OWEN ER KLAR!!!

[Asbjørn]

UpTheToon.com can reveal that Newcastle United skipper Alan Shearer offered to hand his number 9 shirt to the incoming Real Madrid hitman Michael Owen because he was that desperate for his compatriot to join him at St. James' Park.

Owen likes to wear number 10 but most strikers like to wear the number 9 shirt as we all know - who can remember fighting for the number 9 bib during P.E. at school! For some reason I always ended up with 3! Anyway St. Mike rejected the offer and instead chose to wear 10.

The £16million England international has passed his medical and will be unveiled as a Newcastle player tomorrow (Wednesday) live on Sky Sports News at around 12 noon.

[Kristoffer]

Herlig Shearer, herlig

[Asbjørn]

Bob Moncur, the last man to lift a trophy for Newcastle, has singled out Freddie Shepherd, the chairman, for praise.

Shepherd has incurred the wrath of the frustrated fans after a poor start to the season, but has committed in excess of £25million in the space of five days to recruit Albert Luque from Deportivo La Coruna and now, subject to a medical this afternoon, Owen.

"I'm very pleased for the club, but for the chairman in particular and Graeme Souness, because I know they have worked hard to pull the deal off," Moncur said.

"They have made a mammoth effort trying to get Michael Owen and I'm delighted all the hard work has paid off.

"The chairman has had a lot of criticism and he should get a lot of credit for that, and more than that, for finding the funds for the move."

Moncur was captain of Newcastle the night they lifted their last trophy, the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, and is desperate to shed that tag.

The latest man to wear the armband, Alan Shearer, has come close on several occasions since, but as he enters his final season as a player, Moncur is confident that he will forge a formidable partnership with Owen.

"You can never have enough decent quality strikers, can you?" he said. "We have only got one at the minute - now we have got two. I would still like to see them bring in another one and maybe another wide man.

"Michael Owen is a class striker and if the wide men have got two chances of finding a man rather than one every time they cross the ball, that has got to give you a better chance of scoring."

The fans
Ian Gilmour, of the Newcastle United Supporters' Association, said: "I am totally speechless. I cannot believe it, if I am honest with you.

"I thought Owen was going to Liverpool and I am very surprised that he has come to St James' Park.

"The signing of Owen is a momentous occasion and is just the same as when the club signed Shearer nine years ago.

"Owen is England's number one striker and I give credit to chairman Freddy Shepherd and the club for pulling it off."

Gilmour hopes Owen's capture would spur the club on from a dreadful start to the season. They have yet to score after their opening four Premiership games.

"Owen will hopefully give Shearer some support up front this season," he said.

"But with Shearer retiring at the end of the season I see Owen's signing as one for the long term.

"Shearer will definitely retire at the end of the season and I honestly cannot see him staying on for another season, even with Michael Owen as his strike partner."

Following Newcastle's poor start some fans have been calling for manager Graeme Souness's sacking. But despite the pressure on Souness, Gilmour believes the signing of Owen shows the belief the chairman and board have in his managerial abilities.

"They would not give him that amount of money to spend on Owen if they did not have absolute confidence in him," he said.

"Souness has always said he was two players short of a quality side. With Luque and Owen he has got them."

The Liverpool connection
Phil Thompson, the former Liverpool player and coach, believes Michael Owen decided to join Newcastle after it was made clear his first-team opportunities would be limited at Anfield.

Owen, 25, left Liverpool for Real Madrid at the start of last season but failed to hold down a regular place at the Bernabeu, and the England striker wanted a move back to the Barclays Premiership ahead of the World Cup next year.

Thompson, who was Owen's manager during a caretaker spell as Liverpool boss, believes Liverpool's style of play meant Owen could not be guaranteed the regular place he needs in preparation for Germany 2006.

Thompson said: "In a nutshell, he's been guaranteed that he will play at Newcastle - and that is the biggest thing, knowing Michael.

"He's had meetings with Rafa [Benitez, the Liverpool manager] and I would think he said 'you will not play every week'. Away from home he has a certain way of playing and maybe Michael doesn't fit into that all the time."

Benitez enjoyed huge success at Spanish side Valencia by deploying a lone striker, and has signed target men in Peter Crouch and Fernando Morientes during his Anfield reign.

Thompson added: "I think it is a good move for Michael Owen because he will be playing, he loves this game and didn't play enough last season in Real's colours.

"He doesn't want to sit on the bench, he doesn't even want to get substituted. He will be a success, because he will always score goals. He will have a lean spell when he has four or five games without a goal - then he'll be back and score in abundance."

TheTimes

[djmattis]

man skjönner ikke helt hva som skjer, ene tiden får ikek Shepard og Souness til noe som hellst og plutselig bare braker det lös....
masse intrykk om dagen

[Kristoffer]

Det er ganske sinnsykt igrunn. Så helt for jævlig ut, men vi fikk en deilig opptur da Luque uventa kom. Da trodde man at Newcastle hadde gitt opp Owen. Så taper vi mot Scum, men der er alikevel positiv utvikling spillemessig.
Og så, i dag, har Michael Owen skrevet under for oss. Det er jo helt vannvittig egentlig! Vi har et så utrolig spennende mannskap.

[Asbjørn]

Tyneside club were required to agree to a number of get-out clauses based on the team’s performance — although reports that Owen can move for £12 million next summer have been denied by his advisers.

TheTimes

[NUFranC]

Jasså ja. ikke klausul?. FINT :lol:

[Asbjørn]

Som jeg skrev i går var dette bare noe den furtene Liverpool Journalisten håpet på. Chris Bascombe har stort sett tatt feil i hele sommer så hvorfor skulle han ha rett her når ikke engang Alan Oliver vet noe?

Newcastle United chairman has told reporters at St James' Park that there is no release clause in Michael Owen's contract that would enable him to walk out on the club after 12 months.

It had been widely reported by the media that Owen could leave for £12million in the summer of 2006 but Sky Sports News insists Shepherd has told them that isn't true.

Tune into today's press conference at 12 noon on Sky Sports News as Shepherd is likely to be asked about get-out clauses and so on.

[Kristoffer]

Link til pressekonferansen mottas med stor glede!

[Bjørn]

Det var meget gledelig at jeg tok feil, skal huske å ikke stole på alt som kommer fra Liverpool leiren i tiden fremover. Var tross alt jeg som la ut linken i denne tråden, så litt skyld for hysteriet tar jeg på min kappe

Det er veffal en enorm lettelse å se at det ikke var korrekt!!


Bjørn - YEAH!!!

[Toontastic]

Link til pressekonferansen mottas med stor glede!

http://www.fbtz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32479

Her er en 16 minutters klipp fra sky news!

[Bjørn]

Dæng, det var Torrent jah, det har jeg ikke....hadde noen giddi å lagt ut videoen på RapidShare etter de har lasta den ned...hadde vært kjempedigg om noen hadde gidda det...

Bjørn - pretty please with sugar on top

[Mads Andre]

Ingen “get out clause” i kontrakten til Owen
Skrevet av Christian, 31 august 05
Liverpool.no meldte igår at Owen hadde ein “get out clause” i kontrakten sin, noko som fekk mange Newcastle supportart til å svelja maten vrangt når dei leste det. Men idag har Shepherd avkrefta ryktet om at Owen har ein så kalla “get out clause” i kontrakten sin.

Mange Liverpool supportar hadde eit lite håp om at Owen kunne gå til Liverpool neste sommar for nettopp £12 mill pund, pga av den omtalte “get out clause” i kontrakten sin.

I tilegg er det bekrefta frå klubben at Jenas er i London.

Det er bare fantastisk att det aldri eksisterte noen klausul..Godt å høre jeg tok feil :lol: .Kan man se anderledes på ting  

[geordie-olav]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/4199526.stm

"Alan should work for the Newcastle tourist board when he finishes playing football."
 :lol:

[NUFranC]

takk for thread. Konge pressekonferanse!