31 August 2005
WOR MIKEY
Souness: Owen is my greatest-ever signing... he'll be a Toon hero
By David Anderson
FIRST they worshipped Hughie Gallacher, then Wor Jackie, followed by Super Mac, Kevin Keegan, Andy Cole and most recently Alan Shearer.
And Graeme Souness believes they will be making room in the Newcastle pantheon of greats for Michael Owen after his £17million transfer from Real Madrid.
The Toon boss claims Owen can become a legend on Tyneside to stand alongside Newcastle's other past idols.
That is how big an impact Souness believes the England striker will make after becoming the club's record buy.
The Toon Army love their strikers and Owen has already become a hero to them without even pulling on their famous black and white shirt.
He will be officially unveiled at lunchtime today in front of thousands of Newcastle fans and his No.10 shirt has been flying off the rails at the club shop at St James' Park since news of his transfer broke yesterday morning.
Souness is just as excited as the fans and could not contain his delight at signing the former European Footballer of the Year as he spoke from Newcastle's training base in southern Spain.
In one fell swoop, Souness has won over the doubters on the Gallowgate and he said: "It's a great achievement for us to sign Michael. He's someone who can become a legend with Newcastle United fans.
"I can understand people who liken this to the signing of Alan Shearer. Michael's the current England striker and this club has had a history of wonderful centre-forwards over the years.
"The hardest thing to get in your team is someone who puts the ball in the back of the net and Michael is the best at doing that for England."
Souness has been involved in many headline-grabbing transfers since he pinched Mo Johnston (when Souness was manager of Glasgow Rangers) from under Celtic's noses in 1989, but he believes landing Owen tops the lot.
He was in charge at Anfield when Owen first came to the club as a schoolboy and he is thrilled to have the chance to work with him at last.
"I'd say this is the biggest transfer I've been involved in as a manager," he said. "Michael has been the top man for several years and this is a great day for this club.
"Michael's first choice was Liverpool and he had a dilemma there, but when we got in front of him, the club sold itself." Unlike at Liverpool where Rafael Benitez was not prepared to change his system to accommodate Owen, Souness will build his team around him.
Owen will play off Shearer - just like he did when he first played for England - with new signing Alberto Luque pushed out to the left.
Everything will be geared around getting the ball to Owen so he can show the turn of pace and clinical finishing which brought him 158 goals in 298 appearances for the Reds.
Fulham will be the first to be tested by the new partnership on Saturday week and with Owen up front, Souness is confident Newcastle will start to climb the Premiership table after their disastrous start - and keep him in a job.
The Scot even bullishly claimed that Newcastle can match any of the top sides with the talent he now has at his disposal.
"We've signed some top-class footballers for Newcastle in the likes of Scott Parker, Emre and Luque and Michael to add to some great players we already had," he said.
"If we can keep them fit and on the pitch, then I think we can be a match for anybody."
Signing Owen is a personal triumph for chairman Freddy Shepherd, who astutely took Shearer along to Monday's talks, and he was sniggered at when he first said he wanted to sign him last year.
No one outside of Newcastle gave Shepherd a chance, but that all changed as one by one the leading clubs ruled themselves out of the running.
In the end, Shepherd was left facing just Liverpool, but they could never really compete because of Benitez's reluctance to buy Owen and their financial constraints.
Owen is keeping his options open and his four-year contract contains a £12m buy-out clause, but Shepherd was euphoric, saying: "The only other signing which equals this is Alan Shearer. Owen's someone we would love to build the team around."
OWEN TO JOIN GOAL-SCORING LEGENDS OF ST JAMES' PARK
HUGHIE GALLACHER
(1925-30) Games 174 Goals 143
The pocket-sized Scot helped Newcastle to the league title in 1927 and his 36 league goals that season remains a club record.
JACKIE MILBURN
(1943-57) Games 399 Goals 200
The club's all-time top scorer won the FA Cup three times between 1951 and 1955 with the Magpies.
MALCOLM MACDONALD
(1971-76) Games 257 Goals 138
Super Mac terrorised defences and helped Newcastle to the FA Cup final in 1974 and the League Cup final in 1976.
KEVIN KEEGAN
(1982-84) Games 85 Goals 49
Led Arthur Cox's side to the First Division before retiring in 1984, only to return as manager in 1991.
ANDY COLE
(1993-95) Games 84 Goals 68
Scored a joint Premiership record 34 goals in 40 games in 1993-94 before Kevin Keegan caused outcry by selling him to Man Utd.
ALAN SHEARER
(1996-PRESENT) Games 371 Goals 195
At £15m he was the club's previous record signing and is just five goals away from equalling Milburn's all-time record.
BOOKIES READY TO KOP IT
MICHAEL OWEN is quoted at 5-6 by William Hill to score against Liverpool in the Premiership this season following his move to Newcastle.
Owen has also been installed as a 14-1 shot to top the Premiership goal-scoring lists and is 6-5 to get off the mark with a goal against Fulham in Newcastle's next match, and 25-1 to score a hat-trick in that game.
Owen's arrival has also eased the pressure on Graeme Souness and Hills have lengthened the odds on him being the first Premiership boss to go from 5-4 to 7-4 favourite.
What Souey said about Owen...
3 Aug 2005
"Michael Owen is the sort of player that I want Newcastle to be linked with and the sort of player we have to be interested in"
14 Aug 2005
"Without exciting the fans too much, I think there is a good chance of signing him. We are still in there"
19 Aug 2005
"The chairman is working his socks off. He's on the phone all the time, trying to make the Owen thing happen"
23 Aug 2005
"Michael would make us a different animal altogether"
25 Aug 2005
"As I understand it there isn't a chance of getting Michael Owen"
27 Aug 2005
"Long before I came here the biggest issue was to find a replacement for Alan
30 Aug 2005
"Owen is someone who can become a legend with Newcastle United fans"
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