Owen scarred by Keegan

Michael Owen has revealed that playing for England under his new Newcastle United boss Kevin Keegan had left him 'scarred'. Owen labelled playing under Keegan as 'a dark phase in his career'.

"A team meeting was called to discuss the Romanians and Keegan set off on a 20-minute lecture about me. 'Michael, if I was any other manager you would not be playing tomorrow. You've got to improve or we'll have to change'.

"I really started to resent him - not as a man but as a manager. With a quarter of an hour gone I thought, 'Sod him, I'm playing my own game. I know I'm good.' Then I scored and the relief was immense," Owen wrote.

"In training all week Keegan had kept me behind, playing balls into me and telling me what he wanted me to do," he complained. "I assume the manager had conveyed to his staff what he thought of me - and plainly it wasn't complimentary. If I did one tiny thing wrong there would be a rush of critical comment.

"I used to go into games believing that the opposition was scared of me and that nothing could get in my way. That feeling, that belief, evaporated at times when I played under Keegan. It was a dark phase in my career," he concluded.