Michael Owen Hasn’t Spoken to Alan Shearer Since 2019 Spat
Rob Swan
22 – 28 minutes
Key Takeaways
Michael Owen and Alan Shearer’s feud began while the latter was in charge of Newcastle.
Owen admitted regretting his move to Newcastle, souring his relationship with fans.
The striker’s comments led to a social media spat between the pair, who haven’t made amends since then.
Michael Owen and Alan Shearer used to be teammates and pretty good friends, but the former Newcastle United and England colleagues no longer see eye to eye. You’d do well to find a single Newcastle fan with a bad word to say about Shearer, the club’s greatest ever player and the Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer. On the other hand, you’d do well to find a single Newcastle supporter with a positive word to say about Owen, who joined the Magpies from Real Madrid for £16 million in 2005.
Owen scored 30 goals in 79 games at Newcastle, but injury woes prevented him from really hitting it off with the club’s supporters and he further rubbed fans the wrong way by openly admitting that he was desperate to join Liverpool before and during his ill-fated spell in the north-east. A return to Anfield never materialised and the striker then ruined his legacy in the eyes of Liverpool fans by signing for Manchester United in 2009.
Owen joined Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, inheriting Cristiano Ronaldo’s No. 7 shirt in the process, after experiencing relegation for the first time in his career with Newcastle. It was shortly beforehand that the Owen and Shearer feud began.
Mason Mount, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham of Manchester United.
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How the Owen and Shearer Feud Began
Former accused Shearer of making him a scapegoat
Michael Owen as a pundit
Newcastle needed to avoid defeat away at Aston Villa on the final day of the 2008-09 season to avoid being relegated to the Championship. Shearer wanted to start Owen in order to give his team the best possible chance of getting a result, but the club’s star striker told his manager that he didn’t feel fit enough to play the full 90 minutes. Owen came on for the final 25 minutes, while Shearer was powerless to prevent his beloved boyhood club from suffering a 1-0 defeat and being relegated from the top-flight. The former England captain has never worked in management since.
Speaking to talkSPORT in 2019, per Chronicle Live, the Ballon d’Or winner said: “It is sad. I have got no problem with Alan. I like the guy, we have great history, but sadly he has this view of myself that I didn’t want to play in this game. I know why he has come to this conclusion but come on.
“I went into his office the day before the game and said if I were him I would put me on the bench, I am still a week away [from full fitness], but put me on the bench if we need a goal with ten minutes to go. I will loiter around the box for ten minutes and try to nick a goal. He took it in some way that I didn’t want to play. It is sad for everybody. I felt like the scapegoat.
“Why on earth wouldn’t I want to play? I played the best on the big occasions. Why would I bottle it away at Aston Villa? It is ridiculous. Football is about being a hero and scoring goals! If I could have scored a goal that kept Newcastle up I would be absolutely buzzing! Why wouldn’t I want to play? And as I say: if it was any other game I wouldn’t have been on the bench, but it was the last game and I put myself on the bench.
“I said to Alan, ‘I’ll do whatever you want’. It is a shame because I have nothing but respect for him – his career, him as a person – but I just feel really sad that he almost uses me as a scapegoat for what happened in his managerial career at Newcastle.”
The former Real Madrid man wasn’t finished there, though. He also had plenty to say about Newcastle in his book, ticking fans of the side off even more.
What Owen Said About Newcastle in His Book
He admitted he regretted joining the club
Alan Shearer and Michael Owen
Ten years after his falling out with Shearer and exit from the Magpies, in 2019, Owen openly admitted that he had huge regrets over his move to Newcastle, only adding insult to injury and further burning the bridge between himself and the St. James’ Park faithful.
“Liverpool couldn’t match Newcastle’s offer,” he said. “From a career perspective, there was no doubt in my mind that a move to the North East was a downward step. As unpalatable as that opinion might be to Newcastle fans, that’s more or less what I felt. The day after signing, the club flew me up to be greeted by twenty thousand delighted fans at St. James’ Park.
“Instantly, I felt like a hero… But my relationship with them was damaged beyond repair when I was knocked out against Watford. When I got home, I switched on Match Of The Day to watch the game and I could hear Newcastle fans, singing ‘what a waste of money!’ as I’m being stretchered off.
“I can’t deny their actions that day changed things for me. No longer was I even going to attempt to ingratiate myself with the fans. Instead, I flipped it in a slightly more resentful way, thinking, I don’t need to justify myself to f ****** Newcastle fans.”
He then went on to criticise fan of the club Freddy Shepherd for his comments about Owen during his time at St. James’ Park, saying: “Freddy Shepherd came out with the line that he would happily carry Michael Owen back to Anfield himself. Being a huge fan of the club also, Freddy was only doing what all the fans constantly do at almost every football club: they believe that their club is 10 per-cent bigger and that their team is 10 per-cent better than it actually is.
“This kind of blind delusion is especially true of Newcastle United which, as I reach for the nearest tin hat, is only a big club in the sense that it has a lot of fans and a big stadium. They’re historically not successful off the pitch, in fact quite the opposite mostly. And they’ve never really won much on it in recent times.”
What Owen and Shearer Said in Twitter Spat
Alan Shearer and Michael Owen
Shearer saw what Owen had written and reacted by tweeting a clip from an interview on BT Sport, where Owen had said: “So all I did at the end my career for six or seven years, I hated it and couldn’t wait to retire. Shearer tweeted: “Yes Michael, we thought that also, whilst on 120k a week!”
Owen hit back with a tweet questioning Shearer’s loyalty to Newcastle. “Not sure you are as loyal to Newcastle as you make out mate,” he tweeted. “I distinctly remember you being inches away from signing for Liverpool after Sir Bobby Robson put you on the bench. You tried everything to get out.”
When Gary Lineker tweeted: ‘Awkward’, Owen replied: “Are you surprised he’s manipulated a tiny part of an honest answer to aim a cheap dig at me? Most ex-players I’ve spoken to aren’t.”
Gordon, Ferdinand and Beardsley
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Owen and Shearer ‘Don’t Speak or Work Together’
The pair are yet to bury the hatchet
Alan Shearer
Opening up to the Daily Mail about his relationship with Shearer in 2021, Owen revealed that the pair still hadn’t made amends for their social media spat, but admitted he actually still liked his former teammate.
“I know what Alan thinks and he knows what I think,” he said. “I lived in his house when I first signed for Newcastle, we played golf every day. I was big mates with him. But he started something that I thought was wrong. I like Alan, as it happens. I know what would happen if we were in a room. We’d shake hands, have a little stare at each other. We’d stubbornly agree to disagree and have a pint together.
“But if he thinks I was pulling out of a game against Aston Villa – I was born to play big games. I know why he thinks that. Do you think he’s going to look in the mirror and say, ‘that was my fault, I was a bad manager?’ He has to blame someone, I would be the same.
“I used to get in the car on a Saturday with my dad when I hadn’t scored and say my team-mates were at fault. I don’t blame Alan for thinking Newcastle being relegated was nothing to do with him. But deep down I think he knows he’s wrong to think that. He just won’t admit it.”
Years on, and the pair still haven’t communicated and it doesn’t appear as though they will at any point in the future. Two of England’s greatest ever forwards and former teammates who just don’t see eye to eye anymore.
