Former Liverpool idol Michael Owen certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons when he stated that the winning culture at Manchester United is greater than at any other club he has ever been at during his career. Anfield fans had plenty of reasons to feel bitter about their club last season, for a fleeting moment one can almost even feel sorry for them, but they have now turned their frustration on one of their own legends simply because he had the courage to call a spade a spade.
Owen who has enjoyed distinguished spells at Liverpool and to a lesser extent Real Madrid and Newcastle now believes that the drive and mentality at United sets them apart from any other side he has played at. The former England striker was surprisingly signed by Sir Alex Ferguson last summer on a free transfer and although he endured an injury hit campaign, the atmosphere around the club and the insatiable desire to win has struck him as the outstanding quality at Old Trafford.
“The thing that hit me at United is how driven everyone is” he admitted “I have been at some top clubs in my career but Giggs, Scholes, Neville and the manager are driven by winning. And, if they don’t win, you can feel that extra motivation. They are born to do it and that is why they have been so successful.”
Those comments had the same reaction as waving a red rag to a bull for many Liverpool fans still dirty on seeing Owen in a United shirt. What they seem to be forgetting is that former manager Rafa Benitez rejected the opportunity of taking Owen back to Anfield before eventually signing for Sir Alex.
Here’s a small sample of the venom being spewed by Liverpool fans at one of their former players – “he f****d on us, he shit on liverpool fc – the biggest club in britain an u say show the soft wool some respect – he plays 4 united”. Then there’s this charming one “I hope his kid get fuckin aids d c**t
Another was highly articulate when he simply wrote “MUNICH SCUM BAG”. There’s no point in highlighting more of the dozens of similar “intelligent” comments but if you want to satisfy your curiosity you can see them on this Liverpool Facebook Group
To be fair, there were also the odd one or two which showed far more maturity in their objective comments like this one did. Robin Duke wrote “Think some of you on here are just so blinkered by your hatred for all things United! What has he said that’s wrong here? Clearly there is a better winning mentality at United under Fergie otherwise they wouldn’t have won 11 Prem titles and all the FA Cups etc etc that they have won! It’s just basic common sense really. And Terrence, what you … See more saying, if you’re from Liverpool you’d understand the need for taunting them about Munich? I know many a LFC fan from Liverpool that wouldn’t do that, but I guess they got common decency, any LFC fan that taunts them about Munich forfeits the right to moan when anyone taunts us over Hillsborough!”
Then there was this from Richard McGill who wrote “do you know that the so called sprit of shankly group sing munich songs when they meet up which disgusts me as a life long lfc fan i would never do this and that group claim they are doing it the shankly way.”
It has to be admitted that every club has it’s share of mindless bigots but going by these comments, there appears to be far more of them at Anfield than any self respecting club deserves.
Does Owen deserve more respect from his former fans?
Retarded comments on the internet? I am shocked!
Also to answer your question, no he doesn’t. He was never a huge favourite at pool and when he started to put himself and england career ahead of his club he lost any respect he had when he left.
Man Hoof “fans” in 1990 were “spitting venom” at Fergie, yes literally spitting, demanding he be sacked, until Mark Robins poxed a goal for you and saved his job, yer Poxy manc scum, get practicing those deflections and own goals and get those brown paper envelopes stuffed with cash for the “officials” for yet another season.
Your welcome to Owen, hes 11 years past his prime, keep feeding him those long balls.
We are just as bad as them. Lets not be píous about this. They have their Munich – we have our quirks too. To suggest its just scallys is madness. Niot the first poor article either. Concentrate on something imporntant anyways instead of those *******.
🙂
A true Red he saw the light, snakes spit venom from the pit.
Respect from the scum.
……but going by these comments, there appears to be far more of them at Anfield than any self respecting club deserves.
So you have done an objective survey and worked out exactly what percentage of Liverpool fans share these extreme views ? No , I didn’t think so . You have simply shown how biased you are yourself. You got one thing right, though , every club does have its own fair share of bigots . A quick trawl through one or two Manchester United forums would yield a similar array of extreme views which any idiot could paste into an article like your own , and would end with the author declaring Manchester United fans to be as bad as you think Liverpool fans are.
How welcome was Paul Ince at Old Trafford in a Liverpool shirt. Did all the lovely warm-hearted Stretty Enders just want to give him a big hug and tell rhem they still loved him ? Every club has its d***heads . Liverpool are no worse than anyone else.
He has been in Real Madrid when they won everything (aka the Galactico-era), so don’t get me wrong when I say that winning a Mickey Mouse-cup isn’t what he wanted when he came to OT (what I think his main reasons for going there was to get a steady- and big paycheck in his last years as an active footballer, which he has achieved now, + getting attention of England-boss Fabio Capello easier than if he played in Hull so he could make the England squad for the WC, which, of course, he didn’t make due to his famous injury record and his extremely poor displays when he got the rare chance from Fergie).
Rafael Benítez chose not to sign him because: 1. He demanded too high wage. 2. He wasn’t good enough and 3. he’s nothing more than an injury prone.
The only motivation I believe Fergie had for signing him, was that it was an expensive dig at Liverpool FC, which didn’t exactly pay off.
hmmm slightly holier than thou attitude on this one. lets be honest any football club has morons and I’m sure if I went on a man utd facebook page, so something filled with teenagers mainly, I could find derogatory comments about multiple other clubs let alone LFC. frankly this post just incites more rubbish.
Everything about this is depressing…
Unlike website comment boards, thankfully, the world is not populated purely by 13 year old boys. Eventually, trust me, you’ll grow up and be able to appreciate that Man Utd AND Liverpool are great clubs with wonderful histories that have contributed immeasurably to footballs rich heritage. That said, in the words of King Kev “I’d luv it” if we beat them. The Liver Bird will rise again one day soon.
…so give up the vitriol..idiots. It is only a game. And if you think it isn’t talk to any one who knows anything about Munich, Braford, Heysel, Hillsborough.
I’ve been to Man U – Liverpool games…and I’ve heard the Munich song and heard the Hillsborough ‘jokes’. Fuckwits all, regardless of the badge on the shirt.
This article uses disgusting comments by idiots who represent nobody other than themselves to arouse hatred between two great Lancashire clubs. By repeating and publicising their filth for the sake of making your blog more popular you participate in it. I am a kop season ticket holder and lifelong Liverpool fan, I’ve heard Scousers sing about Munich, Mancs sing about Hillsborough, Shankly and murdered Leeds fans. If you want war and death go to Afghanistan otherwise please shut the fuck up and watch a game of football.
As a Scouser who watched Owen in his prime, I am sad to see such a great player reduced to a bit part at United. However, he can say what he wants, it doesn’t bother me in the least. If he thinks that the Mancs have a winning mentality, then he’s backed up by their success over the past 15 years or so. We should just ignore the Ingerland dwarf.
funny how this story arises that liverpool are all over the papers with hodgson appointed…… fact is as Hodgson, Benitez, Houllier, evans, souness, dalglish pointed out we are STILL the biggest, most famous and most tslked about team in England and the best bit….it grates you mancs…..watch the shit that comes now….even funnier is before Owen signed on his way into Carrington he called anfield and asked if there was any way he could sign back for Liverpool!
what a judas twat he wants to remember who made him a great player atleast we had the best years out of him now hes just a washed up has been!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am a Liverpool fan and quite frankly I couldn’t care less what Owen has to say. He messed up his career with bad decisions and is very lucky to be at your club now. I think he is basically saying ‘hey Fergie, don’t forget about me’!! Also it just goes to show how perspective (or bitter) the lad is, in that he was at Real Madrid who have won far more domestic and European trophies than manu (and Liverpool)yet couldn’t see a winning mentality there! He’s a glory seeker looking to hedge his bets, but is so out of my mind as a Liverpool supporter its unreal!!
There’s certainly some interesting comments here. First of all, I’m well aware that Manchester United has it’s fair share of bigots and imbeciles among it’s supporters as was pointed out at the end of the article “It has to be admitted that every club has it’s share of mindless bigots”
Yes, many of those disgusting comments would have been written by juveniles BUT the person who runs that group and his blog, AND allows such comments to be posted without deleting them, is a mature man who should know better. One particular comment which said “I hope his kid get fuckin aids d c**t” was so obscene that it instigated this article to be written in order to show what is being allowed to appear in such groups.
I cannot agree more with Rob A. Yes, Both Liverpool and United ARE great clubs which I respect and the reason why I created the Manchester Liverpool United Facebook Group a few months ago – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=101879430420 – you may need to copy and paste the link in your browser if you want to have a look at it. THERE SIMPLY IS NO NEED FOR HATRED IN FOOTBALL.
Sorry Nathan, this article is NOT simply to make this blog more popular but for the reasons mentioned above.
Finally, this may sound like a naive opinion but Michael Owen has been a wonderful football professional throughout his whole career and irrespective of which club we support, should be afforded the respect he deserves.
There are many truly idiotic comments on that facebbok site. I dont really give a sh*t about Michael Owen and dont care where he plays his football whether it is M** U** or Bromsgrove Rovers. The lad is just trying to continue his playing career and he takes the offers he get just like us who hold normal jobs. This just shows us how some fans are really sick!
This is the kind of article that incites hatred amongst fans.
When I read Owens comments, I thought nothing of it to be honest, actually, truth be known, I am not surprised he thinks that given the success the likes of Giggs, Scholes and Fergie are used to.
I am of course a Liverpool fan.
I see articles like this from the Liverpool side too, and again I would say the same thing.
It is almost like, they call us this so we are going to call them that.
It is a vicious circle that needs to be completely ignored if possible.
Please, don’t be stupit. Owen has always been one of Liverfools best players EVER. So, he really wanted to be at a club who was playing for honors, not the middle of the table club.
I´m a Manchester United fan, always have been, always will be. We need Liverfools to be up there, so please get a grip and put your act totether.
may you proser, but not as much as us.
Regards,
siggi from Iceland
Very kind of you to put so much effort on LFC, clearly something close to your heart and thoughts.
As a red I am delighted that Owen is a Manc now as he was never a Scouser. Good luck to him rubbing your bench warm and smooth.
PS Owen is not a legend nor he ever to be one and that’s not to do with him playing for the Mancs, but rather because he has never been one of us and never will be. His is one of yous and that says much about the lad. I do enjoy a Manc telling us what is and what isn’t, its a real treat, thank you all.
owen has and always been a selfish person that has been proved by the way he tried to run his contract down on the club that gave him his big chance in football then when he went to spain he was found out and was asking lfc to take him back which rafa refused the first decisions rafa got right by the way he then goes to newcastle and is injured most of the season then when they get relegated he toutes him self throu the press to get a move back to lfc rafas second good decision he goes to man u and sits on the bench most of the season gets his big chance in the carling cup and low and behold he gets injured so what am saying is he has been injury prone since mark leather the then phisyio stated when he was 18 he would be injury prone all his playing career so to cover this he has said nice things about every club he has been to because they are going to be paying his sick money owen sufers with little man syndrome he is arogant selfish hyprecrite he was never a liverpool favaourite they put up with him because he scored goals the only thing he has in common with gigss is there both welsh and he should of played for wales but he jumped on the england band wagon more money more sponserships more press coverage the boy is a tosser he should of been a jockey because he has took all his clubs for a ride
I am sorry to say that this is true and the behaviour of scousers these days is border line disgusting,and i honestly believe its down to upbringing
living in the 3rd world ghetto known as liverpool ,the scousers do terrible things just to survive and the natives can often be found in skips or diving in bins looking for new clothes or a evening meal
i know this upbringing is very harsh and the rest of the country must feel sorry for them ,but is this really a excuse for this thug like envious behaviour ?
Let’s not go overboard please. Liverpool is suffering in the same way as the rest of the UK mainly due to the heartless economic policies of successive governments. There are some wonderful people in Liverpool as there are in the rest of Britain so we need to be careful not to tar everyone with the same brush.
I really could not care less what Owen says. He was great for us at Liverpool, went towards the bright lights where it has never quite worked out for him. England was his priority, always was so good riddance when he went I say. Just glad he did not play for ManUre in his prime, now that would have been scary! He’s past it, as are ManUre. They are in decline, even if they don’t want to believe or admit it. I’m not saying that we are any better off at the moment, far from it but I don’t think we’ll be seeing too much fron ManUre for a good few years at least. (P.S guys, let’s stop with the insensitive, childish, moronic comments about the respective disasters to cloud our clubs, it helps no-one but hurts so many!) YNWA JFT96
@Frank your point at 12.29 am thats the point, well the last few lines.
Some people on the net just dont care to read and digest the facts.
Micheal is class and he is ours, think the great winner he provided for the Reds over Man shitty and his fabulous hatrick against Wolfsburg.
I sorta think and know Micheal is gonna make you Scousers think another reason to hate Benitez, we could have signed him for zilch from the Nuclear Broons.
Idiots who spout foul-mouthed bile at players, opposition fans, clubs or whoever are the bane of our footballing culture and sadly we will never be rid of them. They don’t have the brain cells to put two coherent thoughts together so we should expect nothing better. This is not a Liverpool problem, it is a football-wide problem.
Do I respect Owen? Do I hell! He knew as a former Liverpool player exactly what it meant to sign for United. But wish evil on his kids? That is sick! I simply wish Owen a lack of footballing success with our arch rivals – nothing more. I don’t wish him dead or injured, if I did that would say far more about me as an uncivilised human being than about him. Suffice that he will never receive the warm welcome at Anfield normally reserved for former players. He’ll only ever hear a chorus of derision from the Kop that once idolised him. As a true Red, that surely must be the worst anyone could endure anyway!
Wise up guys, this is football not a war. Intelligent banter is always far better than moronic abuse.