MICHAEL Owen is a football god. He's blessed with amazing skills, is young, good-looking, wholesome and about to become a dad. He also likes a gamble.

Sorry, but I don't think that last statement is any reason to vilify him as some sort of evil influence on the young.

The 23-year-old Liverpool and England striker is said to have placed thousands of bets with bookmakers over the past few years, including, allegedly, £10,000 on his own horse.

He has won £17,000, and lost £26,000 in a single day. So what?

Everything about our young sporting heroes is larger than life. Their salaries, their excesses, their hype. Certainly our expectations.

It stands to reason that, if someone like Michael Owen enjoys gambling, he's not going to just bet £5 each way on the favourite in the Grand National as you or I might.

He's going to bet big, and often.

Our sporting heroes are a different breed by definition. They are more driven, more dedicated, more single-minded than ordinary folk. They have to be or else they wouldn't be the best at what they do.

Footballers in particular have long periods of time to fill between training and matches. And, as they are already acknowledged as ultra-competitive people, gambling probably rears its head quite naturally.

It is also possible that, for some of them, gambling (just like drink or drugs) could become a dangerous compulsion. It may even need treatment.

But it doesn't automatically mean that because you enjoy a gamble you need some kind of therapy. If that were true, half the population would be trotting off to lie on the therapist's couch.

And that's the crunch - most of us enjoy an occasional flutter or stump up a few quid on the National Lottery each week . We happily believe that this is different -- knowing in our hearts that if we had the money to risk on the bigger, more exciting gamble this is exactly what we would do, too.

Famous individuals like footballers and entertainers still have ordinary human strengths and weaknesses. The difference is that they live much of their lives in the public eye, and the public doesn't always approve.

But, this is more our failing than theirs.

So a simple plea: "hands off Michael Owen." He's still one of our better footballing role models, and it really would be a disgrace if we let our own prejudices spoil this.