Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen has hit back at fans unhappy with his ambassador's role.
Owen scored 158 goals in 297 appearances for the Reds, helping them to two League Cups, the FA Cup and UEFA Cup in the process across his eight-year career in the first team at Anfield. But his time with Manchester United has long disappointed fans.
In his new book, 'Michael Owen: Reboot My Life, My Time', he writes: "Yes, a football club was once my place of work. But when I left, that contact was broken. I can't then become a fan a hanger-on, standing around to remind anyone who might be looking that I once played there. I'm secure enough with my legacy and contributions that I don't need to.
"Unless I'm contracted to perform some kind of ambassadorial duty that requires me to be at a club, I'd be mortified to be seen there. I don't know why this is, but I'm actually proud to feel this way. The same applies to asking favours from former clubs. As much as I played for Manchester United and Real Madrid, I wouldn't dream of phoning them up to look for a couple of match tickets.
"Liverpool is a slightly different situation in that, along with a number of other ex-players, I have an ambassadorial role there. I'm not in there all the time far from it. But I do my bit.
"Not surprisingly, I get a huge amount of abuse from what I suspect is a minority of Liverpool fans who think that, because I played for a rival club, I shouldn't even be a Liverpool ambassador in the first place!
"That, I'm afraid, is fan-centric nonsense. Not just that, when I trawl through my memory banks, recounting all the great moments I enjoyed with the fans and my fellow players, these opinions sting. My record at Liverpool is a good one. I won trophies there, scored goals, won two Golden Boots there and lifted the Ballon d'Or. I played for the club on two hundred and ninety seven occasions. I went in where it hurts for the club on countless more instances."
