Michael Owen has defended his views about Newcastle United when asked about comments in which he claimed he was unhappy despite getting paid £120,000 per-week at the club.
Those comments, where he spoke about the the last six to seven years of his career, originally aired on BT Sport last season, and have proved controversial, and one of the main components in the feud with Toon legend Alan Shearer .
The controversy has reemerged following the release of his autobiography, Reboot.
But while appearing on BBC Breakfast he's defended his comments.
"I wasn't unhappy," he said after being asked about the Magpies .
"I loved Newcastle, I loved the city, the people and I loved playing there, and sadly when you say a sentence and when someone stops it halfway through, then you don't get to mention it in context then it's very difficult.
"What I said was that I didn't enjoy the second half of my career, as much as the first half.
"I was a good young player at the top of my game winning awards and trophies but the second half of my career injuries started catching up - if you're not as good as your job as you once were inevitably, you don't enjoy it as much.
"I never said I hated football - I adore football to this day but I said I didn't enjoy being what I consider an average Joe at the time, I just wasn't the player I was and when you've been at the top, that's quite hard to take.
"So of course I didn't enjoy the last six or seven years of career as before but that included other clubs, like Stoke, Manchester United and of course no one from there has complained.
"It's not in context to the actual quote I said."
