By John May BBC Sport Online

Michael Owen still has the Midas touch

Michael Owen is the 24-carat golden boy whose lustre can apparently not be tarnished.

Allegations over his gambling have merely been useful scratches to show that he is not rolled gold, or thinly gold-plated, but the real deal.

His goal against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup propelled him into the public consciousness.

Since then cherub-faced Owen has been England's favourite son.

We intend to monitor the current media attention but we have no plans to review our arrangment with him Jaguar spokesman

It is a marketable image which he has traded on, but it appears the golden boy is not so innocent and has a hobby more expensive than collecting football programmes.

As a possible damage-limitation exercise, his agents SFX issued a statement from him, rubbishing reports that his gambling losses approached �2m.

But it appears their efforts were needless.

The string of companies who attach their products to Owen's marketable persona appear completely unfazed by all the furore surrounding him.

Owen's impressive stable includes the likes of Jaguar, Nestle, Umbro, Lucozade and Tissot watches.

BBC Sport Online contacted all the companies to see if they had any plans to review their arrangement with Owen in the light of the publicity.

Jaguar confirmed it is currently happy with the association with Owen.

A spokesperson said: "He's been involved with us for some years and recently renewed his arrangement with us to the end of 2004.

"We have a good close working relationship with Michael and his advisors, and he's very supportive of our NSPCC campaign.

"We intend to monitor the current media attention but we have no plans to review our arrangment with him."

High-flying Owen shows no signs of crashing to earth

A spokesman for Lucozade said: "Michael Owen's success is due in no small way to his meticulous preparation, which makes him an ideal ambassador for Lucozade Sport.

"We see nothing in recent media reports which appear to focus on an entirely legal activity to change our mind."

The lack of a reply from the other companies is a litmus-test of how they view the whole thing with a yawn.

A daring dash of notoriety sits well on goody two-shoes shoulders but it begs the question of whether we really care.

Owen's admitted losses of �40,000 over two years is an obscene amount to those who earn half that in a year.

But for a man whose �70,000 weekly wedge from Liverpool is topped up to around �100,000 a week by his product endorsements, it is peanuts.

His losses equate to less than half a week's wages spread over two years. In Joe Public's terms, the equivalent of a couple of lottery tickets a week.

Is Owen's hobby any more obscene than the sums of money David Beckham spends on cars?

The sums earned by Premiership footballers place them so far away from the reality endured by their supporters, they could be living on other planets.

Even when golden boys apparently fly too close to the sun, it is not often they crash and burn.