Clinton Morrison admits he still cringes about the moment he got himself in Michael Owen’s bad books and unwittingly inspired Liverpool to a humiliating win over Crystal Palace in the League Cup.
The former striker was just 21-year-old when he famously incurred the wrath of Reds fans by joking about Owen’s poor form after he helped First Division Palace beat the Premiership giants 2-1 at Selhurst Park in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final in 2001.
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Scoring a goal against Liverpool in the League Cup semi-final went to a 21-year-old Clinton Morrison’s head
But it appears he did more than that, as Owen’s teammates were all fired up for the return leg at Anfield, and absolutely battered Morrison’s Eagles side 5-0.
Liverpool later went on to beat Birmingham in the final on penalties to win their first of three trophes that season, but their defeat in London was seen as a major embarrassment for Gerard Houllier’s men.
Liverpool had spent big on their forward line that year, but their finishing was described as ‘nothing short of comical’ as Emile Heskey and Owen missed a series of gilt-edged chances.
Morrison, meanwhile, scored the winner but then got himself into a bit of bother by getting a bit too big for his boots and daring to give Owen, who would go on to win the Ballon d’Or later that year, some advice on how to put the ball in the net.
Now, we all know how Owen would have taken that, and it would not have been well.
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Michael Owen was going through a bit of a rut at the time after back-to-back injuries, but soon recovered his form and was crowned the world’s best footballer with the Ballon d’Or that year. We wonder if Clinton’s advice helped…
As it happens, the England international was injured for the second leg, but it sounds like his teammates certainly had his back, from Clinton’s recollection.
Morrison was reminded of this whole debacle on talkSPORT on Wednesday, and here’s what he had to say: “I’ve never told anyone the full story, so here it goes…
“We’re playing the game and I’m in form, I’d just scored my 11th goal in 11 games and on my way home all the journalists came up to me, so I did an interview after the game.
“I learned from this massively now, but they asked me a question: ‘With the form you’re in at the moment, do you think you would have put away the chances Michael Owen had on the night?’
“And, the confident person I was, I said: ‘Yeah, most definitely, I would have put the chances away, easily!’
“But the story got so twisted in the press, that me – Clinton Morrison – was giving tips to Michael Owen, the great striker he was, on how to score goals – I don’t think so!
“I don’t think I would have ever said that, but obviously I’m kind of famous for having a dig at Michael Owen.
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Morrison didn’t make any friends in Liverpool with his comments about Owen’s missed chances
“I remember a few days later going into the training and the lads were saying to me: ‘You’ve got such a big mouth!’ I was like: ‘What do you mean? I’ve done nothing wrong! I just won us a game against Liverpool, you should be thanking me!’
“But they showed me the paper and the headline was something like ‘Clinton gives Michael Owen advice on how to score goals’.
“I had to laugh. I couldn’t believe what I’d done. It was ridiculous.
“To be fair when I was that age, I probably was saying stuff I shouldn’t have said, but what the hell was I doing trying to give Michael Owen goalscoring tips?”
Here’s what Morrison is quoted to have said at the time:
Clinton Morrison on Michael Owen in 2001:
“Playing against them [Liverpool] was a great feeling and to upstage them was even better.
“I think Liverpool deserved a goal because they made a lot of chances. Heskey missed a few and Owen missed a few. On a better day they would have put them away.
“But I was thinking, I wish I had some of the chances they had. I would have put at least two of them away.
“Owen has not been the same since his injury problems. I think he is just a bit low on confidence at the moment with the new signing coming in and he is worried about his place.
“He is slowly coming back and getting his pace and sharpness back but it will take time. He has got a lot of doubters but I had doubters at the start of the season, every striker does and all I can say to him is get your head down, hit the target and you will score goals eventually.
“Owen is a great striker, he has proved that in the Premiership and he will come back.”
“To be fair, that does sound like me,” Clinton added on talkSPORT. “So I can’t even deny it!
“The story gets better too, because we go to the second leg and Liverpool battered us. I knew straight away that I probably gave their team-talk by doing the interview, I remember Steven Gerrard giving me stick, which is fair enough.
“Liverpool fans were battering me, too, and I got a chance right in front of the Kop and I’m thinking: ‘Please Clinton, you’ve been getting it all night…’
“The ball has dropped six yards out and I’ve done a complete air-kick, I’ve totally missed the ball.
“And as I was walking back slowly, Gary McAllister taps me on the shoulder and says: ‘Don’t worry about it mate, Michael Owen would have scored that!’
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Clinton looks dejected after his Palace side were beaten 5-0 at Anfield, losing their League Cup semi-final 7-2 over two legs
“I just wanted the ground the swallow me up, I told the gaffer I wanted to come off!
“I did come out and apologise and I’ve seen Michael Owen many times on holidays in Portugal and I’ve always gone up to him and apologised to him face to face – that’s all I can do.
“At that time I thought I was invincible, but I was wrong.”
Well, talkSPORT host Natalie Sawyer found what Clinton said in his apology, and this is it…
“I want to apologise to Michael Owen and Liverpool, as I was misquoted.”
“But you weren’t misquoted were you Clinton,” Natalie pointed out. “That’s what you said!”
What a plonker!
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