When you become a club's record signing and are unveiled in front of 20,000 fans screaming your name, it can be forgiven that big things are expected. The pacy forward was a real coup for Freddy Shepherd and Newcastle United and it was seen as a fantastic bit of business for the club to pry the England star away from the bright lights of Madrid to start a new chapter on Tyneside. After an amazing career at Liverpool where he averaged over a goal every other game in his eight years at the club - he scored 14 goals in 11 games against Newcastle - the striker wanted a new challenge and headed to the Spanish giants. Despite never cementing a starting position, the striker still kept up his impressive goal-to-game ratio before deciding to return to England in a bid to keep his place in the national side for the 2006 World Cup. Little did he know that that decision would ruin not only his reputation, but possibly his career. Owen was unfortunate to suffer two serious injuries. However, after breaking his metatarsal and missing a large portion of his first campaign at St James', he recovered just in time for the World Cup finals - where he suffered a serious knee injury which would see him out of action for nearly a year. This caused friction with the Toon Army faithful who felt betrayed that he had put country before club and this caused an irreversible rift. His spell at the club continued to sour and Owen was labelled as a mercenary by fans before he ran down his contract in the relegation season of 2008/09. A match which looked like such a good fit turned out to be a nightmare for both parties and Owen's career never picked back up. Moves to Manchester United and Stoke City followed, but the frontman's playing time was severely limited before his eventual retirement.
