Michael Owen lives his life as a man who simply wants to be liked, but seems destined to be disappointed in even so humble and degrading an ambition.
Any Internet user will realise that little Michael has utterly failed in this regard, and the BT Sport commentator attracts more scorn and cynicism than any other TV analyst, despite the fact that Robbie Savage is also employed in such a role. Why? A couple of months ago, we argued the starting point of all hatred to Owen began with his video Michael Owen's Soccer Skills, in which he was admonished by Neville Southall for consistently scoring past a young child in goals. This video is typical Owen: bewildered as to why nobody likes him as he simply goes about doing his job.
Owen is a fine example of a man who makes his own history, but not as he pleases: a man who has lived his life under circumstances created by others. What fault is it of his that he has continually been thrust public roles that do not suit him?
Owen was originally mocked by Liverpool fans for joining Real Madrid to win the Champions League the year before Liverpool won the Champions League and later viscerally booed at Anfield for having the temerity for winning the Premier League with Manchester United rather than join Stoke after his spell with Newcastle went awry. Owen is a man who has made the best life he can for himself by capitalising on the multitudinous opportunities others have afforded for him, and looks continually bemused when he is mocked for doing so.
Today, Owen fills a niche in the online sports world, as his name can be frequently used to fill headlines with the words 'twitter' 'trolls' 'mercilessly' and 'mock', owing to a number of gaffes committed on commentary for BT. Owen's voice is not ideally suited to co-commentary, and in the beginning, he admittedly make a number of toe-curling gaffes, as he paid little heed to the words that fell out of his mouth to occupy the void of silence BT had handsomely renumerated him to fill:
Blackburn have two strikers and they're both playing up front.
The 'Michael Owen Gaffe' post online has since got incredibly tiresome, and as Owen has improved, he hit back at the Daily Star as the paper made up quotes to fill the niche:
Good old Daily Star. Probably sell around 33 copies a day compared to my 3.3m followers. #Desperate pic.twitter.com/yxRctuj5PN
— Michael Owen (@themichaelowen) February 7, 2016
In this day and age it's amazing how people can print such 'quotes' and get away with it. No wonder nobody buys such drivel nowadays.
— Michael Owen (@themichaelowen) February 7, 2016
Owen's commentary has undoubtedly improved, and while he would probably still be better suited to a role as an analyst over commentator, he has taken voice lessons to improve his performance and his insight has become more interesting. Owen is particularly good on strikers, and his analysis of Christian Benteke's miserable performance against Exeter was genuinely informed and informative.
His voice still occasionally grates, but if one of the main duties of a co-commentator is to add to the atmosphere for viewers at home, he did a fine job on Liverpool's late goal in the 4-3 Anfield win against Dortmund. Skip to 7.00 on the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmnFG7cD_AA
Owen was given a difficult task by BT for which he was not immediately suitable, yet he has improved quite a lot. In the latest in the litany of institutions offering Michael Owen a role for which he is not obviously a candidate, Liverpool have appointed him as the club's official ambassador:
Our first international ambassador. pic.twitter.com/LFYqCXniGJ
— Paul Senior🥤 (@PaulSenior1) April 21, 2016
Yet this is a presumably well-paid role that involves the opportunity to do a lot of travel, so why would Owen not accept it? Owen should not be mocked any longer for merely grabbing the opportunities doled out to him by others. Give him a break.
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