SOCCER:SHAY GIVEN'S club career may now be back on track after he was officially unveiled as an Aston Villa player yesterday, but the Donegal native cast some doubt over his long-term international future by admitting he may consider retiring when Ireland's European Championship 2012 campaign comes to an end.
The admission from the 113-capped goalkeeper comes as something of a surprise, but his thinking is doused in common sense. While the 35-year-old is confident he will still be one of the top goalkeepers in the Premier League by the age of 40, he hinted he may have to sacrifice his international career in order to do so.
“I said before that I’d wait until after the European Championships to make a decision on my international career,” said Given on his unveiling as an Aston Villa player yesterday.
“I’ll maybe have a chat with Alex McLeish and see what he thinks. When the day comes when the manager, or maybe even yourself, thinks you need to give your all to the club, that’s what will happen. At the minute I feel fine fitness-wise but when the day comes along when the manager says I have to play one or the other, club or country, I will have to focus on my Villa career. But we’ll see. I said before the European Championships that I would think about it after that, so we’ll see what happens.”
Perhaps Given, with McLeish by his side, was playing to the audience a little having been rather generously been handed a five-year contract by his new club. In the short term, though, the goalkeeper is thoroughly dedicated to Ireland, and admitted that at least part of his desire to get out of his Manchester City nightmare was to ensure he was in tip-top condition for Ireland’s closing Euro 2012 qualifiers, and perhaps even the tournament in Poland and the Ukraine next summer.
“The international situation was a big consideration,” said Given. “Hopefully next year we’ll be at the European Championships – we’ve got huge games coming up at home to Slovakia and away to Russia. Last year, I didn’t ideally feel 100 per cent match sharp in the games I did play. And we’ve got big games coming up and it’s important that I’m in top condition. But it’s not just that. I missed playing football. I missed the buzz of match days and going out performing.”
On the topic of Manchester City, Given wasn’t too keen to dish the dirt on his former employers. He must surely have been hurt at being demoted to the bench by Roberto Mancini in favour of Joe Hart when he had hardly put a foot wrong during his season and half as number one at Eastlands. But Given is far too polite to air too much dirty laundry in public. Instead, he thanked the owner, Sheikh Mansour, and chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, for bringing him to the club in the first place, and admitted Mancini had wished him well on his departure. All told, Given was keen to look forward, not back.
“It was a frustrating time,” said the Donegal native, “but I spoke about that on occasions before when I was away with Ireland and the headlines the next day were about how frustrated I was, so I think I’ve spoken about that.
“Listen, it was frustrating not playing last year but Joe Hart had a great season and you’ve just got to take it on the chin and move on. I spoke to Roberto Mancini before Man City went to LA and he was fine with me moving on. He said it was probably the best thing for my career to move, and that Villa were a great club to move to.”
Given also praised the support of his Giovanni Trapattoni, his international manager, over the past year. “He was always right behind me, always texting me in his broken English. He even texted me yesterday to congratulate me and wish me luck. He’s always been a fantastic support to me in the media, and I have a great rapport with him.”
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