Shearer and Owen in bitter Twitter row
New book escalates feud from Newcastle days Former manager attacks striker’s commitment
They are two of England’s greatest goalscorers and former team-mates – but a bitter feud that has been simmering in private for years between Alan Shearer and Michael Owen has suddenly gone public in an ugly Twitter exchange.
Shearer and Owen’s relationship soured badly when they were together at Newcastle United and the pair have been exchanging barbed text messages for some time. But when Owen chose to go public with the dispute in his new autobiography, Reboot, mocking Shearer’s short managerial career in an attempt to defend himself from criticism after his injuryplagued spell at Newcastle, his former captain did not take it well.
While in the manager’s chair, Shearer had questioned Owen’s reluctance to play for Newcastle at the end of the 2008-09 season that ended in relegation.
Earlier that season, with his contract due to expire, and despite a succession of injury absences, Owen’s representatives had produced a brochure insisting their client was 100 per cent fit in an effort to drum up interest in the striker as he entered the final weeks of his deal. That did not sit well with Newcastle fans, who had questioned his desire to be at the club almost as soon as he arrived in a then-club record £16million deal from Real Madrid.
Owen admits in his book that he did not want to sign for Newcastle in the summer of 2005, but defended himself after accusations he refused to play in the relegation run-in as he wanted to ensure he was fit to sign for another club in the summer. “There has been a lot of lies, bulls--- and general misinformation surrounding the end of my time at Newcastle,” said Owen. “Sadly, this feud [with Shearer] has continued. The more I think about it, the more I understand why Alan behaves the way he does and continues to spread negativity about me. He was brought in at St James’ Park as the saviour, the local boy. It could have been a great story. But he failed. Newcastle were relegated. Perhaps rather than examine his own shortcomings, it felt easier to blame Michael Owen.
“I told him that I wasn’t fully fit but was prepared to play [in the final game against Aston Villa]. As I left his office, he made an insinuation that led me to believe he thought I had half an eye on my next contract. It wasn’t until three months later I discovered that 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.
“Shearer’s record as manager in the last eight games that season was dire: lost five, drew two, won one. Hardly God-like stats.”
Shearer’s response on Twitter was brutally cutting as he retweeted an interview Owen did with BT Sport last season in which he said: “All I did for the last six, seven years of my career, I hated it. I couldn’t wait to retire for most of the back end of my career.” The former England captain added: “Yes, Michael, we thought that also, whilst on £120,000 a week.”
Owen spent four seasons on Tyneside, before playing for three more years at Manchester United and one at Stoke. He replied to the Shearer tweet by saying the older man had also tried to engineer a move to Liverpool, a reference to 2004 when Newcastle manager Sir Bobby Robson discussed selling the No 9. The deal never materialised. “Not sure you are as loyal to Newcastle as you make out mate,” replied Owen. “I distinctly remember you being inches away from signing for Liverpool after Sir Bobby Robson put you on the bench.” Shearer did not respond but has always denied he wanted to leave St James’ Park for Liverpool and remained close to Robson until his death in 2009.