SHEARER v OWEN

England strikers trade insults as feud boils over

FORMER England team- mates Alan Shearer and Michael Owen have traded barbed insults amid a long-running feud over their time at Newcastle.

Owen, in his new autobiography, revealed that he did not want to sign for the Magpies in 2005 and said Shearer’s record as manager was ‘dire’ as they were relegated in 2009.

Shearer hit back on social media yesterday when posting a clip in which Owen admitted to hating the last seven years of his career and said he could not wait to retire.

The Newcastle legend commented: ‘Yes Michael, we thought that also, whilst on £120k per week…’

But Owen responded by questioning Shearer’s own loyalty to the club. ‘ Not sure you are as loyal to Newcastle as you make out mate,’ he wrote on Twitter. ‘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.’

Referring to the clip Shearer had posted of him, Owen added in a post to Gary Lineker: ‘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.’

The tension between Owen and Shearer dates back to the final months of Owen’s time at Newcastle when Shearer was boss and Paul Ferris was on the coaching staff. Ferris claimed in his book last year that Owen did not want to risk injury towards the end of the season because he was out of contract that summer.

Owen wrote: ‘Sadly, this feud has continued to the present day. The more I think about it, the more I understand why Alan behaves the way he does and continues to spread negativity about me whenever he can.

‘To put it simply, there has been a lot of lies, bull**** and general misinformation surrounding the end of my time at Newcastle.

‘I told him (Shearer) I wasn’t fully fit but was prepared to play. As I left his office that day, he made an insinuation that led me to believe he thought I had half an eye on my next contract. I’m not stupid — we both knew I was out of contract in a few weeks. It wasn’t until three months later that I discovered Alan Shearer was apparently seething with me.

‘Not only that, it transpired that he was telling anyone who’d listen what he thought of me.’

And Owen was scathing of Shearer the manager.

‘He was brought in at St James’ Park as the saviour, the local boy,’ he said. ‘It could have been a great story. But he failed. Newcastle United were relegated.

‘Perhaps rather than examine his own shortcomings, it felt easier to blame Michael Owen. When you analyse it, it all makes sense.

‘Shearer’s record as manager in the last eight games of that 2008-2009 season was dire: lost 5, drew 2, won 1. These are hardly God-like stats.’

Shearer reacted to Owen’s comments about hating his time at Newcastle last year as their row ignited.

Shearer tweeted then: ‘ Not sure NUFC fans, team-mates or employers will want to thank him (for his comments).’

They then exchanged text messages but Owen later said: ‘It went, as I suspected, precisely nowhere.’

Shearer played a part in persuading Owen to sign for Newcastle from Real Madrid in a £16.5million club-record deal and they were close friends, even living together at one point. But Owen, in Reboot — My Life, My

Time, said: ‘I should have followed my gut instincts, I didn’t want to go there — my heart was set on a return to Liverpool.

‘Newcastle is only a big club in the sense that it has a lot of fans and a big stadium.’