Alan Hansen

Personal information
Full name	Alan David Hansen
Date of birth	(1955-06-13) 13 June 1955 (age 57)
Place of birth	Sauchie, Scotland
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1973–1977	Partick Thistle	86[1]	(6)
1977–1991	Liverpool	434	(8)
National team
1979–1987	Scotland	26	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Alan David Hansen (born 13 June 1955 in Sauchie, Clackmannanshire, Scotland) is a Scottish former football player and BBC television football pundit. He played as a central defender for Partick Thistle, Liverpool and Scotland. In 1990 he became the first outfield player to win English league titles in three different decades.^[2] As a pundit, Hansen has acquired a reputation for his critical and analytical approach to the game, particularly in regard to defending.

Early life[link]

Hansen's grandfather Frederik Hansen (1912–1999) was Danish and was a distant relative of professional golfer Søren Hansen. Alan attended Lornshill Academy. Hansen received a permanent scar to his forehead from running into a plate-glass panel, aged 15. The glass was in a brand-new youth club which Hansen attended. During his 2 hour hospital stay he had 27 stitches in his head. He sued the education authority and won the case.^[3]

Playing career[link]

Sauchie Juniors[link]

Alan Hansen played his early football (along with his brother John) at the Scottish Junior league (Scottish equivalent of non league in England, one level below senior) club, Sauchie Juniors.^[4]

Partick Thistle[link]

Hansen turned down the opportunity to study at the University of Aberdeen, in order to join his brother John at Partick Thistle. During the summer while his application was being processed, he worked for six weeks in the offices of General Accident insurance — which he hated.^[5] As a trainee, Hansen was watching in the Hampden Park stands as Partick Thistle, which included his brother John, upset firm favourites Celtic in the 1971 Scottish League Cup final, beating their counterparts 4–1. In the summer of 1971, Hansen attended a trial at Liverpool Football Club having been spotted by their scouts, but was deemed to have failed to achieve the required standard.

After breaking into the first team at Thistle, Hansen was watched by top clubs, including Bob Paisley's Liverpool. In 1975–76 season Hansen played 21 times as Thistle won the Scottish First Division championship to gain entry into the Scottish Premier Division. By the end of the following season Hansen had 35 first team appearances, before moving south of the border to Liverpool. One extra bonus of signing for Liverpool meant that the nickname which he hated for years would soon be forgotten. After arriving at Anfield "Stretch" was forgotten and "Jockey" was born.

Liverpool[link]

Hansen cost Liverpool £110,000. He made his debut on 24 September 1977 in a league match at Anfield. Derby County were the visitors and were beaten by a single goal scored by Terry McDermott. Hansen hit his first goal the following month on 19 October during a European Cup 2nd round 1st leg tie at Anfield. He opened the scoring in the 14th minute as Liverpool demolished East German side Dynamo Dresden 5–1.

Hansen was put into the first team sporadically throughout the season — he wasn't in the side which lost the League Cup final after a replay to Nottingham Forest in 1978 but was selected for the side which retained the European Cup with a 1–0 victory over FC Bruges at Wembley, the goal scored by Kenny Dalglish. He managed 18 appearances in the First Division, where Liverpool finished runners-up to Nottingham Forest.

The following year Hansen was in the squad as Liverpool regained the League title and also fully established himself as a first choice central defender when long serving club captain Emlyn Hughes was sold to Wolves. He also made his full debut for Scotland. Jock Stein gave Hansen his Scotland debut on 19 May 1979 in a British Home Championship match at Ninian Park, Cardiff, in which Wales were the hosts and soundly beat the Scots 3–0. Hansen's 2nd cap came the following month on 2 June in a prestigious friendly against reigning World Champions Argentina, The South Americans beat the Scots by 3 goals to 1 at Hampden Park.

Liverpool's domination of club football continued in 1980 with another League title and then in 1981 they ended the season with their first League Cup after defeating West Ham United 2–1 in a replay at Villa Park. Hansen scored the winning goal in the 28th minute. They also regained the European Cup with a 1–0 victory over Real Madrid.

The league title returned to Anfield in 1982, and the team also retained the League Cup with victory over Tottenham Hotspur, although Hansen missed this triumph with injury. Hansen was selected in the Scotland squad for the summer's World Cup in Spain. The team failed to progress beyond the qualifying group due to drawing 2–2 with the USSR. An accidental collision between Hansen and central defensive partner Willie Miller allowed USSR striker Ramoz Shengelia through to score the Soviets' second goal.

In 1983, Liverpool once again took the League title and held on to the League Cup, this time defeating Manchester United in the final. The two trophies would remain at Anfield too in 1984, although Hansen was involved in a controversial incident in the League Cup final at Wembley when he appeared to handle a shot on the goal line. Despite protests from opponents and fierce Merseyside rivals Everton, no penalty was given. Liverpool won the final after a replay.

The club then completed a treble of trophies when they added yet another European Cup to the league title and League Cup. The final against AS Roma ended 1–1 and went to a penalty shoot-out, which Liverpool won.

Liverpool emerged trophy-less from the following season, and were banned from all European competition after the 1985 European Cup Final at Heysel was preceded by rioting which caused the deaths of 39 Juventus fans. Though the result of the game was immaterial, Liverpool lost it 1–0. Hansen would never play a European tie again.

Manager Joe Fagan retired after Heysel, and Hansen's friend, team-mate and fellow Scotsman Dalglish was appointed as player manager. He gave Hansen the captaincy and the season ended in triumph, as in 1986 Liverpool became only the third side in the 20th century to complete a League and FA Cup "double", following Tottenham in 1961 and Arsenal in 1971. Hansen lifted both trophies as captain and earned his first FA Cup winners' medal, thereby completing the domestic set.

Liverpool won nothing in 1987, losing the League Cup final when Arsenal defeated them 2–1, while arch-rivals Everton took the League title. But in 1988, arguably the most skilled Liverpool team of all, with Hansen as skipper, lost just twice as they coasted to the League title — Hansen's seventh — and reached the FA Cup final, where they were beaten 1–0 by Wimbledon in one of the competition's biggest shocks.

Hansen was restricted to six league appearances in 1988–89 due to a knee injury, as Liverpool surrendered the league title to Arsenal when they conceded a last minute goal that gave the North Londoners a 2–0 win.^[6]

In April 1989, after the Hillsborough disaster claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans, Hansen was among many Liverpool stars left distraught by the tragedy, attending 12 funerals and visiting the injured in hospital. Liverpool eventually won the FA Cup against Everton in the final at Wembley, though Hansen didn't lift the trophy — this honour was given to team-mate Ronnie Whelan who had deputised in Hansen's absence through injury and retained the role even after the club's first choice captain was fit again. Hansen did not complain. In the 1988–89 season, Liverpool lost the League title and a second "double" thanks to a crucial goal in the final seconds by Arsenal player Michael Thomas at Anfield which gave the Highbury club the title.

Hansen made more appearances the following season but his persistent knee problems continued to affect his fitness although he still captained Liverpool to another League title, which made it eight individually for Hansen, which was a record at the time. The club came close to the "double" yet again, but lost a thrilling FA Cup semi final 4–3 to Crystal Palace.

Hansen was unable to play in any competitive games during the 1990–91 season (when Liverpool finished second in the league and were trophyless for only the third time since Hansen's arrival 14 years earlier) and he retired in March, a month after Kenny Dalglish resigned as manager. At this stage Ronnie Moran was caretaker manager until the appointment of Graeme Souness in the permanent position shortly afterwards.^[7]

Scotland[link]

Hansen won the last of his 26 Scotland caps in 1987. The reason given for his lack of caps by Scotland coaches of the late 1970s and the whole of the 1980s was that a formidable partnership had formed between players Willie Miller and Alex McLeish at Aberdeen (managed at the time by Alex Ferguson). Indeed, Ferguson (in temporary charge after the sudden death of Jock Stein) controversially dropped Hansen from the squad for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, citing Hansen's poor international form and reluctance to play international friendly games in the warm up to the World Cup as the reason.

After retirement[link]

There were strong rumours that Hansen would be approached to take over as manager of Liverpool after his former captain Graeme Souness left in 1994. However, he ruled himself out of the running, stating that despite his great affection for the club, he simply was not interested in coaching or management; a position he has maintained ever since Roy Evans got the job.^{[citation needed]}

Media career[link]

Alan Hansen presenting an award in 2006

After rejecting the idea of management, when he retired from football in 1991 he planned to take three months off. After his wife pointed out that during his rest period, the telephone had not rung once, he started calling the networks.^[5] Sky Television employed Hansen as a pundit and summariser almost as soon as he ceased playing, and soon he had established enough of a reputation as a considered observer and thinker within the game for the BBC to approach him. He began working for BBC Radio 5 Live before moving on to Match of the Day.

For more than a decade, Hansen has been employed as the main pundit for the BBC's football coverage (rights to show matches or highlights permitting) and he is known as a calm, authoritative, and rational analyst of the game who is particularly keen on highlighting the triumphs and "shocking", "poor" or "diabolical" mistakes of defenders and commenting on "mediocre" performances.^[8][9]

Commentating on the Argentina-Romania match in the 1994 World Cup, Hansen said that "the Argentine defender warrants shooting for a mistake like that". The previous day, Colombian defender Andrés Escobar had been shot dead, a killing widely attributed to punishment for an own goal Escobar scored in Colombia's 2–1 loss to the United States earlier in the same tournament. The BBC issued a public apology for Hansen's choice of words.^[10]

Hansen is also known for coining the phrase "you can't win anything with kids," having made the remark following Manchester United's 3–1 defeat to Aston Villa on the opening day of the 1995–96 Premier League season. After selling high profile players like Ince, Hughes and Kanchelskis in the summer of 1995, United had introduced several youth team players including Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Gary Neville into the first team, yet proved Hansen wrong by winning a league and cup double that same season. Hansen still continues to this day to repeat these facts, for humorous effect.

Away from football analysis, Hansen is a keen golfer, and he is a member of Hillside Golf Club playing off a handicap of three and regularly returns to the town of his birth near Alloa in Clackmannanshire, Scotland to participate in celebrity golf tournaments in aid of various charities. He has hosted documentaries on the sport and worked at the Masters Tournament for the BBC. He has also presented programmes on the rise in status and wealth of the modern footballer and appeared in television commercials, such as Carlsberg and Morrisons supermarkets.^[11]

He is a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, Telegraph.co.uk and the BBC website on football issues and has also worked as a motivational speaker.

Controversy[link]

During an appearance on Match of the Day on 21 December 2011, while discussing the prominence of racism in English football following allegations against Premier League players Luis Suarez and John Terry, Hansen caused controversy after twice using the word "coloured" in reference to black footballers. The BBC received 82 complaints by the following morning while some criticised Hansen's choice of words on social network Twitter. Shamrock Rovers player Rohan Ricketts tweeted "Is this Alan Hansen guy taking the f****** piss?? I’m not coloured??? He is part of the problem when using that word. We are BLACK Alan! Wtf [sic]." Hansen issued an apology the following day, saying "'I unreservedly apologise for any offence caused – this was never my intention and I deeply regret the use of the word."^[12][13]

Personal life[link]

Hansen lives in Southport with his wife Janet.^[14]They have been married since 1980^[15]and have a son Adam and a daughter Lucy.^[16]

Honours[link]

Partick Thistle

• Scottish First Division: 1

1975–76

Liverpool

• League Championship: 8

1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1989–90

• FA Cup: 2

1985–86, 1988–89

• League Cup: 3

1980–81, 1982–83, 1983-4

• FA Charity Shield: 6

1977–78*, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1986–87*, 1989–90

• European Cup: 3

1977–78, 1980–81, 1983–84

• Screen Sport Super Cup: 1

1985–86

* Shared

Runner Up[link]

Liverpool FC

• 1977–78 League Championship (Level 1)
• 1978–79 European Super Cup
• 1981–82 Intercontinental Cup
• 1983–84 Charity Shield
• 1984–85 Charity Shield
• 1984–85 Intercontinental Cup
• 1984–85 European Super Cup
• 1984–85 League Championship (Level 1)
• 1984–85 European Cup
• 1986–87 League Cup
• 1986–87 League Championship (Level 1)
• 1987–88 FA Cup
• 1988–89 League Championship (Level 1)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alan Hansen

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Alan Hansen

• Official past players at Liverpoolfc.tv
• LFChistory.net player profile
• Liverpool appearances part 1 1977/79-1979-80 at Sporting-heroes.net
• Liverpool appearances part 2 1980-81-1982-83 at Sporting-heroes.net
• Liverpool appearances part 3 1983-84-1986-87 at Sporting-heroes.net
• Liverpool appearances part 3 1987-88-1989-90 at Sporting-heroes.net
• Scottish caps 1979–87 at Sporting-heroes.net
• "Alan Hansen's Telegraph column archive" Telegraph.co.uk

v t e Scotland squad – 1982 FIFA World Cup 1 Rough 2 McGrain 3 Gray 4 Souness (c) 5 Hansen 6 Miller 7 Strachan 8 Dalglish 9 Brazil 10 Wark 11 Robertson 12 Wood 13 McLeish 14 Narey 15 Jordan 16 Hartford 17 Evans 18 Archibald 19 Sturrock 20 Provan 21 Burley 22 Leighton Coach: Stein

Michael Owen

Personal information
Full name	Michael James Owen[1]
Date of birth	(1979-12-14) 14 December 1979 (age 32)
Place of birth	Chester, England
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Playing position	Striker
Youth career
1991–1996	Liverpool
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1996–2004	Liverpool	306	(179)
2004–2005	Real Madrid	43	(19)
2005–2009	Newcastle United	71	(26)
2009–2012	Manchester United	31	(5)
National team‡
1997	England U20	4	(3)
1997	England U21	1	(1)
2006–2007	England B	2	(0)
1998–2008	England	89	(40)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 May 2012. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 1 August 2009

Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979 in Chester) is an English professional footballer who is currently a free agent after being released by Manchester United in June 2012.

The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. He progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997. In his first full season in the Premier League he finished as joint top scorer with 18 goals. He repeated this the following year and was Liverpool's top goal scorer from 1997–2004, despite a recurring hamstring injury. In 2001, Liverpool won a cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and Football League Cup, and Owen was the recipient of the Ballon d'Or. He went on to score 118 goals in 216 appearances in the Premier League for Liverpool.

Owen moved to Real Madrid for £8 million in mid-2004; he was frequently used as a substitute. He scored 13 goals in La Liga and had the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. He returned to England the following season, joining Newcastle United for £16 million. After a promising start to the 2005–06 season, injuries largely ruled him out over the next 18 months. After his return he became team captain and was the team's top scorer for the 2007–08 season. After the final season of his four-year contract, Newcastle were relegated, and Owen moved to Manchester United as a free agent.

Internationally, Owen first played for the senior England team in 1998, becoming England's youngest player and youngest goalscorer at the time. His performance at the 1998 World Cup brought him to national and international prominence and he went on to score in Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. He is the only player to have scored in four major tournaments for England. He played at the 2006 World Cup but suffered an injury which took him a year to recover from. Occasionally playing as captain, he is England's seventh most-capped player and has scored a national record of 26 competitive goals, with 40 in total from 89 appearances, most recently in 2008.^[3]

Owen's long injury absence after the 2006 World Cup resulted in a dispute between FIFA and The FA and Newcastle United, and eventually resulted in an unprecedented £10m compensation award to Newcastle, and brought changes to the compensation arrangements between club and country regarding injuries sustained by contracted club players while on international duty. On 17th May 2012 he was released by Manchester United as he was not offered a new contract and thus Owen is now a free agent.^[4]

Early life[link]

Owen was born in Chester, Cheshire, the fourth child of Jeanette and Terry Owen.^[5] His father is a former professional footballer and played for clubs such as Chester City and Everton. Owen was introduced to football at the age of seven by his father who soon saw Michael as the most promising athlete in the family.^[5] A boyhood Everton fan,^[6] Owen attended Rector Drew Primary School in Hawarden, Flintshire, and by the age of ten, some of the nation's leading scouts were monitoring his progress.^[7]

He later played for Deeside Primary School's team (where he scored 97 goals; beating previous record holder Ian Rush by 25 goals)^[8] and joined the youth team of Mold Alexandra, playing with the under-10s at the age of eight after a local physical education teacher, Howard Roberts, persuaded the league to allow an under-age player.^[5] Owen scored on his debut for Mold Alexandra, a 2–0 win over local rivals Bagillt.^[8] After leaving Deeside, Owen attended Hawarden High School, where he also played for the school team.^[7]

Club career[link]

Liverpool[link]

Owen wearing Liverpool shirt before Jamie Carragher Testimonial Match (2010)

At age 12, when Owen started attending high school, he became eligible to sign a schoolboy contract with a club. He held talks with Chelsea, Málaga^{[citation needed]} and Arsenal, before he eventually signed for Liverpool (despite growing up as a supporter of their rivals Everton). Liverpool then persuaded him to attend the FA's School of Excellence at Lilleshall in Shropshire at age 14. Throughout this time, he continued his studies and achieved ten GCSEs.^[9]

Liverpool signed Owen after he graduated from Lilleshall at 16, and he joined the club on the Youth Training Scheme. The star of Liverpool's 1996 FA Youth Cup triumph, scoring in the final against a West Ham United team that included Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand, Owen scored prolifically as he rose rapidly through the Anfield ranks.^[10] After four months, Owen signed professional forms for the senior team just after his seventeenth birthday on 18 December 1996.

He scored on his Liverpool debut on 6 May 1997, the penultimate game of the Premier League season, which they lost 2–1 to Wimbledon at Selhurst Park.^[11]

With an injury to Robbie Fowler, Owen was thrust immediately into action as a first team regular alongside the likes of newcomer Paul Ince and playmaker Steve McManaman in the following 1997–98 season. He scored his first European goal for the club against Celtic in the UEFA Cup and recorded his first professional hat-trick against Grimsby Town in the League Cup. His first Premier League hat-trick came later that season at Hillsborough against Sheffield Wednesday, a week after he had scored two consolation goals in Liverpool's surprise 3–2 home defeat by Southampton.^[12]

Owen ended that season as a joint top scorer in the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers' Chris Sutton and Coventry City's Dion Dublin, scoring eighteen goals, and was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year by fellow professionals. Of the three, only Owen was selected for the 1998 World Cup squad.

The 1998–99 season proved to be another good season for Owen as he scored 23 Goals in 40 games for Liverpool. Despite his form, Liverpool were unable to mount a title challenge and their seventh-place finish was not enough to attain even a UEFA Cup place. Owen injured his hamstring in a league game against Leeds United on 12 April, which proved to be a recurring injury and prematurely brought his season to an end.

The next season was a frustrating one for Owen as he was out for lengthy periods due to the effects of the previous season's injury, but nevertheless he managed to score 12 goals and helped Liverpool to qualify for the UEFA Cup.

In the run-up to Euro 2000, Owen was still suffering hamstring problems and received treatment from the Bayern Munich doctor, Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt.^[13]

In the 2000–01 season, Owen helped the club to their most successful season in several years. The team won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup, with Owen scoring two goals in the last few minutes against Arsenal in the FA Cup final to turn what had appeared to be a 1–0 defeat into a 2–1 victory, the game has since been christened "The Michael Owen Cup Final".^[10]

Winning the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup allowed Liverpool to play in the Charity Shield and the UEFA Super Cup at the beginning of the 2001–02 season. Liverpool won both matches with Owen scoring the second goal of the 2–1 win over Manchester United in the Charity Shield and the third goal in the 2001 UEFA Super Cup win over European champions Bayern Munich. Liverpool thus became the first English team to win five trophies in one calendar year. Just a week later, Owen would again beat Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, as the English international hit a hat-trick in England's 5–1 win over Germany in Munich.^[14] At the end of the year, Owen became the first English player in twenty years and the only Liverpool player ever to win the European Footballer of the Year award. He was also voted World Soccer player of the year in 2001; he is the only English player to win the award and was the first Premier League player to do so.^[15] He scored his 100th goal for Liverpool on 21 December 2001 against West Ham United. Liverpool finished second in the league in the 2001–2002 season and Owen played a key part in the success, scoring 28 goals.

The 2002–03 season saw Owen on top form again as he hit 28 goals. Liverpool were on top of the table and looked like genuine title contenders for the first time in several years, but a run of bad results saw them eventually finishing fifth in the table. Owen also scored at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff when Liverpool beat Manchester United 2–0 to win the League Cup and scored his 100th Premier League goal against West Bromwich Albion.^[10]

In an injury-hit 2003–04 season he still managed to score 19 goals, getting his 150th goal for the club on 15 February 2004 against Portsmouth, but otherwise it was a bleak season for both him and Liverpool.

Following Gérard Houllier's sacking as Liverpool manager, speculation about Owen's departure from the club began. During the first few Champions League games at the start of the 2004–2005 season, Owen sat on the bench to avoid being cup-tied for the Champions League, something that would have meant he would be unable to play in European competitions for any other club that season. Since 1998 Owen had been Liverpool's top scorer every season until he left the club.^[16] Real Madrid signed him for a fee of £8 million on 13 August 2004, with midfielder Antonio Núñez moving in the other direction as a make-weight.^[17]

Real Madrid[link]

Owen at a training camp with Real Madrid

Following their successful bid, Owen was presented with the number 11 shirt by Real Madrid. Owen had a slow start to his Madrid career. He was often confined to the bench and drew criticism from fans and the Spanish press for his lack of form. A successful return to action with the England squad in October 2004 seemed to revive his morale, however, and in the first following match, he scored his first goal for the club, the winner in a 1–0 Champions League victory over Dynamo Kyiv.^[18] A few days later, he scored his first Spanish league goal in a 1–0 victory over Valencia.^[19] The scoring spree continued, as he found the back of the net in three of the next four matches to make it five goals in seven successive matches. He ended the season with thirteen goals in La Liga, with the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. Following Real's signing of two high-profile Brazilian forwards, Robinho and Júlio Baptista in the summer of 2005, the speculation arose that Owen would return to the Premier League. During his time at Real Madrid, Owen scored 18 goals from 41 games, 15 of which were starts.^[20]

Newcastle United[link]

On 24 August 2005, Newcastle United announced that they had agreed a club record fee^[21] of £16.8 million to obtain Owen, although they still had to negotiate with the player's advisers. Liverpool and local rivals Everton entered the fray, but were unwilling to match Madrid's asking price. As the 2006 World Cup was less than a year away, Owen wanted to get more playing time to secure his position as the first-choice striker in the England squad and joined Newcastle amidst rumours that he had inserted an escape clause valued at £12 million.^[22] On 31 August 2005 Owen signed a four-year contract to play for Newcastle United, despite initial press speculation that he would rather have returned to Liverpool.^[23] Some 20,000 fans were present at Newcastle's home ground of St James' Park for Owen's official unveiling as a Newcastle player.^[24][25] Several days after signing he suffered a thigh-injury in pre-season, which ruled him out for the start of the 2005–06 season. He scored his first goal for the club on his second appearance, the second goal in a 3–0 away win at Blackburn Rovers on 18 September – Newcastle's first win of the season. Owen scored his first hat-trick for Newcastle in the 4–2 away win over West Ham on 17 December.^[26] It was also a "perfect hat trick", with one goal scored with each of his left foot, right foot, and head.

On 31 December 2005, Owen broke a metatarsal bone in his foot in a match against Tottenham Hotspur. He underwent surgery to place a pin in the bone, to help speed the healing process. He was expected to be out of action until late March,^[27] but the healing process did not go as hoped and on 24 March he underwent a second, minor, operation. Owen then stated that he should be fit for the final few weeks of the season with Newcastle.^[28] His return to action finally came against Birmingham City on 29 April when he came off the substitutes' bench in the 62nd minute. After the match Owen stated that he was "not 100% happy" with his foot.^[29] He underwent a further X-ray and made himself unavailable for Newcastle's final game of the season.

A damaged anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, sustained in the first minute of the group match against Sweden at the 2006 World Cup, kept Owen out of regular football for nearly a year, until April 2007. The seriousness of Owen's injury at the World Cup inflamed the so called 'club-versus-country' row in England, centring on the liability of the world governing body FIFA and the English national association The FA for the cost of injuries to players incurred while on international duty.^[30][31] Newcastle were aggrieved at the length of time Owen would now be out of action in forthcoming Premier League and Cup competitions as a result of the World Cup injury, particularly as he had been out for the half-season prior to the World Cup. Under the existing insurance arrangements between club and country, Fifa and the FA had been paying £50,000 of Owen's £110,000 weekly wages since he suffered the injury, totalling about £2m for the time he was out of action.^[32] By September 2006, Newcastle were threatening to sue the FA for further compensation, for a reported figure of £20m.^[30] The Owen case was a high-profile follow-up to an already ongoing legal claim for compensation from Fifa over an injury incurred by Abdelmajid Oulmers on international duty.^[31] The compensation claim by Newcastle included the £10m cost of buying Owen's replacement, Obafemi Martins, £6.2m towards Owen's salary costs while injured, the possibility of long-term damage to Owen's fitness and ability, the loss of league position and cup competition progress, depreciation of Owen's four-year contract, and the cost of medical treatment for Owen.^[30][32][33] In February 2007 Fifa made Newcastle a "final offer" of £1m.^[33] By April 2007, Newcastle were threatening to take out an injunction to stop the FA from picking Owen for England games.^[34] The club finally reached a compromise settlement figure with Fifa and the FA. Fifa indicated that the settlement was between £6m and £7m. The club, stating that Owen's wages had "now been paid in full", stated the overall compensation achieved totalled £10m.^[32] Resulting from the Owen compensation claim, the FA doubled their future insurance coverage of England players to £100,000, and FIFA introduced a compensation fund for injuries sustained at World Cups.^[31]

Owen training with Newcastle in 2007

Owen began light training on 12 February 2007, when pictures on the club's official website highlighted Owen running and carrying out minor exercises.^[35] He made his comeback from injury on 10 April 2007 in a 4–1 behind-closed-doors friendly against Gretna, scoring after ten minutes and then setting up fellow striker Shola Ameobi before coming off an hour later.^[36] Owen then started his first game for Newcastle United in over a year, against Reading on 30 April 2007 in a game that Newcastle United lost 1–0. He played the full 90 minutes, having a goal disallowed for offside.^[37] Owen was stretchered off an hour into Newcastle's game with Watford on 13 May 2007, suffering concussion after colliding with team-mate Matty Pattison.^[38]

On 9 May 2007, Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd reacted angrily to reports that Owen could move on to another club at the end of the 2006–07 season, due to a release clause in his contract. A report in The Times newspaper suggested Owen could be available for less than £10million and could be a target for the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. Despite these reports, Shepherd warned Owen "to show some loyalty" and warned him that "none of the big four clubs want him."^[39] However, in a video posted on YouTube, a group of Liverpool fans asked Shepherd if they could re-sign Owen, he responded by saying that he would "carry Owen back to Liverpool" himself.^[40] Shepherd also stated his dislike of Owen's agent but praised Owen as a "good lad".^[41] This led many to believe that Owen would exercise his right to leave if the £9 million valuation was matched.^[40] On 10 June 2007, Owen's new manager at Newcastle, Sam Allardyce, confirmed the existence of the release clause in Owen's contract and admitted he feared that the club would be powerless to prevent Owen from leaving.^[42] However on 12 July 2007 Owen committed his immediate future to Newcastle United, stating: "I believe that these can be good times to be at Newcastle, which is why I am more than happy to be here."^[43]