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tom cavendish

Owen yet to find a club

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Hardly surprising. Hard to see what use he would be to a modern day football team at the highest level. If he had some pace left he could reinvent himself and play wide in a front three but he is of no use as an out and out striker.

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[quote user="tom cavendish"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18823184

[/quote]Should really read "Owen yet to find a Premiership Club that shares his over-inflated view of his capability.  Striker might cut it at Championship level but thinks he''s still "too good for that sort of thing" despite having lost more than a yard of pace and possessing an injury record that makes Jonny Wilkinson look indestructible."

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No one can deny his ability to finish, but as others have said - he no longer has that lightening pace he once had.

Has he re-invented himself? Could he still be clinical and play at this level? Who knows.

He could be a Martin Peters style signing or he could turn out to be the next Jamie Cureton.

Too big a risk for too much wages - but it would not surprise me to see him turn good elsewhere.

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Personally, i wouldn''t mind to see him on a cheap pay-as-you-play deal for one year.. It''d have to be a very cheap one though!

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[quote user="shiplee15"]Personally, i wouldn''t mind to see him on a cheap pay-as-you-play deal for one year.. It''d have to be a very cheap one though![/quote]Well i reckon if we offered him £50k for every 5 games played, he would cost us nothing...and he would offer nothing.Past it and a wasted career.

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I reckon he will go to West Ham as they were prepared a couple of weeks back to pay £6 million for a 31 year old striker and give him a 3 year deal so a 32 year old for free is a bargain .[:P]

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[quote user="TIL 1010"]I reckon he will go to West Ham as they were prepared a couple of weeks back to pay £6 million for a 31 year old striker and give him a 3 year deal so a 32 year old for free is a bargain .[:P][/quote]Haha!I doubt he''ll go anywhere outside of the North West.  He has more interest in horse racing nowadays and has stables up there, so I doubt he''d want to be too far away from it.  Stoke would seem the obvious destination, but I thought he had already ruled that out?

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I doubt he could even get a team in the MLS to take him. He''s made his money and should retire, doesn''t have anything left to offer.

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It wont be with us, due to location and probably earnings, but I wouldnt be surprised if he didnt do an excellent job for a Premier League side this coming season, even if he does miss a few games with the occasional injury. His experience, speed of thought and natural goal scoring ability, whilst still in no way passed it despite losing some pace will mean that a few people could well eat their words.       

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[quote user="shiplee15"]Personally, i wouldn''t mind to see him on a cheap pay-as-you-play deal for one year.. It''d have to be a very cheap one though![/quote]

 

Just no!

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It makes me laugh that after a single season back in the top flight, we''re suddenly too good for players like Owen.The only two genuine concerns here are regarding his injury problems and his wages. The simple solution is to offer a basic wage which is in-line with other players in the squad, but offers substantial bonuses for performance and regular playing time.If he stays fit and plays well, we pay a very fair price in exchange, if he doesn''t then we''re losing nothing more than we have this past season for a player like Vaughan.Owen is not past it and can still perform at the top level but what he can''t do is offer the guaranteed returns and lack of injuries that the big sides want to have and this is why he''s been moved on from Man Utd.The idea that Owen isn''t better than players like Jackson, Vaughan and C.Martin is beyond laughable tbh, the key debate here shouldn''t be "Is he good enough", it should be "Would he come at an affordable price"...

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[quote user="lake district canary"]No to either.   Owen is a one trick pony.    Berbatov is just a pony. [/quote]With the greatest of respect I''m beginning to think that this board has gone mad (or at least even madder than normal).Both of these players are highly talented and easily better than the large majority of our squad, they''ve played at the top level for ages and at the biggest clubs, now suddenly they''re not good enough for us."Accept Man Utd castoffs...pffft"The only reason I can see for ANY fan not being interested in either player is concerns over finances and potential squad disruption from a ''big name'' player. The finances can be mitigated to some extent by a clever and sensible contract, but if we want to challenge with the big boys, we need to get players from them as well.I''d rather have a "one trick pony" like Owen, than a "no trick donkey" like Jackson who simply isn''t good enough at this level...

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[quote user="norfolkbroadslim"]Jackson is nowhere near as bad as you make out Indy and he is a long way from being a donkey![/quote]A goal every 7 league games so far in the top flight, the season before in the CCC he did nothing until the last half dozen games where he hit a purple patch, but before that didn''t deliver.The unfortunate truth is that he simply isn''t good enough at this level. That''s nothing personal against the guy, but every player has their limit and I think that the CCC/L1 is the best Jackson can consistently perform at.Compare this to a player like Owen who when injury free HAS consistently performed, be it for England, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle or even Man Utd (when fit and given a run of games which in honesty hasn''t happened).This is a complete no-brainer IMHO, I just can''t understand the massive reticence and instant dismissal of a talented player.

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Here are some reasons we shouldn''t want Owen:

- The last time he scored a decent number of goals in the league was 07/08 and even then not as many has Holt did last season. (for that you have to go back to 03/04).

- Even at his best he offered little apart from goals (which obviously are very important) to a team. Now that he doesn''t even do that he''s basically a waste of space (8 assists in all competitions since 05/06).

- He''s always injured, and has only started 6 Premiership games in the last 3 seasons.

- We don''t want to turn into Sunderland under Steve Bruce.

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[quote user="Mahogany"]Here are some reasons we shouldn''t want Owen:

- The last time he scored a decent number of goals in the league was 07/08 and even then not as many has Holt did last season. (for that you have to go back to 03/04)[/quote]The last time he was given consistent game time was in the 08/09 season, at he still managed to score a decent number of goals in an underperforming (and subsequently relegated Newcastle side).[quote]Even at his best he offered little apart from goals (which obviously are very important) to a team.[/quote]Of course it''s important, it''s a striker''s primary role!We''ve become too focused these days on players who do ''more'', and whilst it''s a bonus to any team to have a striker who helps out in midfield or also provides strongly, we shouldn''t get away from the fact that they''re to score - simple as.[quote]Now that he doesn''t even do that he''s basically a waste of space (8 assists in all competitions since 05/06)[/quote]And as previously pointed out, he hasn''t had consistent game time to be able to score goals. Coming on as a sub for the last 15 mins doesn''t make it easy for any striker to perform, and for the last few years this is exactly as Man Utd have utilised him - as an impact sub. If he''d consisently played 90 mins each week and not scored, then you''d have a fair point, but that''s not the case here, and we can''t fairly judge his scoring on the back of a string of sub appearances.[quote]He''s always injured, and has only started 6 Premiership games in the last 3 seasons[/quote]That''s a fair concern, but as I already stated a few posts ago, a sensible contract will be able to mitigate financial impact if injuries continue, and it''s not as though he''d be the only striker on the books either.Also, he doesn''t have to start every game, but here he''s not up against the likes of Rooney and Berbatov in competition for a starting berth, thereby making it more likely he''d be given the gametime than he was at Man Utd.[quote]We don''t want to turn into Sunderland under Steve Bruce.[/quote]And signing a single player aged 32 isn''t going to make it happen either...

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[quote user="Indy_Bones"][quote]Even at his best he offered little apart from goals (which obviously are very important) to a team.[/quote]Of course it''s important, it''s a striker''s primary role!We''ve become too focused these days on players who do ''more'', and whilst it''s a bonus to any team to have a striker who helps out in midfield or also provides strongly, we shouldn''t get away from the fact that they''re to score - simple as.[/quote]That is simply not true in the modern game (if it ever was) and it is the main reason nobody wants Owen. Pure goalscorers who contribute little else to the team are almost non-existent in the modern game. Scoring goals is but one aspect of the striker''s role and those who can only perform one part of their overall role are of no real use to any team. I''d be amazed if any Premier League team wants him and that tells you all you need to know.

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Ask any Premiership defender who he would rather be playing against Jackson, Vaughan or C.Martin or Michael Owen.

He is 32, his movement created much more than goal scoring opportunities for himself, his team play was always good.

The only considerations should be fitness and wages. If he is up for the challenge, a swan song, then we could possibly offer him the chance. Let''s face it, if he isn''t good enough he won''t be picked.

I am old enough to remember Martin Peters, Mick Channon, Peter Osgood, Martin Chivers and a few others who not only performed well on the field but also brought an added professionalism and stature to the club.

And I am sure he would prefer a footballing club to a Stoke City.

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[quote user="Shack Attack"]That is simply not true in the modern game (if it ever was) and it is the main reason nobody wants Owen. Pure goalscorers who contribute little else to the team are almost non-existent in the modern game.[/quote]That''s the bit that''s simply not true though Shack.Players like Defoe, Yakubu, Bent and numerous others, are there to score goals. We don''t rave on about how many assists Defoe gets, or how well Bent links up play - because they don''t do it!The modern game can support the vast majority of playing styles, the issue is that too many clubs and fans fixate on the ''ideal'' striker, a player who scores, assists, passes, holds the ball up, drops into midfield and whi possesses strength, pace and lethal finishing, and the truth is that these players are few and far between, and certainly not players we can sensibly afford.The only reason that Owen hasn''t already signed for someone in the prem, is because of the same concerns we have - can he stay fit, and how much will he cost? If the answer to both was positive, I''d expect around 70% of the prem to be highly interested in signing him, it''s only the top 4-5 who would turn their noses up as they can simply afford to buy a younger, less risky proposition.It''s about time we stopped expressing such linear thinking about the role each position should take, and instead looked at captialising on the talents of the players available. Sadly though I expect this season to be yet another year where at least half the teams simply ''park the bus'' against decent opposition, and hardly anyone can see past 4-5-1/4-3-3...

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Last season the team created a huge number of very good chances to score but failed to take a high proportion of them. Chances created tended to be through a team effort rather than a brilliant individual effort to create his own chance to score. The goals scored to chances ratio must have been extremely low. We need someone capable of taking a high number of those chances created through a team effort, and Owen could do that (when fit) as finishing is what he''s all about.

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