Fans of the clubs where Michael Owen played are nonplussed at the news that he is to retire from football at the end of the season. ‘Frankly’, said Bob Stratton, a Liverpool supporter, ‘we thought he’d packed it in years ago’. Eduado Sanchez, an aficionardo of Real Madrid, where, it seems, Owen played, between 2004 and 2005, tried - but failed - to remember the player at all. Ken Phillips, ‘Geordie through and through’, could not even recognise Owen when showed a signed photograph of the player being introduced to the fans at St James’s Park.
Colin Fletcher, from Cornwall, a Manchester United supporter, was shocked to hear of Owen’s retirement. “I remember seeing him on the bench at Old Trafford, but just assumed he was part of the backroom staff’. John Drummond only saw Michael Owen once in Stoke City colours: being stretchered off the pitch even before the referee had blown his whistle to start the game. Ignoring the tumbleweed rolling through his impromptu press-call, a spokesman for the FA said the player would be sadly missed. ‘He was one of the greats', the man said, 'whoever he was’...
