Do Any Newcastle Fans Still Have Faith In Michael Owen?

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It’s hard not to be cynical when reading about Michael Owen’s latest return from injury in The Times. Surely if Darren Anderton hadn’t got there first, the nickname of ‘Sicknote’ would have stuck to the Newcastle and England striker like glue over the years.

“Michael is back from Germany and coming forward a lot quicker than we thought, and we will hopefully have him back well before Christmas,” Allardyce said.

Owen has managed just twenty starting appearances and nine goals since signing for the Magpies in August 2005. Considering he cost United an estimated £16m, that’s just under £2m-per-goal which is cracking value by anyone’s standards. It’s not as if Wayne Rooney has managed 64 goals for Man United or Didier Drogba has notched 74 for Chelsea since the summer of 2004.

Say what you like about some of Allardyce’s recent signings, but did any of them cost the small fortune shelled out to Real Madrid for Michael Owen? It is for this reason that he has to represent a complete waste-of-money for Newcastle United. Nobody is disputing the striker’s quality, but his penchant for a fractured metatarsal or a torn muscle means that Allardyce can never forge a long-term plan while he has a costly striker on his books.