MICHAEL Owen will be made welcome at Chester FC next season – but won’t be asked to pull on his boots for the Blues.
The Stoke City striker announced on Tuesday that he will retire from professional football when the Premier League campaign finishes in May.
Chester-born Owen, 33, takes a keen interest in his hometown team and attended the recent Cheshire Senior Cup game against Tranmere Rovers with his dad Terry, who played for the Blues in the 1970s.
When news of his decision to retire broke, fans began to speculate whether Owen might be tempted to play for Chester next season or even invest in the club.
But manager Neil Young does not believe England’s fourth highest international goalscorer will want to step into the world of non-league football next season.
“I think horse racing and spending more time with his family might be higher on his agenda,” said the Chester boss.
However, Young hopes Owen, who sponsored the man of the match award for the Tranmere game through his Malpas-based horse racing stables, will pay plenty more visits to the Exacta Stadium next season.
“He’s only ever done good things for Chester FC,” said Young, a keen Liverpool supporter who used to ‘idolise’ Owen during his Anfield glory days. “We’re grateful for anything that anybody with the profile of Michael can give us.
“We wish him well for what he’s going to do with his family in the future. If it means we see him more down at the Exacta, the more the better.”
Owen, whose former clubs include Real Madrid, Manchester United and Newcastle United, lives at Lower Soughton Hall in Flintshire with his wife Louise and their four children.
