Hargreaves & Alex McKechnie

[JAGS]

Owen Hargreaves close to remarkable return for Manchester United thanks to Alex McKechnie - Telegraph

Interesting read on Alex's rehab of Owen Hargreaves. Will be interesting to see how Hargreaves progress goes on getting back into 1st Team football. That is if he can even play regularly at all. 2 years out of football for anybody is tough, but at this level it will be an extremely tough battle.

 

[machel]

Way to go Hargreaves! Nice strike!

Hargreaves 1st ManCity Goal

 

[Jigsaw]

Well done Owen.
With your attitude and desire to play again, I am not surprised by this.
What a "class act".
All the best.

 

[johnnybluenose]

I heard it was more than just a nice goal, he apparently had an excellent overall game.

well done to him.

 

[Mr. Rempa]

I was fortunate to be at the same place, while in rehab (with Nico Berg), and talked with Alex who introduced to me Owen, we talk for a bit and saw him working his butt off. At the time he was not sure where he was going to end up...but there were offer from Leicester, another Premier team and of course the Whitecaps, he was though very confident and wanted to be in a high level team in England. When I saw the news of him signing with City I was pleased to see that as I like that team...today with you guys reporting that he score a goal on his debut, I was happy for him, as Jigsaw said he is a class act. Good luck to Owen and once again Alex had done his magic.

My two cents,

 

[Tuna]

Barry is simply a cart horse whilst owen adds some value. Kudos to him on his rehab. Very inspirational.

 

[lean]

Maybe it is just me, but I could give two F's about Owen and where he plays. He decided to turn his back on the country where he was born and raised.

Personal information
Full name Owen Lee Hargreaves
Date of birth 20 January 1981 (1981-01-20) (age 30)
Place of birth Calgary, Alberta, Canada

 

[urnotatwembley]

Lean - do some research pulease, the MNT program forced him to leave our fine football nation in many ways, someone please
post a link or research his decision, it was the correct one. I heard they treated him like shat at the U-17 level......................

Also - U-17 womens program 4 times in the last 2 years has left U-17 girls at the Toronto airport during snow storms, with all flights cancelled, drop them at departures curb and drive away...................Fact, it was my kid twice.

Canada National program SUCKS, we all know it, don't be angry with Owens or any-ones decision to play at the highest level

 

[Conductor]

Also - U-17 womens program 4 times in the last 2 years has left U-17 girls at the Toronto airport during snow storms, with all flights cancelled, drop them at departures curb and drive away...................Fact, it was my kid twice.

That is utterly disgusting and if this is the case I'm surprised it didn't make headlines asides from this forum. Could you imagine a high school field trip and the teachers doing that, that would make the news!

 

[bergamascho]

Seriously? We are having this discussion about Owen playing for England instead? Are you fcuking mental Lean??? Let's say you are born and raised in England, are an excellent hockey player and oh, your parents have Canadian citizenship...Should he play for the English national hockey team if he has an offer from Canada!?

Give your head a shake man, there is no way in hell I would choose Canada over a European country, nevermind England, given the choice.

Kudos to Owen, may he re-ascend to the heights he once enjoyed.

 

[robj]

Maybe it is just me, but I could give two F's about Owen and where he plays. He decided to turn his back on the country where he was born and raised.

Personal information
Full name Owen Lee Hargreaves
Date of birth 20 January 1981 (1981-01-20) (age 30)
Place of birth Calgary, Alberta, Canada

lean you forgot about the part when he was cut from the National Program and was told you'll never make it kid! Would you play for your country after those demoralizing words.

 

[4thplacetrophy]

lean you forgot about the part when he was cut from the National Program and was told you'll never make it kid! Would you play for your country after those demoralizing words.

Honestly there have been many professional footballs told the same, beckham for instance was released by spurs and is he saying he would never play for them? No because being released from a club doesn't mean you should hold resentment from it, afterall it probably pushed you to try harder. And also not every kid choses to represent other countries. For example Bale could play for England choses Wales instead, Frimpong won't play for england's u21 team because he was born in Ghana, Kevin prince boateng chose Ghana over Germany. You should have to play for the country you was born in not where your parents moved from or where you've lived long enough to be eligable. Would Messi still be considered a god in Argentina had he decided to play for Spain or Italy instead?

 

[4thplacetrophy]

What i was trying to get at with that post Robj is that it's just an excuse, him and Hoilett both use the same excuse when really at the end of they day they never had any thought over where'd they play.

 

[cascadesoccer]

Honestly there have been many professional footballs told the same, beckham for instance was released by spurs and is he saying he would never play for them? No because being released from a club doesn't mean you should hold resentment from it, afterall it probably pushed you to try harder. And also not every kid choses to represent other countries. For example Bale could play for England choses Wales instead, Frimpong won't play for england's u21 team because he was born in Ghana, Kevin prince boateng chose Ghana over Germany. You should have to play for the country you was born in not where your parents moved from or where you've lived long enough to be eligable. Would Messi still be considered a god in Argentina had he decided to play for Spain or Italy instead?

Boatengs brother plays for Germany tho, two brothers, two different teams, are either wrong? IMO I would play where I had the best chance of winning and where I had the best chance of bettering myself and my career.

 

[Rangerforever]

Three cheers for Garreth Barry and Ryan Giggs I say.
Sometimes in life you should 'do the right thing' and put your personal interests aside.

That said, a friend of mine is good friends with Alex and plays golf with him and Owen when he's in town.
He's apparently a prince of a man.

Good for him and his comeback.

 

[Ballbaby]

I'm sorry, those who criticize Hargreaves for the choices he has made to put him in the position he is in today, puzzle the crap out of me. If there ever was a no-brainer decision to be made, the one Hargreaves made, is it!! To even discuss the details around it is a complete waste of time.

Also, it doesn't matter what the Canadian staff coaches told him. The man believes in himself and that is why he is so successful and making his come-back. And when Alex McKechnie says you are good to go, you are good to go!

 

[Rangerforever]

Whoops! I meant Gareth Bale not Barry...

 

[robj]

What i was trying to get at with that post Robj is that it's just an excuse, him and Hoilett both use the same excuse when really at the end of they day they never had any thought over where'd they play.

In the end it was up to him, he made his choice and I would never criticize him for that. It was probably a tough decision given Canada has never won a world cup and England won one by farce. !

 

[4thplacetrophy]

The real problem is that every Canadian seems to try say there either dutch, english, irish or w.e country. Most other countries in the world don't do that, ask an american were there from, ask an scot if he's english. See my point? This is the reason you guys will never have a succesful national team not that players get cut etc, that shite happens all the time. I'm sure at some point in his life even wayne rooney was told he won't make it. I know he isn't the only player to do it but end of the day the ruling is wrong, you should be forced to play for the country you was born in, that's what nationality you are not where your parents were born or where you've lived for 5 years. But i guess if you're happy that your best players always jump ship and no good players eligable for the Canadian team who were born outside of Canada don't come up here (donovan) then i guess go ahead and be happy.

 

[Dude]

Trying to stay out of this, but it's tough.

First, glad to see him doing well again in his career. Didn't think he'd pull it off...

But, I've always hated how many of us, especially in this game, are Canadian when it's convenient, then ______ (pick whatever herritage) when that is convenient. It's disrespectfull to Canada as a country...yeah, I'm probably a little too proud to be Canadian, but hey...

I didslike the fast and loose rules FIFA governs itslf with in allowing players to switch nationalities so easily. Do I blame OH? I used to hold a lot more resentment, and still do have some, but can I say I blame him knowing how poorly CSA runs it's shop? No, I can't- and I can't because the system made it easy for him to become a non-Canadian when it was convenient for him.

Don't hate the player, hate the game, I say.