Michael Owen on Liverpool Winning the Premier League Title & His Post-Career Allegiances

Exclusive - 30 years. Rarely do teams of Liverpool's pedigree have to endure such a wait to get their hands on a league title.


The 1989/90 First Division title feels like an eternity away for many fans, while there are several generations of supporters who had never even seen Liverpool get their hands on a title before Jürgen Klopp's dominant champions raised the trophy this season.


Growing up on Merseyside, Michael Owen will have watched Kenny Dalglish's men lift the trophy back then, but despite eight years of trying his hardest, he was never able to replicate that feat during his playing days at Anfield.


Liverpool ended a 30-year wait for the title

"From myself, from a Liverpool fan's point of view, it's been such a long rollercoaster of emotions," he tells 90min. "You've got to look back 30 years since obviously winning the league title, never having won the Premier League. There's been lots of trophies in the meantime, but the one elusive one that they were desperate for was the Premier League.


"It's just been such a topsy-turvy season, and I think the way that Liverpool have played, even non-Liverpool fans believed it was right and proper that Liverpool won the Premier League, because let's not just think about this season, last season it was brilliant stuff. That head-to-head with Manchester City was stunning and I think Liverpool deserved to win the league."


To hear Owen describe himself as a Liverpool fan will come as a surprise to some. An accusation which has often been levelled at Owen is that he betrayed his beloved Reds when he left to join Real Madrid in 2004, and joining Manchester United five years later was the final straw for many fans.


"It's really hard for people to understand," Owen explains. 'How can you support one team but then like them, them and them?'.


Owen got his hands on the league title with United

"By the time I was 13 or 14, I'd started supporting Liverpool, and they were in my heart, in my blood. If you say to me 'who did you play for? You can only say one team', then I would say Liverpool. That's where I was at my best, that's where I enjoyed my football the most. That's where Michael Owen was at his peak. Liverpool is the team I want to see do well, but I like to see all the teams I played for do well."


Owen certainly was at his peak at Anfield. That's where he won the UEFA Cup, two Premier League Golden Boots and the 2001 Ballon d'Or, but he could never add the Premier League title to his CV at that point in his career.


That switch to Old Trafford in 2009 gave Owen a viable chance to win the league title, and it took him just two seasons to realise that lifelong dream - a dream he wishes could have come true earlier in his career.


"Of course, I would have loved to win everything with Liverpool, but then you go to your next club and you want to win everything with your next club," he explains. "It's like most peoples' lives - you build, you want to reach the highest level.


Owen always dreamed of winning the title with Liverpool

"Utopia would have been to win the league with Liverpool when I first started and then it would've been ticked off the bucket list, but you just want to have a really good career and see progression. Sometimes you move and it doesn't quite go for you, or you have an injury, and then an opportunity comes to bounce back to the top level, which in my case, was to go to Manchester United.


"I couldn't pass up the chance to join one of the biggest teams in the world, play in the Champions League, play in front of 75,000 fans. That's what being a player is about.


"If I'm a fan, then obviously I can understand people saying 'I don't care how much you get paid, if you play for that club...'. I felt exactly the same! Fans have the badge on their shirt and they will never move from that badge and I totally understand that loyalty, but as a footballer, I don't understand how people can't see what they do in their everyday lives applying to somebody else that's gone to a different job. It's obviously just playing football."


Having made a career out of always looking forward, Owen is already thinking about what the 2020/21 Premier League season will look like.


Liverpool will get things underway with a target on their back. Klopp's men set the standard this season, and now every other team is putting in work to ensure they can keep up with the Reds next year.


Owen believes United could compete for the title next year.

"Liverpool and Manchester City are obviously definites for the top four," Owen says. "Manchester United, for me, are definites now as well. All of a sudden, I'm looking at United and thinking 'wow, they are playing so well that they could join in that race for the title'.


"And then I think Chelsea. They've got a lot of good, young players getting better, and it looks like Frank Lampard is going to spend a few quid as well. Already a couple of players signed and there's rumours that there's going to be a few more as well. Roman Abramovich is starting to open his purse strings again, and having been banned from signing players for a while, I think they're going to make up for lost time.


"There's probably four standout teams for next season, and it's probably in that order: Liverpool, City, United, Chelsea."



Michael Owen is part of KIA's #TheDreamPass campaign - an online football class hosted by legendary former professionals encouraging young players in their respective cities to donate their boots and take part in a skills challenge.



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Source : 90min