Looks like Michael Owen is signing for .....

[djfonti]

....Manchester United.

Don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[gpow]

I think that is the funniest thing ever! Lets sell our best player, and one of the most hard working players at the club, to buy a has been who is injury prone.
Sounds like a good bit of business to me.

[m_atty]

If your a man utd fan.... cry
If your a newcastle fan (like me ).... then this news is hilarious!!!

[the_saint]

Laugh. Then cry.

[ainsleee]

rofl. Hes a proven goal scorer, im sure thats all Sir Alex is looking at.

On a brighter note, i know hes injury prone, but look at his record.

OWEN FACTFILE
ENGLAND 89 games, 40 goals
LIVERPOOL (Trainee - August 2004) 297 games, 158 goals
REAL MADRID (August 2004 - August 2005) 40 games, 14 goals
NEWCASTLE (August 2005 - July 2009) 79 games, 30 goals

79 games 30 goals when with all his injury's is not that bad if you ask me.

[joewarne]

hopefully this will get him back up to where he should be, playing for england

with the right coaching from man u, he should hopefully be back up there again

[ainsleee]

Biggest mistake of his life moving to Real Madrid.

[barcelonic]

The fact he scored that many goals while at Newcastle says it all really. You only need to give him a sniff of the ball and he scores. He's a truly brilliant player and always was.

Im a Liverpool fan and usually Id hate to see a former player go to Man Utd, but given the last few years he's had and the fact he's currently in the Championship (which is a crime against football) he deserves to get back among the footballing elite and so Id be pleased to see him go to Man Utd.

There was a time when he never would have gone to Old Trafford, but even he knows now that if he gets a chance to join another big club he'd be an absolute fool not to take it. He's only been hoping to get back into the Premiership, so hearing about United's interest in him must've made his day!!

[the_icks]

Breaking news:

Michael owen has signed for Manchester united, he told sky sports news " I can't wait to team up with my new teamates and if they get their next target robbie fowler we will be unbeatable next year in the championship".

[Gregm]

Originally Posted by the_icks

Breaking news:

Michael owen has signed for Manchester united, he told sky sports news " I can't wait to team up with my new teamates and if they get their next target robbie fowler we will be unbeatable next year in the championship".

I think they're re-signing Gordon Strachan as well as he is free now

[djfonti]

Originally Posted by the_icks

Breaking news:

Michael owen has signed for Manchester united, he told sky sports news " I can't wait to team up with my new teamates and if they get their next target robbie fowler we will be unbeatable next year in the championship".

We should go in for Robins, Blackmore, McGrath and Fortune.

The quintuple is on!

Seriously though, the whole thing is bizarre, it hasn't sunk in and I truly don't know what to make of it. Seeing Owen absolutely chuffed with himself is hard to take.

[the_saint]

Originally Posted by ainsleee

rofl. Hes a proven goal scorer, im sure thats all Sir Alex is looking at.

On a brighter note, i know hes injury prone, but look at his record.

OWEN FACTFILE
ENGLAND 89 games, 40 goals
LIVERPOOL (Trainee - August 2004) 297 games, 158 goals
REAL MADRID (August 2004 - August 2005) 40 games, 14 goals
NEWCASTLE (August 2005 - July 2009) 79 games, 30 goals

79 games 30 goals when with all his injury's is not that bad if you ask me.

You can't score if you are injured. His goals to ratio record is good, but look into those statistics further - 4 seasons at newcastle and 30 goals? Not sure how many games newcastle played in that time but it averages out at 7.5 goals per season, and just playing 20 games.

You can say he is great when he is not injured but he is going to keep getting injured and being unavailable which isn't really what we need to replace Ronaldo who you can guarantee will get over 20 goals, and realistically into the 30's as well as making a fair few.

At the end of the day, since Saha left we haven't had chronically injured striker and fergie is just trying to fill the hole that Saha left in that respect!

[barcelonic]

Originally Posted by the_saint

he is going to keep getting injured

When i studied philosophy we learned about empirical knowledge: just because the sun has risen every day we've been alive, how can we know that the sun will rise tomorrow?

[m_atty]

He might have scored that many goals, but he used to miss about 4 really good chances before he scored. He's very frustrating to watch. I dont think he'll fit in with man utd style of play at all

[the_saint]

Originally Posted by barcelonic

When i studied philosophy we learned about empirical knowledge: just because the sun has risen every day we've been alive, how can we know that the sun will rise tomorrow?

I hate that kind of argument. Just because I'm a rubbish footballer today how do we know I won't wake up tomorrow as the greatest footballer that ever lived and therefore Man United should offer me a £100k contract today to secure my services??

Your right, there is a possibility the sun won't rise tomorrow, but looking at how often it has risen you would be a fool to consider it even remotely likely. If you live your life and conduct your business based on things that could possibly happen even if past fact suggests it is incredibly unlikely then you won't get very far.

Just because something could theoretically happen doesn't mean that there is any likelihood of it actually happening.

[barcelonic]

Originally Posted by the_saint

I hate that kind of argument. Just because I'm a rubbish footballer today how do we know I won't wake up tomorrow as the greatest footballer that ever lived and therefore Man United should offer me a £100k contract today to secure my services??

Your right, there is a possibility the sun won't rise tomorrow, but looking at how often it has risen you would be a fool to consider it even remotely likely. If you live your life and conduct your business based on things that could possibly happen even if past fact suggests it is incredibly unlikely then you won't get very far.

Just because something could theoretically happen doesn't mean that there is any likelihood of it actually happening.

Actually what I was trying to convey was that just because Michael Owen has been injured a lot in recent years, that doesn't automaticaly mean he is going to get injured again.

I certainly don't think that Owen is a "rubbish footballer".

Oh and of course, nobody uses empiricism as a philosophy for life that, as you say, would be extremely foolish. It is just a philosophy of knowledge - "do we really know what we percieve to know?"

[the_saint]

Originally Posted by barcelonic

Actually what I was trying to convey was that just because Michael Owen has been injured a lot in recent years, that doesn't automaticaly mean he is going to get injured again.

That's true, but I would say that basic anatomy and physiology suggest he is far more likely than not to continue his recent injury pattern.

You could argue against any prediction on the future using empiricism, but where would it get you? There are almost always better things to use when trying to predict the future, which is what is happening here - not a thread about what possibly might happen, but what we think is most likely to happen.

Oh and of course, nobody uses empiricism as a philosophy for life that, as you say, would be extremely foolish.

So why raise it in this thread?? I don't see the relevance of it to counter an assertion that based on his past problems he is likely to suffer significant periods of absence from the team due to injury.

[barcelonic]

Originally Posted by the_saint

That's true, but I would say that basic anatomy and physiology suggest he is far more likely than not to continue his recent injury pattern.

You could argue against any prediction on the future using empiricism, but where would it get you? There are almost always better things to use when trying to predict the future, which is what is happening here - not a thread about what possibly might happen, but what we think is most likely to happen.


So why raise it in this thread?? I don't see the relevance of it to counter an assertion that based on his past problems he is likely to suffer significant periods of absence from the team due to injury.

Sheesh

I wasnt "countering" any argument. It was just my way of saying that I don't believe in an "injury pattern". If one injury follows another it's usually because they misjudged his recovery, so I figured if they just waited until he is properly recovered then he is back to full fitness and there is no logical reason to suggest he will get injured again any time soon.

If that's wrong then fair enough - you clearly know more about physiotherapy than I, but understand that the part about empiricism has nothing to do with my point.

In retrospect perhaps I should have phrased it differently so as not to be misinterpreted, but in all fairness I did specifically quote the line "he is going to keep getting injured".

My understanding is that injuries lead to further injuries more oten than not because there is always a need to get the player back to full fitness as soon as possible, and if the recovery is not rushed and the player has plenty of time to heal then there is no reason for the player to get injured again. If I'm wrong then that's fine, but now that you know what I thought you can see why I referenced the 'sun rising' analogy.

[sandhuharv]

Bit of a bump but Owen scored the winner today on his debut for Man U!
Will he keep up his form?

[joeemslie]

Owen will be good there - with the right medical staff!