Michael Owen says reaction to his decision to retire from football at the end of the season made him cry Owen also revealed that he would expand upon his decison to retire in a blog post later in the week. Marseilles midfielder Joey Barton tweeted that the decision to retire had come "far too early" Gary Linkear, England's all-time second highest scorer, said that retirement "happens to us all." Linekera retired from football in 1994 afer scoring 48 goals for England. Former Liverpool team-mate Jamie Redknapp said that had Michael Owen's career not been hampered by injury, he would have gone on to break goalscoring records for England. He told Sky Sports News: Owen had a fantastic career just unfortunately injury just stopped him from breaking records for England He was one of the greats and without a doubt in my mind he would have beaten all records that were placed in front of him Rather than think about the injuries we should celebrate what he did.