Sam Allardyce has responded to Michael Owen and his claims in his new book surrounding his Newcastle United career.
Allardyce was in charge of the Magpies when Owen was still at the club, and admitted that the former England international found everything boring during his stint in the North East.
Speaking on talkSPORT, the former Newcastle manager spoke out about Owen and backed up the point that the former Real Madrid man didn’t want to be at St James’ Park.
“From his point of view, I think he found everything at Newcastle mundane,” he said.
“He didn’t want to be there.”
When asked by Alan Brazil about a quote from Owen claiming he didn’t like being taught how to score goals, Allardyce simply denied ever telling the former Magpies’ man how to position himself.
“I never told him to ‘stand there’, so, I’ve had the same perspective across the whole of my career as a manager in every division.”
OPINION
For a manager to even realise that one of his players didn’t want to be at the club only highlights the severity of the situation Owen found himself in. Having said that though, it doesn’t justify some of the claims and attacks he delivered in his new book, with publicity probably at the top of his mind before publishing. In all honesty, Owen’s career never quite took off at any club he was at apart from Liverpool, as he struggled to make a lasting impact outside of Anfield. Allardyce did admit that injuries held the forward back throughout that time of his career, but that is part and parcel of the game, and all this has highlighted so far is a poor attitude from the retired striker. As quoted by the Chronicle, Owen admitted in his book that he didn’t want to join Newcastle as he saw it as a step-down, and went on to even call the fans deluded. What Allardyce did bring to light though, is the fact that he never told Owen where to stand or what to do, and instead left it to his instincts – something that highlights a couple of fabricated claims.
