The shamefully hostile reception given to former Liverpool pin up boy Michael Owen at Anfield on Saturday proves beyond doubt that legend Jamie Carragher was right on the money when he lamented that his club “need to get back to behaving in a way that wins respect.” Owen went out of his way to pay tribute to a close friend by agreeing to appear in his testimonial knowing full well that his efforts were unlikely to be appreciated by a section of bitter Liverpool fans – and his apprehension was not misplaced.
Carragher had even gone to the extent of publicly pleading for Owen to be shown respect on the day saying “I hope Michael’s move to United doesn’t affect the reception he gets because he deserves a great one for what he did for Liverpool. He was a fantastic player, right up there with the greats for what he did. The chance to go to one of the biggest clubs of the world was difficult to turn down.”
By all reports however, a large part of the 35,631 crowd ignored their hero’s request and booed Owen every time he touched the ball. Carragher went as far as to engineer a penalty for his mate to take but was forced to change his plan “I asked the referee to give us a penalty before half time because I was thinking about Michael as I wanted him to score” he explained “he’s my best mate in football and I think it took a lot of courage to come back today and do it for me knowing he would take a lot of stick. But I think the crowd would have killed him if he’d taken the penalty listening to their reaction.”
The ugly reception given to Owen confirmed Carragher’s earlier comments of how Liverpool’s lack of class and public image had taken a battering in the last few years as former boss Rafa Benitez found himself at odds with rival managers. “We had situations where Martin O’Neill and Steve Bruce were criticising Liverpool and they were right” he admitted “we shouldn’t be getting involved with stuff like that.”
“Everyone else should look at Liverpool and say they have dignity, class. It should be like the way people look at Arsenal” he continued “they do things right, conduct themselves properly. I’m not getting involved in what the causes were but we need to get back to behaving in a way that wins respect. I care about the club and it concerned me that last year, people just didn’t like Liverpool” he said “other managers hated us and stuff in the media was all negative. We weren’t doing well on the pitch to be fair, but it was just negative Liverpool all the time.
What happened on Saturday would have soured what should have been a memorable day for Carragher. It must have confirmed in his mind that the class and dignity which he believes Anfield has lost are still a long way from ever being regained.
Did Michael Owen do the right thing by paying tribute to his mate?
Our friends at The Republik of Mancunia is running a COMPETITION to: Wear Your Old Shirts For Liverpool Game – All summer RoM have been giving away old shirts in a bid to encourage fans not to go out and buy the latest strip. If you’re undecided or not sure, read the thinking behind this.
With the green and gold campaign proving to be hugely popular last season and generating a huge amount of media interest, it has been suggested that for our upcoming game against Liverpool, all fans should shun the latest shirt and instead wear an old one, which dates to pre-Glazer.
If you don’t have any old shirts or are considerably taller/fatter than you were pre-2005, you can pick up old shirts on eBay easily enough.
RoM will continue giving away old shirts as prizes and today are launching the latest competition. When United play Liverpool, whether you’re going to the game, you’re watching it in the local or somewhere else with your mates, take a picture of you in your old shirts and send it to: republik_of_mancunia_competition@hotmail.co.uk
The most inventive/amusing/interesting picture will earn you a shirt. Not just any shirt, but a 1999 Treble winning season shirt. If we get lots of good pictures, then we will provide more shirts for 2nd and 3rd placed pictures.
So, get your thinking caps on!
Join the Dig Out Your Old Shirts Facebook group and Spread the word
Just like the respect shown to Carlos Tevez!
Oh come on if the shoe was on the other foot. At least those scousers don’t sing anti manc songs each week like you sing anti scouser songs while your best player is a scouser……
Man United propaganda. Owen was only booed by a handful of people at that game, nothing like the reception Tevez got back at Old Trafford (and he didnt even do anything wrong). Hypocricy at its worst
See for the real Owen response
http://www.empireofthekop.com/anfield/?p=21133
Check the comments there .. here is an answer for LFC fans from Scott the Red from RoM:
Did anyone on here see the game. The article above is a LIE. Owen definitely got some boos when he was first announced, but even they were muted. Thereafter, he got plenty of support and a pretty warm reception. It helped that he played the best game of football that he has since he last wore Liverpool’s number 10 shirt
Hypocrisy at it’s very best. Tevez got slaughtered by the prawn sandwich brigade (I didn’t call you that, your then captain did). Also, talking of dignity and class, what’s your star player, Mr Rooney been upto of late? Oh that’s right, paying a grand for a hooker while his 8-month pregnant wife is at home waiting for their first child to arrive. Now that is classy! Dignity of the highest standard LOL!!!! Worst fans in the country, as endorsed by Roy Keane himself. “I think they just sit and eat their prawn sandwiches and have no idea about football” haha, bang on mr keane, bang on!
mind your own business, hypocracy as usual.
how many season tickets unsold??
Who cares?, he is a crock anyway!!!!!!!
Gee is this the same club that sing anti scouser songs at every game and then chant rooney. United supporters have no class at all, typicall English
Please don’t get your knickers in a twist. It’s hilarious all these Man Utd fansites are up in arms in right indignation about Owen’s treatment.
I was there – there was some minor booing. Every team, including Man Utd has a militant section of fans, Liverpool are no different. Please note that many more people clapped (myself included). Obviously, no one in Liverpool is ecstatic that Owen is playing for you, is that so surprising?
Good luck to him, as Carra says, he had his best years at Liverpool and I hope he remains injury free.
It’s OK folks, no need to keep beating yourselves up because it’s not your fault. You were simply born with the Scouse DNA that you cannot face reality. Have not won the title for 20 years but “We’re the best in England”, a ramshackle stadium that you can’t wait to demolish and replace with a new one but “We have the best stadium of all”, a legend that publicly admits “the crowd would have killed him if he’d taken the penalty listening to their reaction” but “the article is a LIE”. Don’t be surprised that if you’re shown a calendar clearly stating that this is 2010 you’ll come back with “no this is 1990 and we are the champions”
Frank, do you take everything so literally? You shouldn’t get so upset about another football team, you’ll do yourself an injury.
frank your a typical manc ,thinking youre rubbing our noses in it for not winning the league for 20 years,but you forget it took you lot a few more years than that to win it ,are we bothered that we aint won it for so long …..hell yes we are and we will win it again and itll be sooner than you think ,once we are finally rid of the yanks things will get a lot better fast at LFC,who’ll be laughing last ,definately us and as for having a go at carra your a dick, hes better than any defender your club has PRODUCED BAR NONE.
YNWA….LFC 4EVA
I really dislike responding to every comment rob but I must ask what made you come to the conclusion that I’m “having a go at Carra”. Read what was written in the article again and you will see that I actually agreed with everything he said. Where I think he’s wrong is his opinion that it was Souness rather than Ferguson who knocked Liverpool off their perch. Souness was only manager for three years so who does he blame for the other seventeen? But that point was never even raised in this article was it?
Frank,
i totally dislike uneducated mancs car-jacking scrum supoorters like you by the way it has taken you over 22 years to get near are titles by the way owen deserves everything he gets for joining your stupid lot he is totally finished has footballer and i totally hate your lot one of these premier league are going to look into how many titles you won fairly whether you pay referees not to give penalty or not