The future looks bleak for former England star.

Michael Owen has been a frustrated figure at Newcastle United for a very long time and his association with the club has now dented his future for the rest of his career. Owen has been plagued by injuries since he joined Newcastle and will now be forced to seek a move elsewhere that will be nowhere near the calibre of what he would have liked.

Owen has virtually no prospect of winning another England cap because of the fact he has played at Newcastle for the last couple of years and he will be hard pushed to find another side that will be willing to pay him the wages that he was earning at St James’ Park.

He still does display the old elements that turned him into a Liverpool legend and helped him form the reputation of one of the most feared strikers in the world. However, these days are long gone and these old elements are not produced on a consistent enough basis to have any dramatic impact on the shape his future will now take.

Doubtless he will get a move back to the Premier League. There will be a club that will be willing to take a risk on him, as he is clearly a very good player. However, the tussling is likely to come with the contract. Owen will want good money as he feels that he can justify it but a club signing him now would be much more likely to want to pay him on a game by game basis as opposed to giving him a large amount of cash each week.

He can wave goodbye to his chances of joining a top six club, which will also mean an end to any England aspirations he may have. It will be much more likely that a new team coming into the Premier League or a mid-table side would be interested in him. For him to have any hope of playing for his country again he would have to smack in 30 goals for the side he potentially joins which has been showed to be impossible from previous seasons.

Newcastle is a boat that is rocking from side to side at a pretty violent rate so Owen would be well advised to sacrifice a bit of wealth in order to join an established Premier League club. He may just have to take the fact that he will never get back to the level that he once played at but he appears a modest enough man to be able to join another side and play his heart out regardless.

In a respect he is guilty by association but the fact is that this should not prevent him finishing his career somewhere that he can hold his head high and show everyone that he will go out with style. He has a lot of hard work to do and needs to get his head down. Not many people would blame him for jumping ship at Newcastle if he did so but he needs to be careful and clever with his next move.

Reading will be looking to turn around first leg deficit

Reading will be looking to over turn the 1-0 score line they conceded in the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final, when Burnley travel to the Madejski stadium tonight. Reading played well and built up good spells of pressure in the first leg but fell behind to a penalty, which saw Andre Bikey sent off.

The added incentive is there for the Royals who will want to bounce back into the Premier League at the first attempt. However, Burnley must not be over looked as the prospect of unknown water can often inspire a team and make them play above their normal levels of performance.

Whoever wins the match will set up a mouth watering final clash with Sheffield United and the prospect of playing for a place in the Premier League and a club pay day of £30 million.

Bikey is obviously suspended for four games so will play no part in the match, Kalifa Cisse is likely to take his place. Kevin Doyle is struggling to shake off an injury and winger Glen Little is available for selection. Steve Coppell will have to get his side right if they are to have any chance of progression as Burnley will no doubt adopt a defensive element in the game.

Chris Eagles faces a late fitness test for the travelling side and it is unknown whether he will start. Wade Elliot and Joey Gudjonsson also face fitness tests but otherwise Burnley will travel at full strength.

The match is likely to be a lot more open than the first leg and Reading will be hoping that the home fans can get right behind the team and ensure that the recent home form they have shown is corrected. Reading have all of the tools necessary to progress and watching their last few performances there is a big display about to explode from this side.

However, Burnley are not naïve. They will travel with one goal already in the back and will adopt an efficient system. They may choose to string five men across the midfield if Reading go with three strikers up top again. The only problem is that this sort of system invites pressure and could well be their undoing if Reading hit their straps.

Although Sheffield United at the moment won’t care who they play in the final they would probably prefer it to be Burnley as Reading will want revenge over United for a recent league defeat.

Burnley can win this match but they need Reading to have an off day. Reading’s failure to make the pressure tell the other night was reflected through an angry and animated Coppell, who as we all know is otherwise calm and collected. Therefore it is likely he has been banging on at his side over the last couple of days that they cannot keep failing to convert their chances.

At this moment in time the match is hard to call. For all of the football perfectionists they would probably prefer a Sheffield United v Reading final but this is unknown territory for Burnley, which is something that could fuel the performance of the side.