Oh Michael Owen, during a WATFORD game? Again?

In what seemed to be only a short while ago, Michael Owen was like this:



Now...not so much:


It was only 51 seconds into Owen's 80th cap during the 2006 World Cup that he suffered a massive knee injury which required him to go back home, leaving the floundering English squad to sink deeper.

Minus a hamstring injury while playing for Liverpool, the bulk of his injuries seem to have begun when he came to Newcastle from Real Madrid. Maybe a curse, maybe not. He broke a metatarsal in his foot and underwent surgery which involved a pin. Ouch. The pin was supposed to speed up the recovery which it of course didn't and he underwent a second surgery. Then came the kiss of death - the not even a minute into the world cup game v. Sweden and Owen's knee was shattered. A torn ACL and subsequent, time consuming surgery and recovery and nearly a year later, Owen, oddly, decides to make his comeback, coming out of injury, on a rather meaningless game...and gets injured AGAIN.

Again! Why are you playing! You were trying to make a comeback, trying to rally around the fact that you were included in the England B team...but why waste whatever you have left on a game that essentially meant nothing?

Understandably, Owen likely is feeling crazy by not playing. His early career was so phenomenal, he sells so many tickets, and its probably likely that the management wanted to sell more tickets for that last game - with nothing at stake - and Owen really is a draw, sort of like Beckham will be for the Galaxy, and he certainly sells tickets but...at what cost? He's out. Again. For who knows how long. Maybe trying to warm him up slowly...but in a game? That is the last of the season? That counts for nothing? Owen is not just a cash cow and he's being used as a pawn and its ridiculous (go to the Newcastle site and his face is on the Newcastle banner). He's a small player. He simply cannot compete to the level that he needs to be at to come back and play in the Premiership and risk getting injured. Waste of time. Waste of recovery! A head injury now...taken off the field on a stretcher. For a game against WATFORD that ended in a tie.

Whoever takes on Michael Owen now will not be thinking as a manager or as a chair but as a fan and a hopeful...because its not likely Owen will ever come back like we all want him to.

Its sad to see Owen's career go down the crapper so fast, in such a systematic, plaugued-with-injury form. As much as it would be wonderful for Owen to come back, full form, circa 2001, at this point, it may just not be in the cards and he may end up just knotted up with injuries...but it'd be nice to be proven wrong.