Give Michael the vocal backing he deserves

Last updated : 18 May 2002 By Peter Talbot, Red Issues

One thing that has annoyed me this season is the lack of Michael Owen chants from the Kop. After the Ipswich game, my uncle rang the football phone-in on Radio City to express his disappointment that Michael's name is not chanted to the extreme that other players are.

Gary McAllister's name was chanted throughout the game and he was on the bench. It was always going to be McAllister's day with it being his last game for Liverpool and he deserved his standing ovation and to have his name sung throughout the game.

John-Arne Riise scored two goals and the Kop raised the roof singing his chant when the goals flew in. Nicolas Anelka got a similar reception when he was warming up at the side and when he scored. Markus Babbel's name was justifiably chanted when he joined in the lap of honour at the end of the game.

But when Michael scored all we got was the half-hearted version of "Michael Owen scores a goal. Hallelujah!"

The whole Kop was on its feet when McAllister came out to warm-up, rewarding him with a deafening chorus of "He's got no hair but we don't care, Gary Gary Mac." It was the same when Riise scored. I reckon about 80% of the Kop joined in with the chants for these players. But I would guess that less than 40% joined in with Owen's chant when he scored.

What is it with some people?

We worshipped Robbie Fowler when he was here - and rightly so. I can even remember a time when Fowler was in the stands against West Ham in the first game of this season. His name echoed round the ground when he wasn't playing, while Michael won the game for us with two great goals.

We need to start appreciating Michael much more. We're a good team but without Michael we would be average. It's as simple as that.

Michael has previously admitted that he wish he heard the Kop chant his name more, saying this would improve his game even more!

Another fan phoned in to the phone-in after my uncle had had his say, pointing out that Saturday was Gary Mac's day so he should have had all the attention. OK, I'm prepared to go along with that. It was a special day for McAllister and he deserved the attention he got on that day, and his name was chanted all afternoon.

Michael Owen picked up the European Player of the Year trophy before the game against Derby a few weeks ago. That was his day. I don't remember the Kop deafening the rest of the ground singing Michael Owen's name all afternoon. It was loud at the start when he received his trophy but not the whole game. Owen scored two that day.

I think next season Michael's name should be sung much more than in the past. We should give him the respect he deserves.

Since Robbie left, Owen's taken over as my Kop Idol. May I suggest that he adopts the old Fowler chant: "clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, Owen!" Or the sometimes used "There's only one Michael Owen."

Something to think about over the summer!