Owen Hargreaves was released by Manchester United after failing to overcome a series of injuries. Despite claiming he was prepared to play for United for free to pay back the years of wages he had been paid whilst not playing any football, he then signed for rivals City.
United were convinced he was never going to make a full recovery but Hargreaves thought otherwise and managed to convince City of the same.
“I’m going to blow people away,” Hargreaves said days before a medical with the blues. “I’m coming back believing I can return to the level I was at before. My body feels great and my knees are perfect. I’ve just got this huge chip on my shoulder because I’ve been out for three years and people think I’m dead and buried. I can understand why. I can see why people would be sceptical. But, right now, I’d like to think I can play 40 games this season and with the right care I believe I can train every day. I hope to be back in the England side for the European Championship next summer.”
Hargreaves has fallen a little short of 40 games, playing 13 minutes of Premier League football for City this season, making a total of 4 appearances in all competitions, or 157 minutes. It’s pretty safe to say he won’t be in the England side this summer either.
“We took a gamble on Owen because he was such a fantastic player,” Mancini said in February. “We thought we could try to get him fit in two or three months and then he would be able to play. But it hasn’t worked out quite like that. When you have a player who hasn’t played for two years and he starts to train every day there are small problems all the time. Problems in the knees or the hamstrings. So Owen hasn’t been able to play when we have needed him.”
It has been confirmed that Hargreaves won’t be offered a new contract and will be released in the summer. Whilst of course it would be nice to feel sympathy for a former player, who was so important during our Double success in 2008, it is hard to feel anything but smug after he joined our hated rivals after all our patience and then slag off our medical team.
“I’ve had to be a guinea pig for a lot of these treatments,” Hargreaves said a month in to this City career. “But when you’re left to try to make something of a difficult situation, it’s not really an option to say: ‘Let’s sit it out and rest for six months.’ With hindsight it’s a lot easier. And, yes, the injections I had I probably should not have had.”
The following day, the club released a statement: “Manchester United is disappointed with Owen’s remarks. The club gave him the best possible care for three years and is as disappointed as anyone he was not able to play a part in the team’s success at that time. It has shared all the medical records with Manchester City and is comfortable with the actions taken by its medical staff at each step of his many attempts at rehabilitation. United does not acknowledge any validity in the comments Owen is alleged to have made.”
Unless City have also treated Hargreaves like a guinea pig, it appears as though the only problem is the player, and his dodgy knees, which he had when he joined United for £18m but didn’t reveal to our medical staff.
Maybe I’m heartless but I’m glad he flopped so massively at City, particularly seeing as though he was clearly signed in attempt to get under our skin. Maybe now he can be a guinea pig in League 1 and blow them away next season instead.
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Expired
Too harsh mate
And any day now Hargreaves the video,title lets hook another sucker.
A bit harsh, but I can understand where StR is coming from.
I can totally empathize with Hargreaves’s desperation (now where have I heard that word before?) to play for ANY club, so no ill will towards him for joining shitty.
However, shitty clearly roped in him only with a view to wind us up.
Last, his comments since made him look like a bit of an ungrateful twat, TBH. Despite all that we rave and rant against our medical team, I do not believe for a moment that a club of United’s stature would make him a subject of unproven, experimental, and potentially harmful treatment. As every player is an asset for the club, that’s just stupid. Not to mention that the club supported him for three years in pretty much every way. So, no, he burnt his bridges not the day he joined shitty, but the day he made those comments.
He has Munchausen Syndrome.
Will still remember that freekick, though
Not harsh at all in my opinion………. I was one of the few along with Costas who supported his move as a chance to rebuild his career……..He later made a right fool of himself by blaming the medical staff at United for his set backs. Who will he blame now?
No sympathy from me whatsoever
Jeet
I was at OT mate when he scored ‘that’ free kick!! Albeit, I was sat at the K stand, sigh
He was fit for 1 season, and was great in it. Nobody blamed him for joining City, it was his comments that turned us against him. Will thank him, but wont remember him
How we need a Hargreaves type of player right now.
I wouldn’t let him shag my wife anymore!
And I am the one who is still bleeding from the kicking I got on here for saying he is a cripple that is taking advantage of United,and that was a dear free kick.
We’ve got one he’s called Anderson.
The wonders of online marketing….
StR does a post on Hargo, and an add for New Zealand green lipped mussel comes up on the right hand side panel, asking me “Are you suffering from pain?” complete with a picture of an inflamed kneejoint
@parry: Not sure if he was consciously leeching United at that time mate. Thing is, I wouldn’t normally call an amputee a “cripple”, just as I wouldnt call a visually impaired person “blind” to his face.
Lucky bastard, cedars!
Nope, not harsh..
This very player had pointed fingers at us and then did the unthinkable of joining cross town rivals..
I would have respected him if he had stayed lip locked, even if he joined City..
I dont see how an ambition player gets the bad deal by fans but at the same time other player says we treated him like whatever he thought..
Wish you luck for your personal life, now dont fucking make comments on united, bad comments..
####
Cedars,
eternity indeed my friend..
Jeet
mate i see that you were on roll for some great lyrics in the other thread on this fake user
easy there..
and i would rate his Moscow penalty as one of the best by United player in the recent history..
how and when did it go in?
I loved Hargreaves when he was a MUFC player but when he went to City I lost all respect for the man, and he had the audacity to have a go at United’s medical staff. What a joke! NO sympathy from me whatsoever.
Speaking about City/ United players. Sir should worry for Hazard.
http://www.footballcracy.com/transfers-2/city-out-to-take-hazard-from-under-uniteds-nose/
fuck the pot noodle headed prick the second he dissed united after he pissed off to shitty was the end for me fucking bottle knees basterd!
west brom and newcastle were interested in him and he opted to go to city . . see , he had a choice and then we never complained . . what does he do ? he pointed his brittle fingers at the medical staff that repaired him , kept him walking , and got him to point where he could run with his legs with fucked up knees . .
hargreaves , you disgraceful , back-stabbing miserable ungraceful cunt . .
u deserve the miserable fate , you PUBIC HAIRED TWAT !!
Whores may grieve for Hargreaves, but not me.
We paid him to fuck us, no loss or love lost there.
His limp excuses and feeble kicks out at United prove that his time as a Red was invalid.
He’s had his 13 minutes, I’d be happy never to hear from him again.
Gaz – Lad was frustrated and I guess lashed out where it was uncalled for. He probably feels really foolish now . Probably used as a publicity pawn by city and no. Doubt gleamed him of as much inside information as possible . Not unlike employing uncle Tom viera torrid the arsenal squad. Wish the lad well but on his comments re united , he was a cunt.
@Redbilly
Well mate a public apology admitting he was wrong wouldnt go a miss, i can bet those medical staff bent over backwards time and again for this ungrateful prick and this is how he thanks them! disgusting behaviour! i can clearly remembering the boss publicly backing him time and again, lost all my respect so he did!
Bit of a sad story all round. I think as others have said he was being groomed to do the job on us that Viera does on Arsenal, one season on the field, then he gets to tap up the rival squad from a position of trust. We can slate him, but it’s a stone cold certainty that to do that job for City he would have been paid an absolute fortune.
We will never know what offers were made to him, how much he betrayed us or how little. As it is I’m happy for him to have played the long con on City, probably netted himself a lot of money (and let’s face it, you’re a long time retired in this game).
People should never forget though that, for as long as he physically could, and it’s not like he chose for his knees to go, he did right by us on the pitch. He wore Red proudly and he won us stuff. It’s unseemly to be ungrateful towards players that have brought us glory.
At the time of Owen’s statement i goggled the treatments given and the reports i read from other doctors Utd medical staff did nothing wrong.Owen must have agreed, hard to see him being strapped down Clockwork Orange style,so i lost respect for him after saying that but as fans we really don’t know the full truth
Do i find any joy in the fact he won’t be able to play football again and will be a partial cripple all his life no.Hard to see him conning Utd’s medical staff, he did play in pain and sacrificed himself,played a key role in 2008
It turned out to be a sad situation and a ruined career,i have no bitterness towards him,no injuries would have been a great fucking player for us
He was deluded if he thought his fitness issues would go away at City. Or that he would play 40 games.
Other than that, don’t have a problem with him. Cheers for the goal against Arsenal and the crucial 4th penalty in Moscow. Wouldn’t hurt the club or the manager to look into our medical team’s practices. Hargreaves; words did come back to haunt him to a degree, but lets not lose sight of the fact that we just endured our worst season ever in terms of injuries..
Fuck off Mancini. You got him because you thought it would piss us Reds off. Backfired you suave cunt,
Harsh article my arse, Loved Hargreaves but what a turncoat he turned out to be.
“pot noodle headed prick” Ha. quality as usual gaz.
King Eric
Tou (fucking) che mate
You are not heartless Scott. I feel the same. I am happy he was a big flop for City
To be honest,I miss hargo and tevez so much,sorry don’t blame me for this.
I love the hargo image, priceless.
Fax- fair point re medical staff. Make the claims but where is the evidence. He was probably desperate and angry. Evidently his desire to play exceeded reality. Think he’s a cunt for lashing out like he did, otherwise I would be happy for him in his situation to gleam the project of mega bucks. That’s all city have to money and lots of it . Actually not city the owners. Without them city would be worthless, like it’s plastic fans.
Typo – meant gaz not fax. Fucking I phone
You reap what you sow !
I feel the article is a bit harsh but then again, what do you expect when he openly criticized UTD’s medical staff after all that they did for him even though it didn’t work out. I am sorry but he deserves a bit of stick from the UTD fans for his actions.
I gotta say – I used to be a Massive Hargreaves fan – but lost respect and was very disappointed after his comments against the club..
I completely agree. It’s not us being heartless.
He shouldn’t of betrayed us the way he did. I didn’t expect him to be a turncoat but he was.
Prick.
fuck him with a big stick…cunt tried it on and failed ….turned into a right wanker…..
TOTAL FUCK PIG
It is possible he really did believe that his knee problems were perhaps exacerbated by the United medical staff and so he figured he’d get “better” treatment at City where they have money to burn. This, of course, is based on the assumption that Hargreaves isn’t a vindictive prick who went to City to hurt the team that lined his pockets for three years and helped him to become English and European Champions.
Now that he’s discovered that it’s not the United medical staff that botched his knees, perhaps one day he’ll apologize for his comments against United. After all, ungratefulness is without a doubt one of the worst character attributes. Who wants to be known as a royal dick amongst 350 million people???
Nothing else to say but HA HA HA HA.
Seems harsh but the cunt was talking shit when he left, and he didnt know he’d be injured for his stay with city, so just because he hasnt done anything for them he was still willing to try and help them win the title.
He’s a crock and he couldnt accept it which turned him bitter.
He could of gone almost anywhere else.
There were rumours of him going to Bolton, his fathers boyhood club. But he chose the unthinkable.
Fuck Hargreaves. He’s dead to me now.
Oh Owen Hargreaves.
I’ll fucking kill you if you go anywhere near my wife and Im glad my curly hair is long gone
I used to have an Owen Hargreaves hairstyle.
In 1983
Well, Parryheid, he had Bayern Munchhausen Syndrome when he came to United. By the time he’d gone to City it was Bayern Munchausen By Poxy…
mancdub
I started balding in 83 mate!! ha ha
He totally showed his lack of class and common sense when he talked smack about the medical staff. He Kneeded to shut up and leave gracefully.
If he ‘Just wanted to ‘play football’ why didnt he sign for Rochdale? Ah, oxymoron alert!
Giles Oakley.
Sharp.
YouTube beware knees is back
Fuck him.
Hope his knees explode in a hail of sprockets
Personally I thought that Hargreaves critcisms of United’s medical staff were very unfair at the time and I still do. Michael Owen has been very glowing in his praise for the medical team here at United and I can’t see them giving him better treatment than Hargreaves can you? I think the real truth is Hargreaves is no better fitness wise than he was when he were here. Mind you I was never very fond of Hargreaves when he was at Bayern Munich. Of course there was the famous occasion he got injured playing for England and blamed Michael Owen for it all. Get the picture everyone it is always someone elses fault. Perhaps he should have joined Liverpool they have exactly the same mindset!!!
A bit cold Scott-yes,He showed a lack of class by going to City and all the respect I had for him where vaporized by his comments but let time be the judge.
From his interviews,He sounded like a man out to prove people wrong;that can cloud one’s judgement,I’m not say that is the reason but I giving him the benefit of the doubt,let his service @ OT be my excuse.
Shame it didn’t work out.
hargreaves curlyhair where are u mate
The way he commented on United’s medical staff was, let’s say, not very gentle, but if you think about it for a while, there might be something in it. Show me another top European club who had to deal with most of the top players’ injuries in October already – and in United it happened for second season in a row.
Hargreaves is like a heart driven hockey player – gets knocked down but returns to action . Too bad about his knees , he’d still be in England and Man U starting eleven .
Owens Hat Trick 1.Apologizes to Man U
2.Gets back up and rewards his next team
3.plays with heart and dictates his time when to leave