Owen Hargreaves: England's Forgotten Legend Reveals What It Took to Silence Critics and Survive Sir Alex (E347)
The High Performance Podcast
High Performance
4.8 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2025
⏱️ 112 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Owen Hargreaves is a former England international and Champions League-winning midfielder who made his mark at clubs like Bayern Munich and Manchester United. Known for his tactical intelligence and relentless work rate, he’s also battled some of the toughest injury setbacks in modern football.
In this episode, Owen opens up beyond the pitch, sharing a thoughtful and inspiring look at what shaped him both as a player and a person. He highlights how important it is to push through adversity and not let self-doubt hold you back.
Owen also dives into his experiences with criticism, revealing how he learned to handle negativity without letting it define him. He talks about the importance of hard work, staying focused, and not letting external voices influence your self-worth.
This episode is packed with insights on overcoming setbacks, learning from failure, and the importance of maintaining strong relationships along the way.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Don't forget next week's episodes are available early exclusively on the high performance app. |
| 0:05.2 | Out now, former England and Manchester United footballer Owen Hargreaves. |
| 0:10.8 | And I remember standing in the tunnel next to Figo. |
| 0:13.8 | And he literally looked like God. |
| 0:15.6 | He was like glowing. |
| 0:16.6 | And I remember standing in the tunnel thinking, I'm in trouble here. |
| 0:19.2 | We lost to Portugal. |
| 0:20.5 | And I walked through the mix zone. |
| 0:22.1 | And all those guys that asked me why I was there gave me a clap. |
| 0:25.9 | They knew they were wrong. |
| 0:27.5 | So I said to the doc, I'm going to go see this guy. |
| 0:29.3 | The England doc said it up. |
| 0:30.2 | And I remember he said to me, he said, I'm not sure you're ever going to play again. |
| 0:33.9 | I just felt like life had left my body. |
| 0:43.5 | That is the distinctive voice of Owen Hargreaves, the Canadian-born midfielder who conquered Europe with Bayern Munich and Manchester United, changed opinions when he was England's |
| 0:47.5 | player of the tournament at the World Cup in 2006, and of course then had his career cruelly |
| 0:53.3 | robbed from him due to injury. |
| 0:55.5 | You know, most football fans know all of those things, but I think what they don't really know |
| 0:59.6 | is that Owen walked into a dressing room full of megastars as a teenager at Bayern Munich, |
| 1:04.7 | learning from the best, despite not speaking a word of German, thousands of miles from home. |
| 1:09.6 | They don't know that despite years of sacrifice and struggle and success, |
| 1:14.4 | including winning the Champions League, |
... |
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