Michael Owen To Leave Newcastle Next Week

After a £16m transfer fee and £20m worth of wages over 4 years.
His comments.....

"It remains to be seen where I am going to go, there are plenty of clubs that would interest me, but we will see where that is, whether it is at home or abroad.
"There has been a lot of interest from abroad and quite a bit from home as well, but obviously the Premier League is where I feel I belong.
"I played a year out in Spain and enjoyed it at Real Madrid but that confirmed to me that I definitely prefer the Premier League, so if it was to be a good English club, that would be my preference, but I have had a lot of interest from abroad so I wouldn't rule that out.
"I am still contracted to Newcastle for a few weeks, so that is where I am at the minute. I don't think I am going to be re-signing at Newcastle, as one I don't think I am going to be offered a new contract and I want to play in the Premier League or a top division somewhere else.
"I haven't been made aware of that (interest from Hull City), it is a new one - but I have been linked with virtually every team in last few weeks.
"I will sit down but I don't think it is fair to Newcastle at the moment. I had four enjoyable years there, and I am very sorry to leave them when they are going to be in the Championship so I wouldn't like to talk about specific clubs who I am going to join.
"There is a lot said and written about me in last few weeks and not many nice things, but that is life!
"I have got skin thicker than 99.9 per cent of the population. I get used to it - people write you off but when I scored a goal in the World Cup at 18, people were writing me off six months later. Then I was scoring a hat-trick in Germany and winning trophies with Liverpool and then they write you off again.
"Somebody will always criticise you no matter what, so if you let that affect you, I wouldn't be where I am today.
"Yes I prefer people to say nice things about me as it is not as if I have murdered someone, but you get more criticism as a footballer and you have to be thick skinned."

Will leave the response to the excellent NUFC.com who posted the following...

Feel free to take your gissa job brochure, your helicopter, your equine fixation and your miserable face to anywhere daft enough to employ you. We're already looking forward to your duet on the KC Stadium pitch with Phil Brown...Don't think that this criticism has anything to do with your fading talents as a footballer though - no, our beef with you remains the four years-worth of utter contempt shown to the people who bought the shirts, seats and subscriptions that funded your lavish lifestyle.

At least people like Joey Barton go through the motions of badge-kissing and patronising the punters. You couldn't even be bothered to do that, spending your time on Tyneside with a face like a smacked arse, interspersed with brief interludes of sucking lemons.

Your skin may be thick but it'll never be as thick as your wallet. Don't feel bad about us though - we'd have only blown the tens of millions of pounds that went into your offshore accounts on other ungrateful pillocks.

No shame, no guts, no soul, but a bulging portfolio. Role model? my arse. You put the con in Icon