Owen Has Been A Poor Buy - Official!

Keegan: "We need a game in mid-week, possibly Thursday for Michael.

"Normally at the start of a season you wouldn't want to risk any players, not Michael Owen or Alan Smith. If there is a doubt I will leave them out.

"By mid-week we will know. It will be Michael or myself who will decide if he is fit enough to come into a Premier League game."

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but looking back ... if we knew then what we know now ... I'm sure then-Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd would not have done the deal.

Owen has been at the club for three years and, since he made his debut in the 1-1 draw with Fulham at St James' Park in September 2005, he has just made 42 starts and missed a staggering 102 games!

In three years Newcastle have only won 15 games when Owen has been in the starting line-up, and let us not forget his £16m transfer fee is just the start ... he is paid £103,000 per week.

Value for money?

Alan Shearer said at the start of last season: "Michael Owen owes Newcastle United, and its fans, a hell of a lot. He cannot walk away now until he repays them."

Owen has one year left on his contract, and there are snags on a new deal because Mike Ashley wants to cap wages.

But we can hardly say he will be a miss if he does go.