With Michael Owen freshly signed up to Manchester United, critics are now suggesting the move may have opened up the path to the England squad for South Africa 2010 World Cup. In his career so far Owen has earned 89 England caps scoring 40 goals. However, under new coach Fabio Capello he has only played once.
According to Gary Neville, also hoping to rejoin the England squad, Michael Owen is now at the right club to achieve his World Cup dream. Neville claimed that with England qualifying for the World Cup Owens transfer to United from Newcastle would not only benefit the club but also the country if given the chance. The right-back who himself has capped 85 games for England says he sees no reason why Michael cannot become an England contender.
Speaking in an interview Neville said, “It’s difficult for me to suggest whether a player is going to get picked for a tournament next year; that will be up to the manager.
“But anybody who plays for United over a season has a great chance of getting into an international team.
“It’s a hard club to play for and if you are playing well and doing well then you have a great chance.”
He added, “Michael is in the same position as everybody else who plays for United. The opportunity is there for him.”
The two players played together as club mates before visiting Hawthorns Community School in Manchester for the presentation of an award on behalf of Well Child, a children’s charity backed by contributions from the Team England Footballers Charity.
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Sir Alex Ferguson has made a surprise move in signing up Michael Owen on a free transfer to join his team Manchester United. Owens contract with Newcastle United expired making him a free agent to join the Premier league champions. The injury prone striker is said to have signed a highly incentivised deal as a result of the many injuries he suffered over the past four years at Newcastle.
This move in the transfer market also sparked interest from fellow clubs such as Hull, Stoke, Tottenham and Portsmouth but it is at old Trafford where Owen will continue with his career. It is believed that the former goal machine is delighted to be playing for the reds and the overall opinion is that his footballing career will be given a much needed boost.
Since playing at Tyneside, Owen had pretty much come off the radar and a lot of this has been down to his numerous injury problems. The striker is willing to accept a drop in wages if it means he is given the chance to play for United, Liverpool’s arch-rivals. Despite his strong links with Liverpool, another former club for whom he made his debut in his professional career, Michael Owen believes United will give him the chance to prove himself at Champions League level and possibly increase his chances of playing for England once again, under present coach Fabio Capello.
The fact that Owen joins Manchester United on a free transfer gives United coach Ferguson peace of mind over the player’s durability, given his record of fitness problems.
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Following the opening of his stables, manor House near Malpas in Cheshire, football star Michael Owen is set to secure top race horse trainer Tom Dascombe. Owen whose passion for horse racing has become almost as fundamental as his football is said to have joined forces with Andrew Black, founder of Betfair, and top trainer Tom Dascombe to take on and run the 170 acre stables in Cheshire. It is rumoured that the previous trainer Nicky Vaughan was sacked last month leaving the opening for a new trainer.
Despite setting up the race horse training establishment with Vaughan in 2007, Owen has big plans to expand, improve and upgrade Manor House Stables making it one of the most important training ground in the UK.
Dascombe who is currently training horses in Lambourn says he will divide his time between the two establishments until the end of turf season. Despite not having full presence he will however have full control over the reins until he becomes full time at Malpas in November. He is said to be looking forward to his new endeavour.
Owen selected Dascombe because of his amazing record of turning out 43 winning horses to date. This figure is up by one of his previous year and on target to reach 52 by the end of the year. Eager to taste real success at his stables Owen felt he had no choice but to replace former trainer Vaughan, who has only managed to send out 5 winners this year. Since manor House Stables opened in 2007, Vaughan has only achieved a success rate of 27 winners.
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At the age of just 18 Michael Owen made his first appearance playing in the England squad. In the 1998 World Cup held in France Owen became the youngest national team member in 100 years. It was his fast goal scoring dash through the Argentinean defence that made the young striker the talk of the world championships. Following this performance Michael Owen became an international star renowned for his speed and killer instinct around the goal.
In 2001 Michael Owen was given the award of European Footballer of the Year and rejoined the England team in 2002 for his second World Cup. Despite defeating arch rivals Argentina, England was knocked out by winners Brazil. However, Owen lived up to his name and gained great recognition for his astonishing football skills.
In 2004 after returning to the UK from his signing with real Madrid, Owen played for Newcastle United but it was from this point in his career that injury problems were to take over his game. After suffering from serious ligament problems Owen recovered sufficiently to rejoin his colleagues for the 2006 World Cup. But this time it was his ankle that was to fail and Owen was substituted for the rest of the games. Profiting from his time off the field, Michael enjoyed his personal life and married his long time girlfriend. The couple added two additions to the family in this time with a daughter and newly born son.
Although Owen has recently signed a contract with Manchester United he is still out of the selection for the England team under new coach Fabio Capello. It is thought that his move to Old Trafford will kick start his career on a national level and give him the opportunity to play in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
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Michael Owen was born one of five children in Chester on December 14 1979. His father, Terry Owen was also a footballer playing for both Chester and Everton during his career. At the age of just 17 Owen signed with premier club Liverpool in 1996 following his junior career there. He stayed at Anfield until 2004 when he left to play for Spanish club Real Madrid.
In 1998, Owen made his debut playing for England and scored his first ever goal for the national side against Morocco in the same year. But the young striker became a household name following his goal against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup. Later in 2001, Michael Owen scored a hat-trick against Germany in England’s decisive World Cup qualifier, putting England ahead by 5-1.
2001 also proved to be a memorable year for Owen as Liverpool won the glorious treble of the FA Cup, League Cup and the UEFA Cup. As a result of playing a vital role in these remarkable achievements, Michael Owen was awarded the merit of European Footballer of the Year and Football Writer’s Player of the Year.
However, after the good came the bad as Michael Owen was plagued with a series of unfortunate injuries which were to dog his football career. But despite such misfortune Owen was signed to Real Madrid in August 2004 for £8m. His career at the Spanish club was a short one as the striker was transferred to Newcastle United the following year for a record transfer fee of £15m.
Further injuries kept Owen off the field for over a year and his place at the 2006 World Cup was also substituted. On July 3 2009 Michael Owen signed a two year deal with Premier League champions Manchester United. His hope to regain his place in the England team look set to be on the horizon and if realised would give Owen the chance to play in the 2010 World Cup to be held in South Africa.
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Premiership footballer Michael Owen has always had a passion for race horses and in the early 1990’s he took his passion a step further and became the owner of several race horses in training. But it wasn’t until March 2007 that Michael Owen decided to take a more active role in the horse racing industry by setting up Manor House Stables.
Manor House Stables is a new purpose-built thoroughbred training establishment in the heart of rural Cheshire. Owen aims to make the stables one of the best equipped training establishments in the country and plans are underway to expand the facilities available.
Tom Dascombe, a renowned upcoming trainer has agreed to join the Manor House Stables team and will play a major part in the development of the training experience the establishment has to offer. At present Dascombe is dividing his time between Lambourn and Cheshire but will dedicate his commitment to manor House Stables full time in November 2009.
In the words of Michael Owen himself, “Manor House was inspired by our aim to develop an unmatchable training experience. Our expertise, facilities, staff, fresh approach and idyllic location combine to do just that.”
Although football is Owens first passion he intends to immerse himself fully into horse training once retired. His interest in horses was sparked at an early age when he took riding lessons then at the age of eighteen he grew at interest for thoroughbreds. Although his initial intention was to establish a business interest in thoroughbreds, it was the thrill of training them that soon took over. This was how Manor House Stables came to be.