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ROBBIE FOWLER wished his old Anfield team-mate well last night, but the Liverpool hero admitted he could never have made the same decision as Michael Owen.

Owen was unveiled as Old Trafford’s new number seven yesterday.

But, speaking from Australia, where he is hoping to make a long-awaited debut for Queensland Fury tomorrow, Fowler was asked if he could ever have joined Manchester United.

“No, I don’t think so,” he declared.

With both England and Australia in Ashes frenzy, it was only fitting that Fowler should try to straight-bat questions about his former Liverpool partner’s controversial decision.

But like far too many of England’s top order, his best efforts came up short.

Fowler joined Australian side North Queensland Fury in February and after three months battling hip and groin injuries, the one-time Kop idol will get his first run-out with the A-League side in Perth tomorrow against Premier League newcomers Wolves.

But while happy to wish Owen all the best on a personal level, the man they called ‘God’ was yesterday reluctant to extend the goodwill.

“Obviously I want Michael to do well but I don’t want Manchester United to do well,” said Fowler, who used to taunt United fans by signalling Liverpool’s superior European Cup tally to their bitter rivals whenever he scored against them.

“It’s a sticky situation and I don’t want to get drawn into things with Michael and Man United. Everyone knows I’m a Liverpool fan,” he added.

“But if Michael scores a lot of goals then I hope Fernando Torres scores a lot more.”

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was once a big admirer of Fowler’s predatory instincts which saw him score more than 200 Premier League goals. But asked if he could have made a similar move to Owen, the striker said: “No, I don’t think so.

“I don’t want to go down that route as I leave myself open to criticism but Michael has done what he’s done and it’s not for me to judge what he should do or shouldn’t do. He’s a big lad.

“His record over the years has been fantastic. Again, I hope he scores a few goals but I hope they concede more.”

Fowler has been linked with another of his former team-mates, new Tranmere boss John Barnes, but he again dismissed talk of a move back to Merseyside.

“If people want to write stories that’s nothing to do with me,” he said. “The good thing is I quashed it straight away so it showed what my intentions were. Hopefully I’ve put a lot of things to bed.”

Townsville-based Fury, managed by former Rangers great Ian Ferguson, signed Fowler as their marquee player and he is one of the biggest names to join the A-League, which begins its fifth season next month.

And Fowler says is keen to make his mark.

“The last few months have been horrible,” he said.

“In terms of kicking balls I’ve not been able to do that, so hopefully there is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel and I’ve got something to look forward to.”

Owen, meanwhile, insists he is hungry enough to be a success at Manchester United.

“The talk doesn’t hurt you when you believe in yourself,” he said.

“I know I am hungry to do well. If this challenge does not put a spring in your step and a smile on your face, nothing will. Having a manager like Sir Alex Ferguson and a club like this coming in for you says it all.

“I still believe I can do well in a top team like Manchester United.”

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Port Vale have confirmed they have made an approach to sign former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler.

The League One outfit have joined a host of clubs chasing Fowler, who has also played for Leeds United and Manchester City.

Leicester, Cardiff and Sydney FC are reportedly interested in Fowler, 32, who became a free agent at the end of last season after his contract with Liverpool expired.

However, Port Vale chairman Bill Bratt hopes the lure of regular first-team football could attract the former England forward.

"We've approached Robbie Fowler's agent to see whether he would be interested in playing for Port Vale," said Bratt.

"We can offer him regular football and at his age that may be what he is looking for.

"We obviously can't afford to pay him what other clubs can but he's a very wealthy man anyway and we hope he may want to play for the pleasure of it.

"You don't go from being a brilliant player to a bad player overnight and we think he would be a superb addition for us.

"It's a chance for us as far as I'm concerned. We've asked the question and if the answer's no, it's no."

Fowler's agent George Scott told the Sentinel: "I've had many a good night in Stoke-on-Trent, so you never know.

"Robbie is ruling nothing out, especially if it is an ambitious club and he can see himself going there and taking them up to a new level."

Fowler has scored 162 Premier League goals and has also netted seven international goals in 26 England appearances.

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Robbie Fowler wants prospective clubs to promise first-team football

Cardiff City are trying to persuade former England striker Robbie Fowler to join the Championship club.

Bluebirds chairman Peter Ridsdale had previously refused to confirm they had approached the 32-year-old, who was released by Liverpool this summer.

But Ridsdale told the Liverpool FC website: "We have offered an attractive package and are hopeful Robbie will decide to come to Cardiff City."

Cardiff face competition from other clubs, thought to include Rangers.

The Scottish Premier League giants, and their Glasgow rivals Celtic, are understood to have sounded out Fowler about a move north of the border.

But Fowler's adviser George Scott believes Scotland is an unlikely destination for Fowler.

We have got eight offers on the table and Robbie Fowler is considering the lot of them Robbie Fowler's adviser George Scott

"I can't see Rangers or Celtic being an option. They have each got too many strikers on their books and would need to offload a couple first," said Scott.

"The one thing Robbie knows he wants is regular first-team football.

"We have got eight offers on the table and Robbie is considering the lot of them.

"Could it be at Cardiff? Why not? I think Cardiff, if they have the ambition, is the sort of place Robbie would thrive at."

However, Scott says he has yet to receive a formal approach from Cardiff, who could struggle to afford Fowler unless there is much goodwill from the player.

The forward is financially secure, thanks to shrewd property investments, and it is possible he could take a drastic drop in wages from the £50,000 a week he was on at Anfield.

But failing that, Cardiff would either need to shatter their wage structure - which is unlikely given the financial constraints caused by building a new stadium at Leckwith - or put together a huge sponsorship package.

A more likely destination at the moment appears to be Australia, with Australian FourFourTwo reporting that Fowler is expected to travel Down Under next week for talks with Sydney FC club officials.

Major League Soccer side New England Revolution are also thought to be courting Fowler, who won 26 caps for England and scored seven goals.

One thing that may count in Cardiff's favour is that Fowler has a young family and may not want to drastically uproot them by moving abroad, far away from friends and family.

He made his Liverpool debut as an 18-year-old in 1993, scoring 171 goals in 330 games before joining Leeds for £11m in 2001 and then Manchester City for £6m in 2003.

Fowler returned for a second spell at Anfield in January 2006, although his starting appearances were limited.

Labels: KOP GOD, Robbie Fowler

Labels: Robbie Fowler

FOWLER WEEK: TONY BARRETT ON ROBBIE Tony Barrett 02 July 2007
	As Liverpool Football Club and Robbie Fowler officially part ways for the second time, liverpoolfc.tv pays tribute to a true Anfield legend with a week-long series of articles.
The first time I set eyes on Robbie Fowler he was just 11-years-old and his surname wasn't even Fowler. As a kid he was Robbie Ryder and everyone involved in kids football in Liverpool had heard of him. There was a huge buzz about him. He played for a team called Thorvald - a team which no other team in the city could live with - and Robbie was the star player. I have to admit though that the first time I saw 'God' I was a non-believer. I was watching a mate of mine playing an under-11s game on Botanic Park and Thorvald were playing on the next pitch. At half-time in the game I was watching, I walked over to have a look at Thorvald. Just to see for myself if this Robbie Ryder kid was as good as people were saying. As usual, Thorvald were administering a hiding to some poor team who simply couldn't get near them. But it was their right winger, a lad called Franny Tierney whom I'd played with in Liverpool schoolboy trials, who really caught my eye. Franny was electric - probably the most talented young footballer I've ever seen - and as was always the case, he was pulling the opposition leftback to bits. Ryder, by comparison, wasn't doing much. He just seemed to be loitering in and around the box, not getting too involved in the build up and, at times, he looked too small and weak to make a big impression. Thorvald ended up winning 4-0 and Ryder got two. Both were tap-ins from about a yard and I can remember saying to my mate that I didn't think he was anywhere near as good as people were making out. Thankfully, Liverpool had scouts who knew quite a bit more about what makes a top class centre forward than I did. A couple of Sundays later I was back at Botanic Park and my mate's team were playing Thorvald. It turned out to be a massacre as Thorvald won 26-0. And that's not a misprint; they really did score 26 goals without reply. Ryder got 16 of them and my mate blamed me. "Thought you said he was no good?" he shouted at me as he trudged off the pitch. "He's alright," I replied. "But he doesn't get to play against you every week, does he?'' I'm pretty sure Robbie was already training with Liverpool by this time and he was definitely a fixture in the Liverpool Schoolboys team. Clearly there were those who hadn't needed to see him score 16 in a single outing to realise what a class act he was. It would be another six years before I saw Ryder in action again and, by the time I did, he had become known as Robbie Fowler and he came with a very, very big reputation which had been forged with Liverpool schoolboys, England under-18s and Liverpool reserves. Graeme Souness picked Fowler for the Liverpool first team in a Coca Cola Cup tie at Fulham and those of us who made the trip to London on a cold night in autumn were given a taste of what was to come as the 18-year-old scored a typical poachers goal.~ It was his performance in the second-leg which made the rest of the country sit up and take notice though. Fowler struck five times to leave the Fulham defence looking like a kids' team's back four on Botanic Park.~ After that he was asked if he'd ever scored more than five and he said: "Yeah, I scored 16 once." The newspapers set out to find the team he'd scored 16 goals against and one of the Sundays ended up tracking down the lad who'd been in goal that fateful day. They got hold of him and took him down to Melwood to be reunited with Robbie. True to form, Fowler gave him a bit of stick when he got there, but he also gave him a load of training gear and made sure the newspaper looked after his 'victim' with a few bob for his troubles. It's impossible to overstate just how popular Fowler was with the Liverpool fans at this time. His love affair with the Kop was so intense that only the one with Kenny Dalglish stands comparison in the modern era. And it wasn't just down to his goals. There was a cheekiness about Fowler that most local fans could identify with and that endeared him to us even more. Even when he messed up, he did so for the right reasons. His infamous goal celebration against Everton may have been ill-advised but most Liverpool fans would love to do something similar given the opportunity. And his abuse of Graeme Le Saux may have been immature and out of order but at least he'd picked the right target to wind up. Then there was the time he scored against Brann Bergen in a Cup Winners Cup tie at Anfield and lifted his Liverpool shirt to show off a t-shirt displaying his solidarity with the sacked Liverpool dockworkers. True to form, he was fined by UEFA for his actions but it was a price well worth paying for Fowler as not only had he raised awareness of the disgraceful way 500 workers had been treated by their employers, it also inadvertently led to his status as a local folk hero being set in stone. It wasn't just about public displays either. Speak to dockers who manned the picket lines during their lengthy dispute and they will readily tell you about Fowler and his great mate Steve McManaman regularly helping them out with donations. Both Fowler and McManaman kept it quiet. They weren't doing it for publicity but Liverpool being the village that it is, word soon got out and they got the respect they so richly deserved for doing the right thing by their working class comrades and for not forgetting their roots. Another thing that endeared Fowler to Kopites was he was so hated by fans of our biggest rivals, largely because he had a knack of scoring against them and then celebrating in front of them. Even after he left Liverpool he was still doing it. Who can forget the five fingers he raised to Man United supporters in honour of Liverpool's quintet of European Cup wins when he scored for City in the Manchester derby? Or the head smacking celebration he did as he ran the length of the Bullens Road after scoring at Goodison? The more they hated Fowler, the more we loved him. Hero status can be too easily awarded in modern football but in Fowler's case he undoubtedly earned it - through his goals, his genius, his generosity and, not forgetting, his pranks. There are those who say Robbie Fowler is the greatest natural finisher they have ever seen and the highest tribute I can pay him is to say there is nothing to choose between him and Ian Rush. Had Fowler been lucky enough to play alongside Kenny Dalglish he would no doubt have added another 100 or more goals to his Liverpool total. He really was that good. In his prime, before injuries took their toll, he pretty much guaranteed goals. Right-foot strikes, left-foot shots, headers, volleys, scorchers from distance, tap-ins from a yard out and flukes off his backside - Fowler could do the lot. Not bad for a kid who started off on Botanic Park and didn't look that good!

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