifi of the gab goes a long wayStephen Ireland’s first appearance in the famous black and white stripes may be in doubt after his girlfriend, Jessica Lawlor, suffered a broken ankle and internal bleeding after a car accident last weekend. She had been travelling home from a night out with a friend when the car veered off road and into an unsuspecting tree.
The tree is said to be fine, albeit a little shaken up.
She was released a mere two days after the crash and was taken back to the family home in Cheshire, but on Wednesday her condition worsened and was rushed back into hospital. The spokesperson for the couple said:
“It was a pretty bad smash and Jessica has got a lot of internal swelling and a cracked ankle.
“She has had a series of scans to check for internal bleeding and possible organ damage. Stephen is devastated but, at the same time, grateful it wasn’t worse.” (more…)
Who's your favourite number 9?There’s a gap in the numbers down SJP way and we all know why.
It’s the biggest number, if you think about it, every other number after it is a compound of it and another number.
Yes, you’ve guessed it: 9.
After the last player to don the shirt wandered off to the Merseyside in January, we’ve been looking for someone to fill the gap. Obviously, no one is neccessarily gonna have it handed to them at this point in the season. But who is in the running?
Will it be someone not at the club yet?
Will one of the present strikers at the club step up and claim it? Should the damn thing have been retired along with the legend that is Alan Shearer? Did he make the prospect of filling that shirt number almost untenable? After his amazing breaking of the all time scoring record at the club, why wouldn’t it be a difficult act to follow?
There’s a hell of a lot of history ingrained in not only the actual wearing of the shirt by a regular human being, who plies their trade as a pro footballer. But also, in the sepia tinted memories and rose tinted dreams of Newcastle fans from time to this day. Are we piling way too much pressure on our number 9 shirt? After all, some players have come here to play and almost actively refused the number (M. Owen?). Maybe feeling that they really can’t live up to it, or don’t wanna try or don’t want the hefty responsibility that comes with it. Whilst others have tried to grab the thing in a brave attempt to live up to the lofty position, we as fans, have placed upon it. (more…)
Gan on!Predictions can now be made for week 2 of the NUFCBlog.org Premier League prediction competition.
Now look, I know the prize money is only £25 at the end of the season, but £25 can be the difference between a night with the woman of your dreams and a fish from the the mountain streams, if you know what I mean (and I’m sure you do).
It’s only week two and just because some clever clogs has 11 points it doesn’t mean you can’t catch up. I have only 1 point and I still live in hope, although not much.
We have 17 entrants and I want 20 to make it worthwhile considering this competition for next season, so please click on the Prediction Competition menu item if you’re tough enough.
