Michael Owen has shared what his relationship with Alan Shearer is now like, with the former Newcastle United striker saying the two are no longer friends.
Speaking on the Up Front podcast, the pundit detailed his frosty time alongside the Newcastle legend, with Owen and Shearer butting heads throughout their time at St. James Park.
And now, Owen has put everything out there on what happened between the two, as well as admitting that he is no longer friends with Shearer.
Michael Owen details his current relationship with Alan Shearer
Owen said: “No [we’re not friends]. What happened there was I only found out about this months after I had left Newcastle from a mutual friend who was at Umbro and me and Alan both wore their boots. I had no clue, he never asked me or mentioned to me or accused anything, I had never spoken to him about it.
“So I was as upset and bewildered as anyone. I don’t know how long it was but a week or two before the end of the season I pulled my groin. We had a scan and you can see a big tear in my groin. It’s at least a three-week injury. Now bear in mind I have had lots of muscle injuries, I could write a book on it.
“I could certainly teach Alan Shearer what it is to have a muscle injury, he never suffered with a muscle injury. It’s not something you can put on a brave face, it debilitates you – you cannot play if you have torn a muscle. You just can’t do it.
“I have got an injury, I need to be out three weeks at least, we are about a week into the rehab, I’m never going to be fit. It can’t happen. But it’s the last game of the season and I have torn muscles before and I didn’t have any idea about any other club, that’s been proven.
“Newcastle, in fact, played silly buggers with me at that stage because about a year before they put into the paper they had offered me a new contract and I think it was about 20% of what my current deal was. Then two days before the game Al pulls me into his room and says how is it? I said it’s getting better, I’m feeling better but I’m screwed if you think I can sprint around. And he said something like shall we give it a go. And I was like yeah absolutely, let’s give it a go. Nothing to lose.
“So I said I’ll try to train the day before, then Aston Villa comes and physio says go on. I go out before anyone else, I start running, I was building and building and building. It was fine at about 50%, then as soon as I start sprinting I could feel it tugging. If I pushed any further it was just going to go any more. So he was like shall we push it further and see. I said physio I have done this 25 or 30 times, it’s just going to make it worse.
“So after training Alan goes how was it and I said if I pushed any further it would have gone and he said something to me at the time like are you not going to give it a go. I said well do what you want, but I would suggest sticking me on the bench and if we need a goal with 10 or 15 to go, I will goal hang a bit and I’ll stay around the area and try get a chance and knock it in. If you start me I’m going to come off after 15 to 20 minutes but do what you want.
“And that’s the God’s honest truth, that’s exactly how it went and played out. Alan put me on the bench, brought me on with 10 minutes to go and tried to score a goal. To say I refused or didn’t want to, to say I bottled it, I have played in a million games. I have never bottled a game of football in my life.”
Newcastle could have been saved if tensions were different
With Newcastle getting relegated with Shearer in the hot seat and Owen in the squad, things could have been so much different at the club had the pair got along.
The strikers were clearly not fans of one another seemingly from the get-go, and Newcastle’s fortunes that doomed season could have been avoided had Owen and Shearer worked well with each other.
Indeed, whilst the Toon ultimately returned to the Premier League, it’s interesting to think what might have happened had Owen and Shearer actually liked each other that season.
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