Although I hate the way Owen has behaved in the past and understand the reasons that may lie behind rafa not taking him back, he is a top class striker when fit, and it would be good to have someone of his calibre as a backkup striker.
We are desperately short of back up for Torres, if (God Forbid) he gets injured, or just plain tired! Who are we suppposed to rely on then? Ngog? Kuyt? Voronin?? None of them are of a calibre of Owen.
Given our current financial state, and the fact that for the forseeable future our transfer budget is going to be restricted, not to grab Owen on a free was a bad decision I think.