Michael Owen has been a bit of fresh air where footballers on Twitter are concerned. He can spell, his use of grammar is good and amazingly, he isn’t totally boring. He has come across as nice enough bloke and interacts with the fans well.

Last night he got a lot of stick from fans of several different clubs, after mentioning being booed at Sports Direct @ St James Park when he came off the bench.

United fans wanted to know why he cared less about being booed by Newcastle/Liverpool fans, whilst, presumably, Newcastle fans were giving him a lot of hassle and explaining exactly why he got booed.

Amidst all of this came a fairly interesting conversation between Owen and journalist Oliver Holt.

themichaelowen: Knew I would get booed as that’s what a lot of fans do but if they knew the facts then they may have a different opinion.

OllieHoltMirror: Honest question then Michael: why don’t you tell them the facts?

themichaelowen: From what most of you Newcastle fans are saying you should be pleased I left the club! If i had known that earlier I could have left sooner!

themichaelowen: From what most of you Newcastle fans are saying you should be pleased I left the club! If i had known that earlier I could have left sooner!

themichaelowen: For the record, I tried my best in every game for Newcastle. Under KK I played well and i’ll never forget the 2 I scored against Sunderland.

themichaelowen: When I meet Newcastle or Liverpool fans they all respect what I’ve done for their clubs. In stadiums it changes, 1 boo and the rest follow.

themichaelowen: By the way, im not looking for sympathy. As long as my family don’t boo me when I walk through the door I couldn’t care less!!!

OllieHoltMirror: Something tells me @themichaelowen has entered a world of pain on Twitter tonight. Reminds me of my Nani days.

OllieHoltMirror: At least @themichaelowen is answering some questions. Giving better insight than a lot of players do on here

themichaelowen: I try to answer most questions Ollie but can’t be arsed being a back page story so some things don’t need to be said!

OllieHoltMirror: Fair enough, Michael. But I think sometimes if fans and journalists knew facts, there would be more sympathy with players.

themichaelowen: Fair point. The relationship between players and media is poor and needs improving as the people who suffer are fans.

OllieHoltMirror: Probably worse now between media and players than back in 97-98 when you burst on to scene. More contact then, I think.

themichaelowen: If papers printed what is actually said then i think players would talk to you more openly. I know I would.

themichaelowen: it’s the sensationalising of headlines that annoys most players. It makes us look like clowns when most lads are normal.

OllieHoltMirror: You have spent a lot of your career writing for our newspapers, though Michael, both tabloids and broadsheets.

themichaelowen: but I made sure I had headline approval! My point is, the articles are fine, it’s the headlines that make us look stupid.

OllieHoltMirror: Headlines are a problem for a lot of writers, too. Comes down to trusting a journalist to look after you, I suppose

themichaelowen: and there is my point. The trust just isn’t there hence the relationship between players and journalists is non existent.

OllieHoltMirror: Agreed. Think we are at a point where writers need to fight for right headline to ensure bit of trust with player spoken to

OllieHoltMirror: players and media stuck in bad cycle now. Understand why trust has broken down but less contact is making things worse

OllieHoltMirror: Part of problem is no contact. GNev said journos should stay in England hotel so we’d have to face you after bad piece