Alan Shearer has raved about former England teammate Michael Owen, although the pair shares a frosty relationship.
Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, alongside Gary Lineker and Micah Richards, they discussed how good Owen was at the peak of his career. It led to some light-hearted banter among the colleagues.
“I know you love Michael a lot so I’ll leave this one with you, Alan,” Lineker said.
Micah Richards quickly burst into laughter. Shearer said: “I’m never ever against his ability, I played with him remember, the Argentina game, when he scored that goal, bloody hell man.”
Richards was still in the mood to leg-pull his colleague, and added: “He’s started sweating, come on, Al, talk us through your mate.”
Shearer added: “What do you want me to say? He was a brilliant centre-forward, just not at Newcastle.”
What happened between Shearer and Owen
Shearer hasn’t spoken with Owen in many years, following their massive fallout on social media.
The legendary Newcastle United striker took charge of the club on a temporary basis in the final eight games of the season, three years after he hung up his boots.
Shearer couldn’t prevent Newcastle from getting relegated and blamed Owen for his lack of contribution. They shared the pitch together during the 2005/06 Premier League season, as well as for England.
Owen wrote in his autobiography, Reboot, in 2019, that Shearer found it easy to blame the England striker rather than looking at his own fault.
He wrote: “He was brought in at St. James’ Park as the saviour, the local boy. It could have been a great story. But he failed. Newcastle United were relegated.
“Perhaps rather than examine his own shortcomings, it felt easier to blame Michael Owen.”
Shearer then took to social media took to social media to post an old video clip of Owen saying: “So all I did for six, seven years… I hated it, I couldn’t wait to retire.”
The Match of the Day captioned: “Yes Michael, we thought that also, whilst on £120k a week.”
Owen was far from happy, and he came out with a sharp riposte: “Not sure you are as loyal to Newcastle as you make out mate.
“I distinctly remember you being inches away from signing for Liverpool after Sir Bobby Robson put you on the bench. You tried everything to get out.”