Michael Owen was once one of the best soccer superstars in England. He is the last Englishman to win a Ballon d’Or award and the second youngest to ever win it. As a youngster, he had a high ceiling, though he did not live up to it.
‘Mo’ played for many big clubs, including Liverpool, Manchester United, and Real Madrid. At Manchester United, he had Sir Alex Ferguson as his manager, and recently, he shared a hilarious story involving the United legend.
Michael Owen discusses Sir Alex post training chat
Michael Owen recently appeared in an interview on former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel, ‘Rio Ferdinand Presents FIVE‘. There he revealed the story of his first days for the club.
After having joined United in 2009, Owen didn’t start for the club due to other star players in the lineup. During the early phase of the season, Sir Alex came to him after a Friday training session. Owen at the moment thought the Scottish manager was about to talk to him regarding starting the next game, but it was actually for a different reason.
He said, “I thought I am playing, because I hadn’t played for the first couple of games, it was Berbatov and Rooney, and he puts his arm around me, and says, ‘I see you have got some runners at Chepstow(horse racing). Have you got any tips?”
Sir Alex Ferguson was known to be involved in horse racing as one of his passions other than soccer. While Owen was disappointed at not getting what he wanted, it still makes up for a hilarious story, among several of his other ones.
Michael Owen would go on to have 52 appearances in total and score 17 goals in an uneventful 3-year stint for the Red Devils. He would later be allowed to leave the club for free and retire one year later.
Michael Owen once lied to Fergie about joining Manchester United
However, Owen still had another story regarding Ferguson, and it involved his transfer to United.
Michael Owen started his career at Anfield, where he became beloved among the Liverpool faithful, even winning the Ballon d’Or for them. While he would only join United later in his career, a move that made him hated among the Kop’s supporters, he actually had a chance to do it while playing for the club.
He recounted the story saying, “I’ll never forget it, Sir Alex Ferguson, when I was only very young, and he literally looked me in the eye in his office at Old Trafford, again on game day.”
“And he just looked at me and said, ‘Do you want to play for Manchester United?” And I was like, ‘yes,’ type of thing. But obviously, you know, deep down I was a Liverpool fan at that time.” It is clear that he couldn’t say no to such an infamously known intimidating manager.
He admitted that he lied to the manager, because at the time he was a Liverpool player and a lifelong fan of the club as well. “I’d been playing at the club so you know, I basically paid him lip service. Later, obviously, I would go on to play for him, for Manchester United. But of course, at the time, I was just interested in playing for Liverpool.”
Owen eventually left the club for Real Madrid, but returned to England after one year to Newcastle United. It was after this that he made the move to Sir Alex’s United. He would then play for Stoke before retiring in 2013.
What do you think of Owen’s post-training chat with Sir Alex? Make sure to tell us in the comments.
