• Striker says he should not be accused of disloyalty
• Owen plans to celebrate as normal if he scores on Sunday
Michael Owen believes he did not let his first club down by
joining fierce rivals Manchester United.
Sunday, 25 October
2009
Channel 27:
9:00 pm -
(Live from
Anfield!)
Michael
Owen has
accepted that he will get a hostile reception when he returns
to Liverpool as a Manchester United
player this weekend but
insisted that he does not believe he let down his first club by
joining their fiercest rivals.
Owen is acutely aware that many supporters at Anfield cannot
forgive him for switching allegiances to United, but the striker
considers it unfair for him to be accused of disloyalty. To
illustrate the point, he said he planned to celebrate as normal if
he scored in Sunday's game.
"I'm human," said Owen. "I'd prefer people to sit down and
recognise what you did for them and for the team in years gone past
but I'm pretty realistic as well. Now that I'm playing for their
local rivals – I'm not holding my breath, put it that way.
"People talk about loyalty in football, and for a football
supporter it's easy to preach about that. As a father and a brother
and a son there's no one more loyal than me. But when you're a
player, you're not a fan. I've got to earn a living, provide for my
family. I supported Everton as a kid. I never supported Real
Madrid, but I played for them. It's a job opportunity, just like
anyone else's work.
"The longer you're at a team, if the fans make you feel welcome
and the players take to you, then you build an affinity. So now
obviously I look for Real Madrid results and Newcastle results, but
it doesn't make me any less loyal to Manchester United."
Owen is still hopeful that his move to Old Trafford will lead to
him going to the World Cup next summer and he pointed to his past
international record as justification to be included in Fabio
Capello's squad.
"I'm hopeful but the last thing I want is to be campaigning," he
said. "Everyone can see how many games I've played, how many goals
I've scored, how many World Cups I've been in, my record against
strong opponents in big games.
"Everyone can see everything with their own eyes. There are no
secrets with me – I've played 89 games, I've scored 40 goals.
Everyone knows if I play I'm likely to score every other game.
Playing in a World Cup wouldn't bother me. In fact, I'd raise my
game, as has happened before in big games. I like big games. For
some reason I find an extra certain percentage. Everyone knows
these things."
Sir Alex Ferguson, who is likely to be charged with improper
conduct by the Football Association tomorrow for his comments about
the referee Alan Wiley, may leave Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Patrice
Evra, Nemanja Vidic and Darren Fletcher behind when the team fly to
Russia for Wednesday's Champions League tie against CSKA Moscow to
ensure they are fit for Sunday.
