Losing Owen could mean losing top flight status for Newcastle United
Newcastle United may well be keeping their heads above water without Michael Owen at the moment but with uncertainty surrounding the future of both the club and the out of favour England striker both factors cast huge doubts over the Toon retaining their Premier League status.
Mike Ashley said on September 14: "If I can't sell the club to someone who will give the fans what they want then I shall continue to ensure that Newcastle is run on a business and football model that is sustainable. I care too much about the club merely to abandon it."
In light of those words, surely making sure that Owen is part of the future of the club is vital to the club whether Ashley stays or somebody else comes in and hopefully the Toon tycoon is fully aware that caring for the club is to make sure it keeps our prize asset.
Rumours coming from the smoke today suggest that Chelsea are lining up a January bid for Owen and for Newcastle fans that is surely an unthinkable situation.
True, Owen has not been the rip roaring success that he and the fans wanted when he dramatically jetted in from Real Madrid over three years ago.
But for all his injury problems and for all the questions about where his loyalty lies, Owen has scored goals whenever he has pulled on a black and white shirt - he even stated he was here as long as the club wanted him here at one stage.
It seems that his future though is out of his hands.
Keegan-gate and Black September may well have scuppered contract talks between United and Owen and if it hadn't have all kicked off, then a deal could have been signed, sealed and delivered.
As stated earlier, it shouldn't really matter who owns United when it comes to Owen's contract.
Is it not the responsibility of whoever is holding the fort at St James's Park to make sure a new deal is signed now in order to help secure the club's Premier League safety?
Losing Owen would be just another kick in the teeth for Toon fans and it could send United down.
And if season ticket sales are down now, what will they be like without top stars for black and white supporters to hang their hats on?
What will they be like if Newcastle are entertaining Ipswich, Plymouth and Barnsley?
Some of us know the answer to that.
We might be in the middle of a global financial crisis but long before it (circa 91/92) United nearly went bust anyway due to lower crowds and lack of direction.
Without leaders, without stars, without hopes it can all go wrong very quickly, just ask Leeds fans, just ask Nottingham Forest fans or ask Charlton fans who have recently gone from sustainable in the Premier League to staring League One in the face.
United simply need Owen to stay.
On a bad day, he can net you three points and on a good day he can tear the opposition to pieces.
Oh yeah and put a few decent players around him and you are in danger of winning a trophy.
The best Christmas present Newcastle United could give their fans is to announce that Owen finishes his career on Tyneside.
Or at least that would be a start.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Apologies to anyone trying to comment on these blog entries.
The Captcha system is down at the moment, but if you'd like to leave a message e-mail me direct at lee.ryder@ncjmedia.co.uk.
Thanks.
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Lee Ryder - Proudly born and bred on Tyneside, the Chronicle's chief sports writer has followed the fortunes of the club over the last three decades as a Toon fan and football writer.
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No way will Chelsea pay the wages that Owen is getting at the moment; the Toon will stay up with or without Owen. Now for Fulham!
Trouble is Lee, what has he been worth in goals to ratio of games and overall cost? It's no good having an expensive talisman if he's reached an age where niggles keep occurring aka Viduseless. Count the cost of those two and Smith's wages against a younger striker from the half dozen or so mentioned in this column pre-season. Even Robby Keane or Defoe would reliably give us more than Those three put together. I love Micky Owen to death but is another huge contract worth it? If I had the chance, I'd get what we could for those three, plus Shola, and really go for Crouch and Defoe if possible.
I got captcha fixed for you mate....don't mention it Lee, anytime son.
flipping heck Lee, this is going onto the blog immediately, without check, are you all in Fulham or what? Would it be a titchy bit naughty of me to mention my new website about the greatest Geordie singer/songwriter in the world, according to my mate Marmaduke and his sister Ethel- Klondyke-Flappitt. It can be found on google by typing RONNIELAMBERT.COM
JUST LET HIM GO,HE MAY GO IN JANUARY IF NOT DEFINATELY IN MAY, WE CANNOT BE GIVING HIM ANOTHER MASSIVE CONTRACT, WITH HIS INJURY RECORD NOW, MAYBE A PAY AS YOU PLAY CONTRACT, BUT HE WONT WANT THAT, LETS MAKE NO MISTAKE HERE, IF HE HAS BEEN AVAILABLE FOR HALF OF WHAT WE PAID FOR HIM, HE WOULD NOT HAVE COME IN A MILLION MILES OF ST JAMES PARK.
LETS MAKE THE MOST OF HIM WHILST WE STILL HAVE HIM, BUT HE CANT PLAY DUE TO SHOLA AND MARTINS DOING THE BUISNESS.
BEST SINGER I,VE SEEN WAS AT HEATONS BUFF TONY LIDDLE, WHAT A VOICE
Just kidding Dave, I'm crap really but Marmaduke's tone deaf and Toon mad. After Owen's missed sitter at Fulham today, he's not made any arguments for another huge contract, or another England cap. You would normally have put the house on him in that situation, s'pose you could only call it ring-rust, but it was another day of shooting ourselves in the foot. Had Collocini known of Johnson's reputation for diving, he might have been a tad more careful with him in the box, but I insist that Johnson's feet were both off the ground and in flying mode before his left trailing leg made contact with Collo', therefore not a penalty. We really could've won this today and that's what makes it smart as much. CACKPOO!
The world knows it as Newcastle United Football Club but as our club continues to play Russian roulette with the relegation zone of the Premiership, it seems that Newcastle is far from United, but is in-fact the most divided club among the 20 others. While the ship is sinking, is the self destructive Captain Mr. Ashley going to make a run for it and leave the passionate Geordie nation in an ocean of disaster, or will be find the heart to allow a savior to come in and repair the ever growing damage that he has caused. It seems that running would be the easiest and quickest route out of a club in serious danger of flirting with relegation. Decisions have haunted us, and we continue to slip and slide in the relegation zone at a time when those around us, such as Portsmouth and Middlesbrough, are starting to gain momentum. Despite how hard Joe Kinnear tries to impress the fans as well as potential investors will desired results, despite how deep the nucleus of the team digs to try and motivate the rest of the players, despite how intense the roars of the Geordie fans echo’s, Newcastle are and shall remain a divided club. Stability starts from top to bottom, not from bottom to top and Mike Ashley has rocked a fragile boat that now seems destined to fight tooth and nail for survival in a league which has housed Newcastle for the last … years. Investors have come and gone, and it seems that no serious business man would be prepared to give 300 Million for a club that frankly does not seem to possess the potential it had under Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that any investor is going to need much more than his purchase price to repair the damage created at the club. Does the financial investment stop there. No! The investor will need to feed Newcastle with more finance if he wants to see it compete for places in Europe and Silverware. Where does that leave the fans? Well, to start with, it might need a serious dose of mental medication to swallow the thought of experiencing a season beside Mike Ashley and Dennis Wise. Joe Kinnear will most likely be the first man to get hanged if he fails to gain momentum in the league but is it really his fault? What more can you expect of a man who a few months ago became a forgotten chronicle in management circles. The problems remain off the field, and somehow, there seems to be a very big crack that spreads the problems on the field as well. By the time we blink our eyes, Newcastle will be in the Championship without Martins, Owen, Jonas, Collocini, Given and Duff to mention but a few players that form part of our nucleus. New owners will be left with nothing less and nothing more than an empty cathedral aside from the most passionate fans the club has. The big difference between teams like Sunderland, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Bolton, Blackburn etc is that they never had a squad filled with star names and mostly depended on average players who’s work ethic was 120%. Newcastle is different, and if we fall, we will fall so hard that getting back might become our new dream which will replace our annual dream of silverware and a Top 6 Premiership finish. What scares me the most is that no matter how much we try, there is nothing that 56,000 Screaming Geordie Fans can do to change our problems.
Michael Owen should sign a new contract with Newcastle but at a much reduced weekly wage - loyalty is a two-way street. I also think Joey Barton should voluntarily tear up his contract and play for nothing - let's see how sincere he is about having turned over a new leaf.
this is one of the most ridiculous posts i have ever seen on this site.