English FA Premiership: As Michael Owen returns to Anfield for the first time, Michael Walker outlines how he almost returned for good last summer - and how he might yet.
This is Anfield. Michael Owen goes back to Liverpool on Monday and will see the sign that hung protectively over him from the age of 11 to 24. It will be the first time he has trod the Anfield turf since May 2004, when he scored a late equaliser in what turned out to be Gerard Houllier's last game as Liverpool manager.
The opponents that afternoon were Newcastle United and on Monday, when he walks towards the Anfield dressingrooms, Owen will turn left instead of right. He used to sit "under the heater" in the home changing room, now he will be a visitor. He is Newcastle's, not Liverpool's, number 10.
Owen is a young man known for the singleminded certainty of his talent but even he may feel pangs of confusion as to how this came to be. There must be times when he wonders about those paid to chart his path over 2004 and 2005.
Indeed St Stephen's Day will be full of wonder for Owen, about what kind of reception he will receive for a start. Well beyond the final whistle he will also be wondering what 2006 holds. With a World Cup in Germany, it could be the defining year of the rest of his career.
A week before that New Year, serious speculation began on Merseyside yesterday morning. Asked if he could foresee a time when Owen would again be Liverpool's number 10, the Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez responded: "Yes, I can see him returning to Liverpool one day, why not? He's a top player and every club is always interested in signing players like that."
That was not a wet blanket answer. It could, and will, be seen as the beginning of a courtship. Owen revealed yesterday that in those frantic days towards the end of August he had a meeting with Benitez in which "all the nitty-gritty of a contract" was discussed.
Reassured by Benitez's zest, Owen must have left that meeting thinking a return to Anfield was on. The only thing preventing a reunion between player and club was Real Madrid's valuation. That proved to be enough.
"We tried until the end," Benitez added yesterday. "He decided to go to Newcastle because he wanted to play every week. I respect his decision. I told him when we were talking that we had good strikers here, and that Real Madrid had received a very big offer, so it was impossible. The price was really, really high.
"There were four different factors which stopped us re-signing him: the price, the time scale, Michael's decision, and also the reason that we already had good strikers here. All those factors, in such a short time, ensured that we couldn't change the situation."
So on August 31st Owen emerged blinking in disbelief as 15,000 Geordies waited at St James' Park. He said his head was "spinning". He also said "I didn't think I'd ever leave Liverpool" - never mind leave them for 12 months in Madrid before lurching to Tyneside with Alan Shearer whispering in his ear. Owen had left Liverpool for £7 million plus Antonio Nunez; he left Real for £16.5 million, plus amazement.
At no point did he pretend this was his dream scenario. Newcastle cared little about that: second bottom of the Premiership with one point and no goals in their first four games, they had just pulled off a coup. "Geordio Galactico," beamed chairman Freddy Shepherd, "I like it." What Shepherd liked less was the insinuation Owen had negotiated a get-out clause and went as far as to issue a statement that said: "I have heard a little rumour Michael has a clause in his contract which states that he can leave Newcastle in one year's time. I can tell you now that he hasn't."
Fair enough. But what that does not deny are reports Owen has a clause in his contract that allows him to speak to another club willing to meet a certain asking price, which may or may not be £12 million. Owen has settled well on Tyneside but if, secretly, he wishes Liverpool have the wherewithal to find that cash, would anyone be surprised - particularly after Benitez's failure to quash the issue yesterday?
"Michael is an honest man and they (Liverpool) were his first choice," Graeme Souness said when looking forward to Monday. "But it wasn't to be. I would like to think he will want to go back there and show them what they are missing."
Owen, indeed, is an honest man. The sincerity of his love for Liverpool shines through the pages of his 2004 autobiography Off The Record - penned before he departed Anfield. One day he will be able to tell the true story of the events of that and this summer.
Hence St Stephen's Day has extra dimensions. It will, of course, be nostalgic. Yet even that will have a curiosity value because normally the return of the native is a late-in-the-career moment. Ray Clemence recalled this week how he went back so memorably in May 1982 with Tottenham after 14 years at Liverpool to produce one of the unforgettable Kop images.
"It will stay with me forever," Clemence said. "Of all the things I managed to do at Liverpool, all the trophies, medals, that is still special. The thing is, I wasn't sure how it would be. But as soon as I got off the bus the reception was good. I walked down the tunnel that leads to the dressingroom and for the first time I turned left instead of right. That was strange.
"The first half I was at the Anfield Road End so it was after half-time that I ran towards the Kop and there were those pictures shown on Match of the Day. I'm sure it will be similar for Michael, maybe even more so because he's a local lad who went right through the system at the club. I'm sure he'll find it strange being there and not wearing a red shirt."
But Clemence was approaching 34 at the time. Owen turned 26 only 10 days ago and the 2001 European Footballer of the Year is entitled to think the next four years should be his prime.
The question posed by Benitez yesterday, and overriding Monday, is: can he afford to spend those years at Newcastle United? Newcastle will take that as a slur. It is, rather, a realistic appraisal of the England centre-forward's priorities. But Newcastle have turned his head once before and have the next four months to showcase what they can offer Owen when he returns from the World Cup.
Two consecutive Premiership wins have taken Newcastle to 10th in the table and they are just six points off Liverpool in third. But Liverpool have two games in hand and any Champions League ambitions Newcastle possess lack the credibility of Liverpool's.
Monday is also a return date for Souness, who is enduring a stand-off with a local paper on Tyneside, one that has Shepherd's ear.
Although there is no sign saying "This is St James' Park", fans, and Souness, can read. Owen probably thinks such matters do not affect him. But they can, and directly.
Owen surely knows now that in football strange things happen.
Guardian Service
