The
pressure of being the nation's most popular sportsman is immense,
ask any number of high profile burnout's. Andrew Warshaw catches
up with one young man from Merseyside seemingly taking it all in
his stride...
The mood of expectancy was reaching fever pitch. "Michael,
Michael," chanted the 350 schoolchildren in unison as they
sat in the playground, as patiently as they could, in their smart
maroon and grey uniforms...
Suddenly.... the gates of Anfield County Primary School,
literally a stone's throw from Liverpool's ground, opened and a
white lorry was carefully reversed in to the playground.
Inside, ready to be
mobbed, was Michael Owen! and Jamie Redknapp. The cheering
intensified, mixed with squeals of delight, as the lorry,
emblazoned with the slogan 'Axa: Football Kits for the Community'
came to a halt. Out came the two Liverpool players, dutifully
handing out T-shirts to a mass of tiny outstretched fingers. It
was, for the pupil of Anfield County, a dream come true,
Beatlemania 30 years on. Indeed, there was an interesting
parallel to be drawn with the 1960s. Just as Paul McCartney and
John Lennon used to capture the majority of fan worship in the
era of the Fab Four, so Owen totally dominated proceedings, with
teammate Redknapp unusually taking little more than a backseat
role.
Take the pair's classroom question and answer session with the
school's football team. "What was your favorite goal,
Michael?", "When did you start playing?", "Do
you have a girlfriend?". The questions came thick and fast
from around the classroom - every one of them directed at
Britain's and arguably Europe's most exciting teenage forward.
Redknapp, compliantly yet somewhat awkwardly, took on the role of
virtual bystander and Owen took everything in his stride, just as
he does when ghosting past opponents on the pitch.
If this was hardly surprising, what particularly impressed
onlookers was Owen's remarkable composure in answering every
question. It was another example of how a player barely past his
19th birthday copes with the pressure of being a bona-fide
superstar. He did it again in front of millions of television
viewers before Christmas, accepting his BBC Sports Personality of
the Year award by saying all the right things and leaving nothing
to be misconstrued. It was as if he had been taught. Which, of
course, he hasn't.
It is, of course it is, very early days. Football history is
littered with examples of players who have burst on to the
international scene, only to be swallowed up by the intensity of
life-changing pressures. Some, like Greaves and Gascoigne, turned
to drink. Others, like Diego Maradona, reached their peak, then
caved in, in his case into an existence of drugs and alleged
debauchery. Yet somehow, after a World Cup year none of us, least
of all Owen, will forget, few would wager a bet that this most
assured of teenagers would go the same way. Owen, cliche though
it may sound, seems to have his head screwed on permanently the
right way. Somehow, you can't quite see Owen boozing the night
away or sniffing cocaine in some sleazy nightclub. Goody two
shoes? Perhaps, but there's nothing wrong with common sense and
Owen has bags of it for one so young.
"Well, I've always wanted to be a footballer from when I was
really young. If you do the right things off the pitch, then you
give yourself the best chance on a Saturday," Owen told
Total Football. "That's the most important thing when you're
a footballer. You're not going to be a footballer for the whole
of your life so while you're there, short period that it is;
you've got to make the most of it. And that's what I intend to
do." Owen's natural exuberance and Liverpool's increasing
reliance on him to unsettle defenses has led to inevitable
concerns about possible burn-out, a state of mind and body that
tens to afflict all young superstars at some stage in their
development.
Such concerns were highlighted when Liverpool's home UEFA Cup tie against Valencia. Owen, who had gone five games without scoring, admitted it was nothing to do with his lack of appetite for the game. More importantly, it said a great deal about Owen's level-headedness that he took the decision responsibly and maturely instead of going to the newspapers and whining. Other players in the public spotlight might have complained bitterly about being left out but Owen tried to understand and put the team first. "I realize there is a big squad at Liverpool and that there is a competition for places," he said. It was just the kind of comment managers love to hear. Owen was straight back in the team and Liverpool went on to knock out Valencia on away goals before succumbing in the next round to Celta Vigo.
"Everyone goes through lean spells," said Roy Evans, then joint manager Gerard Houllier as he tried to justify omitting Owen from the first leg. "But people looking for chinks in Michael's armour won't find any." Not for want of trying, however. One of the alleged flaws in Owen's character is that he goes down too quickly in the area, looking for the kind of spot-kick he earned England against Argentina in St. Etienne. His former manager won't stand for such suggestions. Just because he is a class act above anyone else, argues Evans, doesn't mean he is a cheat. "Michael is quick and light so he is likely to get knocked over in the area but to start accusing him of diving is diabolical."
As the youngest
international this century to play for England, Owen, last
season's PFA Young Player of the Year, is under no illusions
about his place in world sport. And yet, there genuinely seems to
be a scarcity of skeletons in his cupboard, however frustrating
this may be for sections of the tabloid press desperate to
discover something new and controversial about football's
original boy-next-door. His stunning goal against Argentina, a
lesson in balance and technique, is still shown on television at
every opportunity while numerous interview requests from across
the world pour into the offices of the Promotion Company that
looks after him.
The fact that he very occasionally has a bad day - at Tottenham
he was marked out of the game by an 18-year-old international and
he missed a penalty against Wimbledon - simply acts to add to his
reputation as the antithesis of a prima donna. "It has all
happened so quickly," said Owen. "Of course the World
Cup changed everything for me. It changed my life. Some of the
things you did before, you can't really do now. That's the main
difference in my life."
What exactly these things are, Owen won't reveal but suffice to
say that he is no longer able to enter a supermarket, restaurant
or any football ground in the country without word spreading like
wildfire of the presence of a genius. Evans doesn't know how he
manages to remain so calm, outwardly at least. "There's an
unbelievable burden on such a young man's shoulders," said
the ex-Anfield boss. "He has gone from the fresh 17-year-old
without a care in the world to the 18-year-old who has enormous
responsibility for club and country." It was because of such
apparent burdens that Glenn Hoddle famously left Owen out of
England's early matches at the World Cup. Hardly anyone shares
Hoddle's view that Owen was too young and too raw to be selected
from the start, but the ex-England manager, who equally famously
remarked that Owen was not a natural goalscorer although he
insists that the statement was taken out of context, still
believes he was right to hold Owen back.
Hoddle believes the Liverpool striker could have suffered similar
problems to Ronaldo, who had a poor World Cup and with whom Owen
is increasingly being compared. "What would have happened if
Michael had gone the first two games without scoring,"
Hoddle told the Daily Mirror just before Christmas. "The
pressure would have built up and it would have been a terrible
burden for him."
Maybe, maybe not. No-one suggested almost 30 years ago Pele, 17
years old at the time, be left out of the World Cup and we all
know what he went on to achieve. Indeed it was Pele himself in
the build- up to France '98 who stated that if Owen was good
enough, he was old enough.
What Hoddle does
acknowledge, along with everyone else, is that Owen's attitude
belies his age. "He has the character because of his family
upbringing.
I don't see it going to his head and that is very
important." And yet Owen grew up like every other
star-struck football fan, with heroes of his own. Not from
Anfield but from the other side of Stanley Park. Owen was a
staunch Everton fan, his father Terry (a Liverpool fan) having
signed professional forms for the blue half of Merseyside.
So Ian Rush wasn't exactly his favorite player. "Oh no,
Rushy was a villain when I was young because I was an Everton
fan. My hero was Gary Lineker, that is until I started playing
for Liverpool's School of Excellence and started going to games.
When you are young, you always prefer goalscorers. It's a great
thought that kids might be running around in the park and saying
'I'm Michael Owen'. I used to do the same thing. I was Lineker,
or Robbie Fowler or even Rush who I always respected." Owen
pays particular tribute to Fowler. Many in the game believe the
two of them are too similar and can't play off each other. Owen
disagrees. "Everybody has their opinions but after the
league game against Aston Villa (Fowler scored a hat-trick),
people would have seen how we made goals for each other. Last
season when we played together, I think we scored one goal a game
between us."
Goalscoring comes naturally to the Owen family. Michael's father,
while not as prolific a marksman, scored 70 goals in 299 league
games for Everton, Bradford City, Chester City, Cambridge,
Rochdale and Port Vale. Owen's own goalscoring feats were spotted
at an early age. By the time he was 11, he had rewritten the
goalscoring record books for Deeside Primary School by scoring 79
goals in the 1990-91 season, beating Ian Rush's record of 20
years previously by seven goals.
Word quickly spread and within weeks, the scouts were out in
force watching the child prodigy. In all, eight league clubs,
including Manchester United and Chelsea, were keen on signing
Owen. Although he was a keen Everton fan, it was Liverpool who
made the first concrete move. "I did talk to Alex Ferguson
and I know Manchester United were in for me but I decided on
Liverpool," said Owen. Owen's headteacher at Hawarden High
School, Chris Harvey knew straight away what a gem had been
discovered. "We could see he was touched by greatness but he
was never arrogant, never cocky."
Records continued to tumble at Owen's feet as he scored on his
debut for every international team from under-15 upwards and
found the net 11 times in five appearances to help Liverpool win
the FA Youth Cup. He signed professional forms on his 17th
birthday. Although the rest is history it is worth recalling that
in his very first match for Liverpool, on May 6 1997, Owen came
on as a substitute against Wimbledon and slotted home his team's
consolation goal in a 2-1 defeat. He was already showing poise
and authority beyond his years. "I did not know anything
about Michael until I arrived in England," said Liverpool's
German striker Karl-Heinz Riedle. "I came expecting to play
up front with Robbie Fowler. It was unbelievable how good Michael
was even at 17. For his age he had excellent vision and
awareness."
Even then, it was clear that nothing fazed Owen. In a UEFA Cup
tie at Parkhead, in front of a passionate 50,000 crowd, he coolly
latched on a Riedle pass and dispatched the ball into the Celtic
net to stunned silence. It was typical of Owen's unflappability
and an early reminder of his blistering pace that, less than two
months earlier, led to his first senior goal at Anfield, a crisp
shot past Ian Walker.
Since then, Owen has been unstoppable whether for Liverpool or
for England, for whom he made his debut at the age of 18 years,
59 days, the youngest player to do so since the late Duncan
Edwards. Predictably, he won the man of the match award despite
England losing 2-0 to Chile and Marcelo Salas.
And yet there have been setbacks, not just the occasional bad
game and brief scoring lapses but more serious incidents that,
very occasionally, bring Owen down to Earth and make him as
vulnerable as the next young sportsman striving for perfection.
Against Yugoslavia in a UEFA under-18 game, Owen, for the first
time, was sent off for head butting an opponent as he reacted to
being blatantly tripped. It was the failing of a genius, a sudden
temporary loss of composure that cannot be retracted. "I
realize I was stupid," said Owen at the time. Even more high
profile was his dismissal against Manchester United last season.
Shortly after scoring one of the sweetest goals of his blossoming
career, Owen committed a dreadful challenge on Ronny Johnsen as
his enthusiasm gave way to recklessness.
But, as Pele once said, "sometimes the devil walks with the
angel" and it has to be said that such unsavory aberrations
are rare. More common are the hat tricks and spectacular goals
that have made a modest and down-to-earth teenager such a
cherished product. Possibly the only player in England who comes
close to Owen in terms of pace and potential is Leicester's Emile
Heskey, who played with him at under-18 level. "Even at that
age you could tell Michael was going to be something
special," said Heskey. "He's not the biggest player in
the world but he's so nippy and quick on the turn and always took
his chances well."
A millionaire at 19 thanks to a lucrative boot deal and other
sponsorships, the question on everyone's lips now as Owen
prepares for 1999 is how long he will stay at Liverpool.
He says he will remain on Merseyside until he starts winning
trophies but who knows when that might be. "I've got four
and a half years on my Liverpool contract so hopefully we can
start winning something in the next few years," says Owen.
"If not, there's a lot of possibilities but in an ideal
world, I'd want Liverpool to start winning trophies - there's no
better place to be for me. If we don't and we're not progressing,
then maybe in five years I'll have to look somewhere else. But
hopefully, I want to stay at Liverpool and the ideal situation
would be winning things there."
With offers in excess of £20m reportedly being considered by the
likes of Real Madrid, Owen might not be able to resist the call
for long.
George (one of his fan from Michael Owen Fan Club) gathered this
source from various kinds of sport books