![Michael Owen opens up on failed St Pat’s football project in Pakistan [Dublin Live]](https://footballpakistan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GSV-trials-with-St-Patricks-Athletic-FC.jpg "Michael Owen opens up on failed St Pat’s football project in Pakistan [Dublin Live]")
by Alex Dunne
Michael Owen has revealed how an ambitious Irish football initiative in Pakistan collapsed into political chaos before ever getting off the ground.
Owen was brought on board alongside Dublin club St Patrick’s Athletic in a high-profile attempt to launch a talent pipeline to Europe, only for the venture to quietly die a death. The former Liverpool and England frontman told Dublin Live domestic politics and administrative chaos in Pakistan ultimately doomed the project.
He said: “I was out in Pakistan and we were trying to create a league. I was with the guys from St Pat’s, that was very much a separate thing, but linked to what I was trying to get off the ground, let’s say.
“But I think, eventually, it died a death, you know, whether it’s finances out there, or whatever it is. There was a lot of infighting, there was already sort of a league there, and there was this new super league trying to take over, it was a little bit political.”I was sort of waiting to see, but I haven’t heard any news since, so it it sounds to me like it’s fizzled out. I don’t think it was lacking from the guys from St Pat’s or myself.
“We went over there, we wanted to to drive something that we thought was a great idea. But, sadly, I mean it was at the other end, the Pakistan end, that it sadly fizzled out. You probably know as much as me!”