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Michael Owen insists he's a party animal these days as he reveals retirement 'wobble'

Prime Video series Meet The Owens gives Michael Owen the chance to show off his personality and his love of horses and dancing

Michael Owen loves horses almost as much as his family - and he likes to booze and gallop around a dance floor at a party. The former Liverpool and England soccer star has a reputation for being boring but in his familys new fly-on-the-wall documentary he shows off what he is really like with a few surprises

Asked what he thinks his reputation is among folk, the 46-year-old jokes: A boring p***k. And even his family brands him David Brent and embarrassing. However, in a new series on Prime Video called Meet The Owens, he hopes to change the public view and his life certainly has lively moments.

He allowed the cameras in to film him and his wife Louise and also their three daughters Gemma, Emily and Jessica and son James. Michael is at pains to point out how he loves to drink, party and even dance when his mates all want to go to bed.

[Meet The Owens]

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Now he is retired Michael says he loves a dance and a party much more than his playing days

When he was at the peak of his soccer career, he did not drink at all and used to criticise his own father and brothers over their boozy antics but all that has now changed since he retired from the pitch in 2013, aged 33.

He admits: Now if I go out, I am the last person on the dance floor and I am the last person at the bar.. we ARE getting kicked out! My mates are like Cmon half way through the night and I am like No way... this is only getting started.

After leaving his footballing days behind him due to a recurring hamstring injury, he admits to having a wobble as he had nothing to give him a buzz. After falling in love with horses at the age of 18 when he bought his first ones that passion has now become his new career.

He is now a prominent racehorse owner and breeder and he runs Manor House Stables in Cheshire which he has ploughed 13m into and he admits he bounces out of bed every day to go to work.

He says: There was a wobble with me when I retired from football. All of a sudden youre living under your wifes feet and you are settling into a new life. Retiring from football, you no longer feel so valued, loved.

These feelings of adulation constantly is like a drug and you want to make people happy. When you are winning trophies all the time and scaring the s**t out of defenders.. that is what you gave me my buzz. So I absolutely loved being 7 to 25 years old and then the rest of it was a struggle.

Injuries made me 50 per cent the player I was. And I was almost embarrassed walking out with my name on my back. So I was desperate to retire and that is pretty sad when you just dont enjoy your job. Ive come to realise I need a purpose in life. Having racing and the yard probably did keep me sane.

I dreamed of being a footballer all my life and when I was in my 20s, I dreamed of being in the racing game for the rest of my life.

Now his dream has come true and he is seen flying off to places like Bahrain to close deals and spend a fortune on horses to train, its revealed that he even spends more money on the animals than he does his family.

In the new series, Louise says: Mike is very odd about spending. He wont think twice about spending money on a horse but if the kids leave a light on the bedroom he will hit the roof or if I want to redecorate the bathroom because the paint is falling off the wall, he will be like Is that really necessary?

[Michael Owen and daughter Gemma in Meet the Owens]

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Michael was seen bonding with his family - including daughter Gemma(Image: Amazon Prime Video Sport /Youtube)

And viewers will see him boast in one scene to Louise: So we bought three horses today..273,000 we spent. Over a quarter of a million. Lets just hang off on that new kitchen you wanted? But it is clear how much he loves his wife his childhood sweetheart whom he married in 2005.

She jokes how she fell for his sense of humour. And he moans: I would have preferred someone to say Its because you look like Brad Pitt.

And she admits she still feels guilty for making Michael choose between her and his career with Real Madrid in 2005.

The couple had to move to Spain but she was only just a new mum with baby Gemma and felt isolated and alone.

Louise confesses: I kind of was stuck in this hotel with a young baby by myself. He definitely felt pressure from me being unhappy and that probably brought that chapter to a close earlier than it might if I hadn't been there. I feel a little bit of guilt if I am honest and if he was being absolutely selfish in terms of his career would he have made that decision to come back when he did? I dont know.

But Michael insists whilst he did feel the pressure form his wife he doesnt want her to feel guilty and he doesnt regret anything in terms of his career moves.

It is clear he adores his four children and in one emotional episode he and Louise well up talking about their 20-year-old son James who is going blind as he has the degenerative eye disease Starstadt.

It put paid to any hopes that he might follow in his fathers footsteps and become a soccer star.

Mike says: He sort of stopped playing football early because of his eyes. People may not notice but James is clinically blind. His peripheral vision is quite good but his central vision is really really poor and his condition is a degenerative one.

When he first got diagnosed. I remember stopping in the car three or four times and just bursting out crying and thinking What's his life going to be like? I just wanted him to not feel sorry for himself. I wanted him to have a positive outlook on life.

Most people that play football have probably got the dream of their son following their footsteps. That's what my dad had with me. I wanted James to be a footballer when he was really young. But obviously that dream was dashed quite early. We made James. And I don't think Id be normal if I didn't look myself in the mirror and think You know it's down to us that he's got this eye condition. So I did feel guilty for a little while and you could say I still feel guilty now. But you know, you look at the positives with him and the guilt sort of evaporates.

[Michael Owen in Meet the Owens]

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Michael took cameras behind closed doors(Image: Amazon Prime Video Sport /Youtube)

We obviously go to bed every night hoping and praying that they find a cure but how he deals with his condition, you know, it's just a credit to him. James is popular and nice and kind and determined despite the harsh cards he has been dealt and he is just a bloody good lad. A proper son that I am proud of.

James's ability to laugh at himself, is just the most endearing thing in my world. Little things like that just bring us incredibly close together.

Mum Louise adds: So James's condition, we became aware of it.. I think he was about eight. A teacher actually called me in and said I think James is having a bit of an issue seeing the board. After a significant amount of testing, we obviously discovered that it was Stargardts.

I always get a little bit nervous talking about this because one, I always get emotional and two, I feel a bit guilty for being emotional about it. There are so many families that are going through way more traumatic and life threatening issues, but I think anyone with kids, you just want them to have the same opportunities that you have and the same life.

James, who works as a trader in the gold market, is very open about what lies ahead for him.

He says: My eye condition is called Stargardts. I have had it since I was born. Obviously as you can imagine it has been tough growing up. Its not good in the centre of the view and it makes it hard for me to actually look straight. Quite often people think I am rude by not keeping eye contact. I am actually looking at them in the clearest possible way I can.

That was my dream to follow in my dad's footsteps to be a footballer and make a great career. So to have a realisation that it's not possible, it kills you. It used to break my heart everyday coming back from school, I just used to cry. And I used to think life was unfair.

The last few years I've struggled more with light. If I go outside, I can't see a thing which is a bit scary. It's a lot easier getting around when I'm at home because I know where everything is but if I'm in a new place, a lot of day to day stuff, it can make things difficult. If theres not a cure I might not be able to live the life I live now. It's almost like a ticking time bomb where one day I might be fully blind.

I'm a trader. I buy and sell gold. I have been doing it for a couple years now. I work by myself, which is very isolating, but if I make a lot of money from trading, I'd love to put a lot of it towards Manor House and one day take over the business side. That would be my dream.

I would hate for people to feel sorry for me. You've still got the stuff which matters... a loving family and such a good model for a dad. It makes me really happy. The most important thing to me is to make my dad proud more than anything really and hopefully that will be what I do one day.

However it would not be a Michael Owen show without some footage of him living up to his reputation as a bore.

A cameraman says to him: What do you think is the real Michael? You have obviously got a reputation as a..

Boring prick! Is that what you were gonna say? jokes the star. Even my kids say Everyone sees you as dead boring.

Viewers will see him reduce his children to yawns going on about his favourite ice cream bars, trying out Dairy Lea cheese on toast and a story about buying some chips.

They admit he plays the role of an embarrassing dad trying to impersonate a horse by galloping around his garden and going on ITV s Masked Singer dressed as a Doughnut.

But most of all, the series shows how much the family love one another even though Michael admits he never says it to their face.

He says: I don't do love where it's blowing kisses and telling them every day that I love them and I'm unbelievably proud of you. My dad never gave me any pat on the back and I love you son or anything else like that. I'm not right. I don't know. That's just how I am yeah.

When we are all getting on, we are all having a go at one another and taking the mickey out of each other but my love towards my family is you know it! I dont have to tell you. You come home and see your kids and you see your dogs. How can you be sad? I am either really happy or just happy.

Meet The Owens launches on Prime Video on August 28.

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