Amidst the hysteria and euphoria that greeted Kevin Keegan's return to Newcastle, Michael Owen must have cut a more restrained figure.

In an autobiography dismally banal even by footballers' standards, the sole paragraphs of interest concerned Owen's relationship with Keegan during their time together on England duty.

According to the normally reticent Owen, the period together left him "scarred". The relationship between manager and striker deteriorated to such an extent that the Keegan was depicted as briefing against the then-20-year-old striker before the Euro 2000 match against Romania.

"A team meeting was called to discuss the Romanians and Keegan set off on a 20-minute lecture about me. 'Michael, if I was any other manager you would not be playing tomorrow. You've got to improve or we'll have to change.' I really started to resent him - not as a man but as a manager. With a quarter of an hour gone I thought, 'Sod him, I'm playing my own game. I know I'm good.' Then I scored and the relief was immense," Owen wrote.

In another passage that will be of particular interest to those who denounce Keegan as a tactician, Owen revealed that he was asked to play as a link-man rather than on the shoulder of the last defender in order to utilise his pace.

"In training all week Keegan had kept me behind, playing balls into me and telling me what he wanted me to do," he complained. "I assume the manager had conveyed to his staff what he thought of me - and plainly it wasn't complimentary. If I did one tiny thing wrong there would be a rush of critical comment.

"I used to go into games believing that the opposition was scared of me and that nothing could get in my way. That feeling, that belief, evaporated at times when I played under Keegan. It was a dark phase in my career," he concluded.

More news from SportingLife.com