Having missed so much of the past three years through injury, Owen - signed with such a fanfare for £16m - has had few chances to show just what he can do in a black and white shirt.
Over the past few weeks, however, he's finally got into gear, and on Sunday Owen wrote his name into Geordie folklore with his two goals against derby rivals Sunderland.
Steven Taylor said yesterday: "Forget Man Utd and Chelsea, Sunderland is the biggest game of the season!"
Scoring against the Mackems is EVERY Geordies dream. I remember ten years ago being in Magaluf, and we came across Liam O'Brien in a bar.
A gang of Geordies lifted him onto the pool table and said: "Show us how you did it Liam!"
The ex-Toon midfielder did the build up ... then pretended to take his shot ... and the pub went up with "Who put the ball in the Mackem net, Liam O'Brien, ect."
It went on for a good 15 minutes!
Liam O'Brien ... a star indeed!