Forward says St James’ Park club never offered him a new contract, despite claim to the contrary.
Former Newcastle United striker Michael Owen has accused the club of ‘blatantly’ lying to supporters about his departure from the north east in 2009.
Owen, 33, made the accusation on the social networking site twitter, claiming that Newcastle left him without a ‘leg to stand on’.
Newcastle fans, following my Football Focus interview, plenty of you tweeting me saying you don’t blame me for getting injured but for
— michael owen (@themichaelowen) March 23, 2013
leaving when we got relegated. Despite the club saying they did, they didn’t ever offer me a new contract despite them putting it in the — michael owen (@themichaelowen) March 23, 2013
press that they did. How could they when they had just been relegated? It would have been financial suicide. I’ve seen it a million times, a — michael owen (@themichaelowen) March 23, 2013
club will blatantly lie to their fans to take the moral high ground leaving the player with no leg to stand on. I’ve taken the stick for
— michael owen (@themichaelowen) March 23, 2013
years which is fine but you really don’t know half of it. All will be revealed one day.
— michael owen (@themichaelowen) March 23, 2013
Owen joined Newcastle from Real Madrid in a club-record £16.8m deal in 2005. Despite scoring 30 goals in just 79 appearances for the Toon, Owen’s spell on Tyneside was punctuated with severe injuries, including spending over a year on the sidelines after rupturing his cruciate ligament while on World Cup duty with England in 2006.
Owen left Newcastle when the club were relegated at the end of the 2008/09 season when the club were relegated.
He joined Manchester United on a free transfer and the manner of his exit from St James’ Park clearly remains a contentious issue.
Despite Owen’s angry suggestion that he was never offered the chance to remain at Newcastle, in December 2008, then Newcastle boss Joe Kinnear hinted that Owen would be given the chance to remain a Magpie.
“I’ve got a good relationship with Michael. I get on exceptionally well with the lad,” Kinnear is quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.
“I’d love him to stay, and we’ll put what we consider to be the best possible offer to Michael, and then the ball will be in Michael’s court,” he finished.
Owen is currently on the books at Stoke City but announced earlier in the week that he will retire from professional football at the end of the current campaign.
COMMENTS