Latest news with #BritanniaStadium
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Michael Owen breaks silence on notorious ‘well done he's 13' video decades after former England and Liverpool star embarrassed child leaving goalkeeping legend furious
Michael Owen has broken his silence on the notorious 'well done, he's 13' video which saw him panned for embarrassing a teenager. The former England striker, 45, rifled multiple efforts past 13-year-old goalkeeper Jamie Hutchinson at an empty Britannia Stadium during his Michael Owen's Soccer Skills show in 1999. Owen, who scored 40 goals in 89 England appearances, chipped, rounded and slotted past the helpless kid, before enthusiastically celebrating. His antics led Neville Southall to make the witty 'he's 13' remark, to which the ex-Liverpool star ignored - simply replying 'game, set and match Owen'. And 26 years later the video is still frequently circulated on social media. But Owen has now hit back at critics, revealing he was in fact encouraged to overcelebrate. 'I was only a couple of years older than him myself! It's probably funny now,' he told talkSPORT. 'I got back from the World Cup in 98 and there were loads of commercial opportunities, things like that. 'I was asked to do a soccer skills video on a soccer skills book. So I had to explain, talk through, finishing, volleying, heading, whatever the skill was. Inevitably need a goalkeeper there. 'I never picked them and so I turned up to do the show and to talk through how I see scoring a goal and what I think in certain scenarios and whatever. 'There was a kid in goal that I had to score past and when I scored they're like, come on, no, you need to show a bit more animation. 'Like celebrate when you score, this is going on a video. So people don't know this, right? 'But people just laugh at you no matter what. Then they take a little extract of anything. 'There's loads of things like that on the internet on me.' The young goalkeeper also later revealed that his appearance 'wasn't exactly ideal'. 'It was made clear that it wouldn't make good filming if the goalkeeper was saving all the shots taken by the other kids after they had been coached by Michael,' he said. Southall himself defended Owen when asked about the incident on a podcast earlier this year. The former Wales goalkeeper said: 'I think he was being ironic to be fair, but I think he was enjoying himself and being ironic. 'But the poor kid, he scored a squillion goals past him and I was thinking "give him a break". 'On the day, Michael was okay and he's always okay. 'People judge him on that and that's not him.' Meanwhile, Southall and the young goalkeeper reunited in 2022, with the duo posing for a photo with Hutchinson wearing what appeared to be an orange and black goalkeeper kit - similar to what he wore back in 1999.
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Tributes paid to ex-Shrews and Stoke manager Bates
Shrewsbury Town and Stoke City have paid tribute to their former manager Phil 'Chic' Bates after his death at the age of enjoyed a long association with Salop, having joined the club as a player from Stourbridge in 1974. He made almost 300 appearances across two spells with the club and was named manager in 1984 when Graham Turner left for guided Shrewsbury to their highest-ever English Football League (EFL) finish - eighth in the Second Division - in the 1984-85 season. He managed the side until 1987 and had further spells as caretaker boss before retiring from football in also worked as Lou Macari's assistant at Stoke during the early 1990s and succeeded him as manager in 1997 when the club moved to Britannia Stadium. 'A real gentleman' Bates' arrival from non-league Stourbridge was the beginning of a 50-year bond with Shrewsbury as a player, coach, manager and scored 17 goals in his debut season, helping his side to promotion to Division Three, and his goalscoring exploits led to him being signed by Swindon Town for £30,000 in returned to Shrewsbury two years later and made a further 160 appearances in his second spell before joining the club's was inducted into Salop's hall of fame in 2013 and was often seen at the Croud Meadow watching his team club said its thoughts were with Bates' "family, friends and loved ones during this difficult time".Former Shrewsbury defender Darren Moss called Bates an "absolute legend of the football club".He added: "[He was] A real gentleman and brilliant guy to be around. I was proud to be in his company and [he] will be sadly missed. RIP Chic, will never be forgotten." Trophy success Stoke City also sent their condolences to Bates' loved ones, adding that he had been diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's in 75-year-old had been assistant manager to Macari in the 1990s when the Potters lifted the English Football League Trophy and won the Division Two also worked with Macari at Celtic for a short spell before they returned to Stoke to lead the club to the Division One play-offs in then took over as manager for a few months before he worked as an assistant under Chris Kamara and Alan Durban.
