Michael Owen: Ballon d'Or at 22, Retired at 33 - The Mentality That Nearly Broke Him

**Jake Humphrey** (0:03)
For a generation, you were one of the best strikers, not just in England, but in the entire world.

**Michael Owen** (0:09)
You can't try to be too perfect. It can get you to the top, but it can also be pretty damn dangerous. I wanted to just stop playing football. I hated it. From a strong mindset to a weak one, it was still fiercely competitive. There has to become a realization at some point that, hang on, you can't kid yourself, and you can't pretend, you can't be totally delusional. If you think you're going to win a Ballon d'Or again, or you think you're going to win a Golden Boot again, that ain't happening.

**Jake Humphrey** (0:46)
Michael, welcome to the show.

**Michael Owen** (0:47)
Thanks, mate.

**Jake Humphrey** (0:48)
I was telling someone you were on today, and they said, why wasn't Michael on week one when you were working together? I think you just said no for the last seven years.

**Michael Owen** (0:56)
Do we want to go there straight away? I said that to you.

**Jake Humphrey** (1:00)
Did you?

**Michael Owen** (1:01)
Well, I remember you doing about 25 of them. And you were like... Well, me and you have got a strange relationship. We've got a good relationship, but we just contain each other and it's absolutely fine. But I was deadly serious. I think he thought I was messing. But after about 20 of your guests, and I was like, love that podcast, want to go on that. I mean, think the brain, the power of this and that. And I saw Johnny Wilkinson. I was like, oh my God, that is so cool what he's talking about. And 21, 22, 23
And I was like, I'm not going to name names. I thought, he's even having him on now. And I told you, I told you, I said, you can off.

**Jake Humphrey** (1:48)
Yeah, you did, yeah.

**Michael Owen** (1:48)
Because I'm never going on it. I'm never going on it now.
If I'm not in your top 25, then you can do one.

**Jake Humphrey** (1:56)
And the only reason you're now here is because we produced an Amazon documentary together.

**Michael Owen** (2:00)
Yeah, because you've forced me to.

**Jake Humphrey** (2:03)
Well, we're going to talk about your Amazon documentary in great detail. Just for full clarity for people, it was produced by Whisper Group, which I'm the co-founder of. But we're also going to talk about the thing that I've always wanted to get into with you, which is about the mentality. Because at 18, we all know this, you announced yourself to the world with that amazing goal against Argentina. By the age of 21, you'd won the Ballon d'Or. You won two Premier League Golden Boots, an FA Cup, three League Cups, a UEFA Cup, a Premier League title. You scored 40 goals for England.
You played for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Manchester United, among others on your CV. For a generation, you were one of the best strikers, not just in England, but in the entire world. You now run Manor House Stables, one of the top stables in the country. You've got four children. You've got a very famous daughter. Your son James, who features in the Amazon documentary, is clinically blind. Your marriage nearly ended, which I had no idea about until I read your book after you stopped playing, or that's what was intimated in that book. And now we have a new Amazon Prime series following your life. I think those are the things you've done. What we're really interested here on High Performance about is how you've done it. So before we talk about what your world looks like right now, I want to sort of rewind to 10-year-old Michael Owen.
And at 10, from what you said to me and the things that I've read about you, you didn't just think you were going to be one of the best footballers in the world. It feels like you were certain you were going to be one of the best footballers in the world. I'm just so fascinated by where your level of self-belief came from at that young age.

**Michael Owen** (3:34)
Yeah, I am too, to be honest, because the brain, the power of the brain, the mentality of people, not just sportsmen fascinates me as well.
Even though I've ridden that way, even I've been there and seen it and done it in my profession, I still have questions in my own mind in terms of how. I try to piece together some of the things that my parents said to me and my brothers and sisters, the atmosphere, and just the dimensions of the house, and who was the boss, and what happened, and why did I feel this way?