🎤 Michael Owen Exclusive Interview

Michael Owen Interview March 2025

• Liverpool should sign Alexander Isak and Antoine Semenyo in the summer
• Alexander Isak is the best striker in the Premier League
• Rashford's doing much better at Aston Villa
• Every single player that leaves Man Utd does better elsewhere
• Amorim will be the manager to lead Man Utd through it all, 
• “Michael Owen in his worst years could be the best striker at Man Utd at the moment”
• Liverpool tipped to beat Everton 1-0; Arsenal and Real Madrid to draw 1-1 and Man Utd to beat Man City 2-1 in the upcoming Derby

Speaking exclusively to OLBG.com, Owen says Liverpool should sign Alexander Isak and Antoine Semenyo if Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez leave in the summer.

The former Newcastle United striker says, “I do think Alexander Isak is probably the best striker at the moment in the Premier League” but “he’s not even a fraction of the way” to being better than Alan Shearer.

He says, “Rashford's doing particularly well, or let's say much better than he was at Man Utd,” he goes on to say, “everyone leaves [Man Utd] and does well and everyone signs [to Man Utd] and does rubbish”.

The former Man Utd player says, “Michael Owen in his worst years could be the best striker at Man Utd at the moment”.

He’s also tipped Liverpool to beat Everton 1-0 (2nd April); Arsenal and Real Madrid to draw 1-1 in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals (8th April) and Man Utd to beat Man City 2-1 in the upcoming Derby (6th April).

Q: How do you think Liverpool will react as a team to getting knocked out of the Champions League and losing the Carabao Cup final in one week?

Not very well. I think Liverpool fans will be a little bit depressed this morning.

It's like a lot of things in life, if you go back to the start of the season and you say, ‘Liverpool fans, Liverpool players, you're going to win the Premier League and that's your lot’, everybody would have absolutely snapped your hand off, it would have been fantastic, a great season.

Winning the main trophy is what Liverpool would’ve aimed for at the start of the season and that would’ve been great, however, Liverpool have been in total control of the Premier League for some time, so it's almost like a given, most Liverpool fans have stuck that medal in their pocket already and then they were looking at FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Champions League.

Going out to Plymouth was a bit of blow in the FA Cup, but obviously the last two competitions they've been knocked out of have been particularly frustrating, especially as one of them was a final.

A little bit of disappointment, a little bit of depression, let's say this morning for Liverpool fans, but give it a week, give it two weeks, and then the realisation that another Premier League is gonna be heading to Anfield, hopefully that perks them up a bit.

Q: Do you think Arne Slot got anything wrong in those two defeats?

Well, in hindsight, I'm sure if you asked Arne Slot, then he would always change one or two things.

It was interesting to hear his press conference, he basically said that in nine out of 10 of the games, if Newcastle play like that, if Liverpool play like that, then Newcastle win.

In a game full of duels, and a lot of aerial duels, both Newcastle goals came from crosses, one header, obviously one header back into a danger area so Liverpool didn't handle set pieces that well.

So yes, I'm sure if there was a cup final tomorrow against Newcastle he'd definitely change his tactics.

Q: If Mo Salah does leave in the summer - who should Liverpool sign to replace him?

I think if he was to go [Mo Salah], Liverpool would look to replace him or find another attacking player, probably because I think Darwin Nunez will probably go as well.

So, if Mo Salah was to go, that's two attacking players and they would definitely need to replace that with one or two.

There's lots of alternatives out there but no one can replace Mo Salah.

There's no one out there that is gonna get his numbers.

There's been a few rumours lately about different players; Alexander Isak, obviously, at Newcastle who scored against them the other day, that would just be an incredible move if Liverpool could get him, but I'm sure virtually every team wants him and I'm sure Newcastle are desperate to keep hold of him, so that would be an interesting one.

I like Antoine Semenyo at Bournemouth, who plays in the same position as Salah.

I like him, a younger version, but definitely got energy, scoring capabilities and a good player.

That being said, you can't replace Mo Salah.

I mean if you said Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez went and Alexandr Isak and Antoine Semenyo came then I don't think it's the worst swap in the world if we're playing fantasy football here, but realistically Liverpool want to keep hold of their best players and Mo Salah is their best player so hopefully he doesn't leave.

Q: Having left Liverpool for Real Madrid yourself, would you encourage Trent Alexander-Arnold to do the same in the summer?

It is a personal preference for Trent, there is no right or wrong answer.

He's been there, seen it, done it, won every single trophy there is to win at Liverpool.

He's been a one-club man all his life, in terms of his life, does he want to have a nice experience and maybe live abroad, playing for a different team, new challenge, or not?

Obviously, both options come with pros and cons.

It might damage his legacy a little bit, well, in fact, it will. It shouldn't, but it will, let's be right about it.

It's a total personal preference. He's going from one great team to another, it's not like we're saying, he can win more or less trophies or have more or less money, I don't think any of those things really come into it.

I think it's more life experience, ‘do you want to have a new challenge you've never had in your career?’, ‘would you retire and be a bit regretful that you never experienced anything different?’ or ‘would you be a bit regretful if you did try something different and then Liverpool fans don't hold you in the esteem that they probably should because you left?’ and so it’s personal preference.

Q: How many goals a season does a prime Michael Owen score in this current team?

It's hard to say isn't it? It's hard to know where I would play to be honest.

I can only think that in this day and age, I'd probably play on the left-hand side of a three I think.

Obviously, I was a central player but it tends to be that player, although in saying that Jota sort of drops in and it's not really a massive focal point in terms of presence but I guess that I'd play on the left-hand side.

These players now seem to be scoring a lot of goals from these wider positions.

I have no idea.

It would be a total guess, but obviously playing with a great team like Liverpool's, I would like to think it would be plenty.

Q: Being honest—do you regret leaving Liverpool when you did?

No, not at all!

Life is decisions at the time, I was going to an amazing club and it was an opportunity I thought I couldn't refuse.

It would have been a regret of mine if I had been sat here now saying I could have played for Real Madrid in the Galactico era.

I would have been wondering what that would have been like, how it could have furthered my career as a person, as a player. I had an amazing experience, no way do I regret anything.

Q: Liverpool play Everton in their next Premier League game (2nd April) - what are your thoughts for the game and if you had to give a correct score prediction tip on OLBG.com what would it be?

I think Everton are pretty solid now under David Moyes.

They're starting to find themselves. I would probably say as things stand I would go for 1-0 to Liverpool - something like that.

Q: Real Madrid travel to Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-final 1st leg (8th April) - what are your thoughts for the game and if you had to give a correct score prediction tip on OLBG.com what would it be?

It's obviously very tough for Arsenal, I fancied their chances of going quite far this year in the Champions League. However, they've been given probably the toughest draw of them all, haven't they?

So, I would think Real Madrid will go through in this one and I think that the first leg is at the Emirates, isn't it? So that's sort of an advantage for Madrid.

You know, I can see Arsenal giving them a real good game at the Emirates, but I just think back at the Bernabeu it's so bloody hard to beat them.

So I'd probably say something like a 1-1 draw at the Emirates, then Madrid to go through something like 3-1 on aggregate or that type of score.

Q: After winning the Carabao Cup - how many more trophies do you think Newcastle will win in the next few seasons?

Well, it's just amazing, isn't it, that Newcastle have broken the duck in many ways.

I don't think any neutral out there would begrudge them their victory.

Even I, watching the game, of course, I'm a Liverpool fan and wanted Liverpool to win, but there was something a little bit strange about enjoying Newcastle winning as well.

They're a great club and I've obviously got fond memories of playing for the club.

It has such a passionate following, it's been such a long time.

We all know what it means to them.

Parties will be going on and on for days, I would have thought.

I think once the dust settles, that's the next aim, isn't it? To get more of this (trophies), from Newcastle's point of view.

They're on an exciting journey, it was really flying along a couple of years ago and I just thought it might have hit the buffers a little bit, with the financial fair play and not being able to spend so much.

A bit of a change at boardroom level and there were just a few things that I thought stopped them in their tracks a little bit.

Fair play to Eddie Howe, he's continued to get great results and if they can keep moving forward, investing in good players, then absolutely this might be the start of something special. They might be able to get more trophies along the way.

Q: Is Alexander Isak the best striker in England right now? Is he better than a prime Alan Shearer?

No, I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, I do think he's probably the best striker at the moment in the Premier League.

I rate him highly, I think he's brilliant, to be honest, but no, not just yet.

Alan Shearer is obviously the greatest, or the greatest goalscorer in Premier League history.

He's not even a fraction of the way there (Alexander Isak).

So no, a lot more to do before we say that, but he’s absolutely a brilliant player and vital for Newcastle.

Q: Which other current Newcastle players impress you the most?

The whole team yesterday were brilliant.

I thought the fullbacks were great.

Trippier, Livramento and Dan Burn were unbelievable and the goal he scored was phenomenal.

The power he got in the head and the direction from so far out was brilliant.

I think Newcastle's midfield is very strong as well, they won the battle in there yesterday.

I think they've got some really good players and one of their best players was out, Anthony Gordon.

Isak is the one huge name in that team that is just at the very top of his game, but now you look around that team and there's a lot of good players and of course their manager as well, the manager's one of the elite managers around, so a lot of credit to him.

Q: And if Eddie Howe was your manager when you were at Newcastle, would you think that your time there would have been different at all?

No, I don't think so.

I mean, as much as you need a good manager, the main thing is good players.

It depends, I mean, I was at Newcastle for four years, we had some good teams, some lesser teams, and, you know, things evolve and change, but in general, this Newcastle team is as good as they've had for a long, long time.

Q: Newcastle are 5/2 on OLBG.com to finish in the top 4 - would you back that?

Top four, I probably think that they're only playing for one place, I mean I think that Forest has got a little buffer zone now, I don't think their run-in is the hardest in the world so I think all of these teams are playing well.

Listen, it's gonna be two places, it's gonna be a fifth place for the Champions League as well but in terms of this bet or where the odds are concerned, I think all of those teams playing for that one place no I would be a layer rather than a backer.

Q: Do you think Ruben Amorim is the right man to bring the glory days back to Man Utd?

Yes, I do, I like him.

I might be being a bit stubborn because right at the outset I sort of really liked him and you know some people have wobbled in their views since but I do like the way he comes across, I do like what he says and I agree with a lot of what he says as well.

I just think that it's a bloody hard club to manage at the moment.

The whole thing is up in the air, Jim Ratcliffe came out not so long ago doing an interview which probably scared the life out of a lot of Manchester United fans talking about the finances and things like that.

Amongst it all, you've got to try to get a winning team which is not easy when finances are tight and you've not got the players you want and you're playing a certain system and everything's new.

So yeah, it's quite a difficult time at Manchester United at the moment but I think that Amorim will be the manager to lead them through it.

Q: Marcus Rashford has made a promising start to his Aston Villa career. Do you think it was a mistake to let him leave in January and do you think he has a future at Old Trafford?

Well, I would say not necessarily a mistake, but you look at the last few players that have left Manchester United, Antony's doing particularly well out in Spain.

Rashford's doing particularly well, or let's say much better than he was at Manchester United, at Aston Villa. Scott McTominay is doing incredibly well at Napoli and Italy, Anthony Elanga is doing incredibly well at Nottingham Forest compared to when he was at Manchester United.

This isn't just one or two doing well and one or two doing badly. Every single person that leaves Manchester United does better and that is the problem and that has happened for years and years and years.

On the flip side, every good player that they sign, everybody thinks, ‘wow, that's an amazing signing’, but they tend to do poorly.

That's just where Manchester United are at at the moment, isn't it?

It's not like, ‘let's look at Rashford or let's look at someone individually’, that's what Manchester United are.

I said before, you could probably sign Messi tomorrow and he wouldn't look like the best player in the world given six months.

It's just, when things are not going well, it's hard to do it and when things are going great, every signing that you make just fits in.

It's so easy, but it's so hard at Manchester United at the moment and that's why everyone leaves and does well and everyone signs and does rubbish.

Q: How do you look back at your time at Man United?

Very fondly, very fondly.

Yeah, I mean, if you'd said to me you're gonna play for Manchester United in your career, at any point during my life I would’ve said, ‘you're joking’, I just would never have believed it.

Obviously, I was Liverpool through and through, but when it's your job, when it's your career, when opportunities arise, and obviously Liverpool didn't need me when I was leaving Real Madrid or didn't need me when I was leaving Newcastle, then, you know this opportunity came and it was an incredible experience.

Q: Would a prime Michael Owen be United’s best striker today?

I think a prime Ella [presenter] could be a top Manchester United striker.

I think a Michael Owen in his worst years could be the best striker at Manchester United at the moment if I'm honest.

Q: Could a prime Sir Alex Ferguson turn this current United squad into title challengers?

Who knows, time moves on doesn't it? It moves on, it's a difficult time.

I guess you reap what you sow as well and Sir Alex put in so much good work to get himself into a great position, so maybe he would never have had to encounter this type of scenario.

Who knows is the answer, who knows, it's very difficult.

Q: The Manchester derby is coming up (6th April) - what are your thoughts for the game and if you had to give a correct score prediction tip on OLBG.com what would it be?

Well I'm going to go, I mean neither team are doing well at the moment, it's at Old Trafford.

I think City will probably be favourites but I don't know, I just think that the feel-good factor is slightly coming back, last few results have been quite good for Manchester United.

I wouldn't be surprised if this goes to United, so I'm going to go with the value I think and go for Manchester United 2-1.

Q: What do you make of Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad? What changes would you make?

I don't mind it, there are some surprises, but I don't mind it and he's only got a short contract with England and his job is to win immediately.

Do you know what? Even if he had a 10-year contract, I would still recommend that you go with the players that are good for now.

I never really understand at international level when you've got a World Cup every four years, why somebody would say, ‘well, let's play the youngsters’.

Play the players that will win you things now, don't worry about the future, that's what the under-21s are for, we can bring players off the bench and things like that.

England are not a club, it's not a ‘let's give this youngster 10 games in the team and then we might be able to sell them for 20 million’ and ‘let's play this academy prospect as we need to enhance the reputation of our academy’ and things like that. None of this matters.

The only thing that matters is winning for England.

So forget all this blood and young players and things like that, that will happen naturally.

Play the players that are going to win the here and now.

So, I actually don't mind that type of attitude if I'm honest.

Q: Dan Burn is in the England squad after his heroic performances for Newcastle - do you think he could become an England regular?

I'd be surprised, I love Dan as a lad, he's worked on the television with me a couple of times, he's a really nice guy and obviously great things are coming to him later on in his career which is not normally the way round it normally is.

It must be an incredible achievement, an incredible honour for him to get called up at this later stage in his career but I don’t think he'll be a regular in the team.

He's obviously got a chance now he's in the squad, but I would be surprised, although in saying that competition isn't so high at the moment and we are struggling defensively so you never know, but I can't imagine Dan Burn being a regular England player personally.

I think that he'll go with one or two other options instead.

Q: The England teams you played in were stacked with talent—why do you think you never won a major tournament?

Brazil and Spain!

I think people tend to forget, you know, we played in the quarter-final of the World Cup against Brazil and they had a golden generation.

Yeah, did you see Brazil's team? You know, do you see their wing backs? Roberto Carlos and Cafu either side, name a better one.

Their front three was Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and Ronaldo.

I mean name me three better.

So there's the answer to Brazil, there's the reason.

Other teams have got good players too and those teams back then would absolutely probably wipe the floor with anything that is on the planet at the moment.

That Brazil team or the Spanish team of a few years later that were World and European champions, they were just beyond anything that I've seen in my life.

As I say, we probably wiped the floor of the current Spanish team, let's say, who were champions.

So yeah, that's just life sometimes, it's like tennis over the years, imagine if Federer and Nadal hadn't been here, how many would Djokovic or Andy Murray have won.

Sometimes you get a glut of greatness at once and it's great for the sport, but it's harder to win.

Then all of a sudden you get a period of time where you know the competition isn't great and you get one person that just goes and streaks away or you just get an average group of people that share a few things amongst them but it just depends on the year of the teams and whatever but that team when we had a golden generation other teams had exceptional teams too.

Q: Who were the standout managers you played under?

Obviously Sir Alex Ferguson goes down as one of the greatest in history, so, I mean, he speaks for himself.

Another manager that I really liked and wish he had stayed on for longer because I think we might have had a better chance of winning a big one was Glenn Hoddle at England.

I think his knowledge, I mean, again, I work with him on the television now and he is tactically as knowledgeable as anyone I've met in the game, he just has unbelievable knowledge about the game.

So I would probably say they were my standout two managers.

Q: Which club do you wish you had signed for but never did?

None really.

I mean without blowing my trumpet, I played for Liverpool, Manchester United and Real Madrid, arguably the three biggest teams in the world. You could throw Barcelona into that and say they're fourth, but yeah, I mean having played for those three, I think you'd be greedy saying, ‘oh yeah, I wanted to play for Arsenal or Chelsea or someone else’. I mean, why? I played for the three biggest.

Unless you want to be very greedy and say you know a Bayern Munich or a Barcelona or whatever then.

No I certainly don't think to myself I wish I played for a certain team.

Those three are certainly as I say three of the biggest and then playing for a team like Newcastle was great as well but no I don't think I missed anything by not playing for a certain club.

Q: Would you have played for Saudi clubs if the money was like it is today?

I'm not against it.

If that's where opportunity is and it's a growing emerging market and other great players are going out there and it's a competitive league which it's becoming then I would definitely not be sat here saying ‘oh no I wouldn't have done that if that opportunity came’.

Obviously, it depends what period of your life you’re in, what your family situation is and all these things, but I've got no problem with certain players going out there and playing, absolutely not.

Q: Who is the best player you’ve ever played with?

Zinedine Zidane.

Q: Who is the most underrated teammate you ever had?

Sami Hyypiä at Liverpool.

I just think he was exceptional and when I listen to people talking about all the great defenders of all time in the Premier League he never gets a mention.

He was exceptional, an unbelievable player.

Little things that people maybe not pick up on but no he was very, very good and as underrated players go he would be my selection.

Q: Which manager got the best out of you—and which one wasted your talent?

Well I probably had my best time under Gerard Houllier—that's when I won a Ballon d'Or, won a load of trophies and probably was as good as I've ever been so I'd say Gerard Houllier.

Q: Who was the hardest teammate you ever had?

I mean I probably wouldn't like to fight David James much although he was a goalkeeper so not necessarily tough on the pitch.

Who did I play with? I mean people like Paul Ince, Neil Ruddock in the early times at Liverpool—they were tough. Yeah, I'd probably say them, but physically in a fight, David James.

Q: Who was the hardest player you played against?

I think the toughest defender that I played against was Marcel Desailly. He was pretty damn hard.

Q: Who was the best defender you ever came up against?

Marcel Desailly, he was the best defender.

I mean, I guess Messi or someone like that is the toughest opponent to play against.

Toughest defender would be Desailly.

Q: Be brutally honest—has the standard of defending in the Premier League dropped compared to your era?

Probably. I mean, it's hard to not look back on your era with great fondness.

I definitely think the football, you know, was better, the players were different, but better.

So yeah, I guess so.

I mean, who are the best now? Saliba, Van Dijk are exceptional and they would walk into any team in any era.

After that, I mean we had, Jaap Stam, John Terry, Marcel Desailly, Rio Ferdinand, you know, going back even before that you've got Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce and Tony Adams and so I probably think back in the day but it's hard to say.

Q: Who’s the best English striker of all time—besides yourself?

Well, it depends where you place the likes of Messi and Ronaldo, are they strikers or are they, you know, out and out number nines, the best striker of all time is R9, Brazilian Ronaldo.

Q: Who is the closest thing to a young Michael Owen in today’s game?

I have been asked this question many times and I just struggle to answer it.

My size and the area that I played, it just doesn't exist anymore.

We always used to play two strikers and I was down the middle. Now it's sort of one striker, two wide.

I can't even see myself as being a striker in this day and age. I think I would have been pushed as one of the wider players.

I have no idea really.

I don't think there's anybody that I look at and not just now, even in my generation, and that's not to say there's good or bad or anything, I just don't think there's anyone that was like me when I was younger.

Like, there's not many people at five foot eight and that fast, for example, or, you know.

I mean, there are other players that were brilliant finishers, like Robbie Fowler was an incredible finisher and Jermaine Defoe was an incredible finisher.

So there are other great finishers about, none of those used to run at players and beat them and have my pace, let's say, or whatever.

So I don't know, I find it impossible to compare, to be honest.

Q: What was the toughest stadium to play in?

Stamford Bridge. I hated Stamford Bridge.

I scored one goal there, but I didn't feel as if I could score there.

Like the goals felt like they were half the size of everywhere else.

I didn't particularly like Highbury either, to be honest.

Again, I think I scored one goal at Arsenal, at Highbury, but I'd say Stamford Bridge was the hardest.

They had a really good team around then as well and obviously the likes of Marcel Desailly, Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, William Gallas and whatever, I mean, they were bloody good, so, not many chances floating around against them at Stamford Bridge.

Q: Which English ground had the best atmosphere you played at?

I would say a cross between Anfield and St James's Park.

Yeah, I'd probably say Anfield. I mean European nights at Anfield are hard to beat.

Q: If VAR existed when you played, would you have won or lost more penalties?

More penalties, I thought you were gonna say would you have scored more or fewer goals and I was gonna say more because I got given offside all the time when I never was.

But probably more, they always side with the defenders.

Q: Manor House Stables has produced some top-class horses. What was the vision when you first set it up, and how has it evolved over the years?

Well, my vision wasn't what it ended up as, I must admit.

My vision was to start up a nice little business, to hopefully entice a few people to own horses with us through our success and my contacts and then just be able to enjoy a 30, 40 horse stable that trains a lot of winners, has a lot of fun, financially doesn't put a massive hole into my savings and that was probably what I thought when I first set it up.

I thought if I buy a farm, old farm, there will always be a value in the land. So there's not that much risk apart from obviously putting the gallop in and doing the stables and whatever.

Listen, it's a risk, but it wasn't sort of, you're totally risking your whole earning life.

However, that's what it turned out to be. Fast forward 20 years and now it's the home of 130 horses and about 45 members of staff and it's just a much bigger operation than I ever envisioned and I've run with it, not turned down business and just expanded as we've gone which is a lot more risk and reward as well I guess.

So now it's a proper heavyweight, I think with an amazing trainer, members of staff, amazing horses.

We've just upped the level for the last 20 years and yeah I hope we can continue to do that.

Q: Is there one moment in your horse racing career that stands out to you?

Well, there's a particular horse that stands out to me, yes, Brown Panther was my pride and joy.

I bred him, I owned the mother, I bought the mother and called her Treble Heights because we had just won the treble at Liverpool in 2001 and she was a lovely mare herself and won some nice races but it was as a mother, as a dam, as we would call it in the racing world that she particularly excelled.

She produced one of the world's best staying horses for that year and he took me everywhere, all four corners of the world, Melbourne Cup in Australia, Breeders Cup in America.

I went to Germany and France and Dubai and England and Ireland and everywhere with him.

He was just an amazing horse and we won the Dubai Gold Cup on World Cup night. That was incredible. We won at Royal Ascot, we won the Goodwood Cup, we won the Irish Saint Ledger Group 1 Classic out in Ireland which was incredible.

He danced every dance and he was my pride and joy.

Q: Are there similarities between your careers in football and horse racing?

Yeah, loads of similarities, which is why I'm sort of in the business.

You know, we're trying to get the best performance out of a mammal mentally, physically and everything else.

You've got the veterinary side, which obviously equates to physios or doctors or whatever in the world of football. I think the hardest thing that I've had to adapt to is the business side of things.

I was a footballer, I never ran my own business or employed people still.

I’m learning to this day really about all things business but I think where my strength lies is the passion for it.

I think I'm quite good at getting owners, hosting owners, I'm very social, I love this place and a lot of people do so it's just a natural thing to enjoy it together.

I know where my strengths are and know probably where my weaknesses are as well which is important to put people in the right roles to plug those gaps that you're not so good at maybe.

So yeah, that's probably the biggest thing I had to learn.

Q: Tell us more about the Michael Owen Racing Club, what do you enjoy about running that?

Well, the Michael Owen Racing Club is something that I thought we ought to start because I want racing to be able to appeal to all budgets in many ways.

Now, very wealthy people, it's very easy to get involved.

You buy a horse and you pay your money and off you go, but there's a lot of people out there that haven't got the money to buy a horse but do have a passion for the game, so I thought if we can create something whereby, you know, multiple people can pay a small fee to become a member of the club and with that they get yard visits, get monthly newsletters, they get regular updates of the horse, they get to see the horse when it goes to the races and things like that then I thought that would be amazing and thankfully it has been.

I think it's £95 for a year to become a member and you get all of those things and some of our members have gone and watched our horses 10 times during the season.

Just in one trip to a race you've probably got your money's worth or one trip to Manor House Stables to have a look round and for me to give you a tour and to meet the horses and know, teas and coffees and as I say, the monthly magazine that we produce and I just think it's amazing value for money.

So that was the plan and the plan is to try to grow it as well.

Q: Do you think more footballers will invest in horse racing in the future?

Yeah, I don't see why not.

Our list here of owners is long when it comes to current and former sports men and women.

Sir Alex Ferguson has got a couple of horses here.

Six of the Liverpool football team own a few horses here.

We've got 11 of the Brighton football team own four horses between them here.

We've got old Burnley players and old Everton players and the likes of Steve McManaman, Paul Scholes, Ian Wright and Owen Hargreaves, Sam Quek (who was a former gold medal hockey player) and the list goes on and of course then we train for royal families around the Middle East and local successful businessmen and women so the whole spectrum of people that are interested in horses.

It's not a potential, it's reality. These people do own horses at my stables and obviously if we can grow that owner base then it would be amazing.

It's a great sport, it's just socially amazing that the participants, the horses in the main are absolutely incredible creatures that we love and take care of.

You know, it's like everybody's got a passion, haven't they?

Some people like playing golf, some people like going dancing, some people like going to the cinema, some people like going in horses, some people like, you know, it just what floats your boat really.

We find that lots of people do enjoy the sport and the social aspect of it, the high life, the ups and the downs and all the rest of it.

It's just an incredible sport to get involved in.

Q: What’s one thing you’d change to improve horse racing?

Well, yeah, I mean, it's hard to just name one.

Prize money levels would be a start.

There's an awful lot of money goes into the game and at the moment it's more of a passion for people to own horses as opposed to being able to get anything out of the game.

Of course, if you've got a good horse, then it can be worth millions and millions, which is fantastic, but I think prize money levels are poor in this country compared to the rest of the world.

Things just in general around the sport, the health and well-being of the animal is absolutely at the forefront of everybody's mind.

Obviously I don't do jump racing, which is a little bit more risky than my game, but our horses are treated like kings and they live like kings and queens and we take great care and rehome them once their careers are over, or find another job for them—lots of horses go into playing polo, being riding school horses, going into dressage or show jumping.

I think one thing I'd like to improve is the myth that goes around like that the horses are badly treated after their careers, it's just total and utter bullshit.

Of course, in the horse racing world, you will see an example of somebody mistreating a horse or mistreating a dog or mistreating an animal in other worlds, but it doesn't mean that that sport is now bad.

So it's just taking it with a pinch of salt in many ways and that the vast, vast majority of people absolutely adore these creatures that, you know, I've got 45 people behind me that it's their absolute life to look after and care for our 130 horses.

I don't think that's conveyed that well and I think that the general perception of people that aren't involved in racing is the wrong one, to be honest.

So that would probably be another wish of mine.

Q: Did you go to Cheltenham this year? What’s the one thing you would do to improve it?

Yeah, I went down on the Thursday, enjoyed my day and met a few of our clients and owners, which was nice.

I mean, I don't really know.

I know that the attendances at Cheltenham have been creeping down in recent years, but it's an incredible event. Whether it's pricing (I probably think it is pricing), when you listen to the feedback on the television of a lot of people, it tends to be the pricing that puts a lot of people off.

I think in my sport, in the flat game, the popularity of racing has never been so great.

Events like Royal Ascot are so well attended.

You've got racing festivals all over the summer that are really, really popular, but yeah, I'm sure Cheltenham will reverse it in the future because everybody loves a day out there and they still get incredible crowds.

It's just that they're not quite at the peak of what they were maybe a few years ago.

Q: And finally - who wins the Grand National?

I haven't had a look.

Well the winner of the Gold Cup the other day (Inothewayurthinkin), if he runs then you'd have to say that he’s got a great chance.

He jumps well, he's a young up-and-coming horse, putting a great performance, beating the reigning champion the other day.

So maybe that one, if he runs, I think there's a little bit of a gap between Cheltenham and Aintree, possibly enough to recover and to go again.

So yeah, so if that horse turns up (Inothewayurthinkin) then I wouldn't be looking anywhere else.