I was scared to be a pundit at Newcastle

MICHAEL OWEN has revealed he asked Amazon to remove him from punditry duty at a recent Newcastle home match because he feared for his safety. The former striker was the club’s record signing when he joined for £16.8million from Real Madrid in 2005. He left in 2009 after the Magpies were relegated under Alan Shearer, and the one-time friends have since become involved in a public falling-out. Owen says: ‘As soon as I left, everyone hated me. But I never felt that when I was there — I felt love. I was supposed to do the Norwich game but I phoned Amazon and said, “I don’t really want to go, I’m scared for my safety”, so they changed it. ‘I wish it was different. I would love to ask the fans, “Why don’t you like me?”, and have the chance to give my side. ‘The worst thing I did was buy a helicopter for my family to travel up and down. People thought I was flying home after training each day. I wasn’t. I loved the area. ‘Then there were the injuries. The one that set it all off was putting my boot in for Newcastle at Spurs and breaking my foot. I then went to the World Cup and did my knee. I was gutted because when I signed, me and Al (Shearer) were scoring loads of goals and loving life.’ Owen has still not spoken to

Shearer since trading barbs on social media two years ago. Shearer believes Owen did not put himself through the pain barrier to start Newcastle’s final game of their relegation season, at Aston Villa. Owen says he’d have started but was being honest when telling his boss he was limited by a groin injury. He says: ‘Do you think he’s going to look in the mirror and say, “That was my fault (we got relegated), I was a bad manager”? Find scapegoats, it’s great for the mind. Deep down he knows he’s wrong. ‘But I like Alan. If we met we’d stubbornly agree to disagree.’