Shay Given Biography

Shay Given is an Irish former goalkeeper who has played many games in the premier league and for his national team. Playing over 130 games for Ireland, he has been considered a national hero and an athlete who has brought glory and reputation for the land of saints and scholars.

Not only had he played for 23 years but also he is still continuing his legacy as co-interim manager for

.

Starting from Celtic and finishing his playing career in Stoke City, Shay has played for many top-class teams and has been an exceptional last-line defense for the teams that put their faith in him.

If you are interested to learn more about him, we offer you a comprehensive article about

Shay Given biography

.

Everything you need to know about Shay Given biography

No burden will prevent us from getting right to his information and basic statistics of his life, so without further ado let us move to the next part of

Shay Given bio

.

Shay Given information

We have listed some of the most basic information about this Irish former goalkeeper which will supply you with a general overview of his life and career.

Personal information

• Full name

  : Séamus John James "Shay" Given

• Date of birth

  : 20 April 1976

• Place of birth

  : Lifford, Ireland

• Age

  : 44

• Star sign

  : Taurus

• Marital status

  : Engaged

• Religion

  : Christianity

Football information

• Profession:

  Assistant manager

• Current team

  : Derby County

• Position

  : Goalkeeper

• Agent

  : ICM Stellar Sports

• Foot

  : Right

Body measurement and appearance

• Height

  : 1.85 m

• Weight

  : 84kg

• Skin color

  : White

• Hair color

  : Dark brown

• Hair style:

  Short back and sides

• Facial hair:

  Clean

Now that you have gathered fundamental information about this Irish star, let us move to

Shay Given life story

and his early life.

Shay Given early life

Séamus John James "Shay" Given was born on April 20, 1976, in Lifford, Ireland. Regarding to

Shay Given date of birth

his star sign is Taurus.  

Shay Given childhood

was spent playing football with his friends in his dad’s front garden.

He had great potential and that’s why it comes as no surprise that he was playing for a local club called Lifford Celtic at the age of 14. His first match was a disaster. He conceded 7 goals which was a huge kick to his reputation. But soon enough he managed to adapt himself to the ways of goalkeeping and attracted the attention of

.

The club invited Shay to train with their youth side and a year later they offered young Shay a contract. In spite of everything he never played for the first team, yet he managed to catch the eye of

manager Kenny Dalglish, who acquired Shay on a free transfer in the summer of 1994.

Shay Given profile

England’s Premier League is considered one of the best football leagues in the world, and the players who get the chance to shine in the field as part of this league's history are the ones that the fans will remember forever.

In correlation with what has been said, Shay Given made his way into the hearts of the fans as he played for the best teams of the

. Almost all of his contracts were long-term and clubs made sure that he could rely on him to defend their goal for a long time. Now in this part, we are going to discuss the factors which made this goalkeeper valuable and antique.

Style of play

Shay Given was fast, this was the factor that differentiated him from any other mediocre goalkeeper. He was always faster than the ball's speed.

With marvelous agility and a super-fit body, he was able to stop shots that could easily escape a goalkeeper’s grasp. He was known for his courageous play and excellent reflexes. This is why Shay Given has been considered one of the greatest goalkeepers of the premier league or even the world.

Reception

Shay Given is regarded as the legend of Newcastle United. He made a total of 354 appearances for the team and was part of the main squad for almost all of his time in the team.  Highlights of his career as a Newcastle player were his penalty save against Fabrizio Ravanelli, the team's victory over 

 both at home and in Germany, and his role in Newcastle’s qualification for the UEFA Cup.

Shay Given outside football

Just to deviate from football side of Shay Given bio, he has been enjoying his life after his retirement, you can tell that by the pictures that he posts on social media.  Shay Given is good friends with Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard. Shay and Rooney’s friendship started when they met each other in the interim coaching quartet.

Shay likes to spend his time with his family and friend. He visits his son, Shayne, when he gets the chance. He also likes to go on vacation with his fiancé and post pictures of their wonderful time on Instagram.

Shay Given personal life

For this part of the

Shay Given biography

, we are going to take a deep look inside his personal life and family as well as his past relationships.

Family, children, and relationships

Shay Given was born to Agnes given and Seamus Given. His best friend was Pat Shovelin who died on October 21, 2017, from Liver cancer. He and Shay were so close that Shay considered Pat his brother and part of his family.

Shay Given's first romantic relationship was with Jane Cunningham. The two married in 2001 in Hexam, England. Considering

Shay Given religion

, the ceremony was held in a catholic church. The result of this marriage was 2 children named Sienna Given and Shayne Given.

Shay and jane divorced on 17 June 2014. There were rumors that Shay had an affair with Becky Gibson, a Manchester-based PR executive while being married. The rumors were true and the couple was in a relationship since 2013. Shay is now a father of 4 children, 2 from the past relationship and two from the one that he is currently in. His daughters are named Gracie and Cassie.

Philanthropy

Shay Given is a man of kind heart and much love for humanity, thus in March 2020, he set up a campaign to provide protective equipment for NHS workers. Regarding this matter he said and we quote “A good friend of mine, Rob Noble, is sort of the mastermind behind it. We put our brains together… all our money goes directly to PPE like masks, gloves, aprons, to help the front lines.”

Legal issues

Concerning his problems with the law, there has been one issue that once blew up the internet. The validity of this case was never confirmed, however, this goes back to 2010, when an Irish soccer agent claimed that Shay Given needs to pay him 250,000 pounds over his move to Manchester City. Despite rising some controversies, this claim failed to take Shay into court and the problem vanished faster than it had appeared.

Shay Given career statistics

With a total of 489 appearances in domestic matches and 139 in international ones, Shay Given has quite the experience both in Premier league tournaments and in international world-class tournaments such as the FIFA world cup and EURO Cup. We have prepared a complete section of his career statistics including all the subtle details and information.

Now that we have come this far, let us get to the most important part of the

Shay Given biography

which gives this all meaning and makes this man famous.

Club

Shay Given's senior side of the professional career started when he joined Blackburn Rovers in 1994. In 3 years he was only used 2 times in the field which was disheartening since shay had great potential that could have been used to boost the team’s overall performance. Blackburn Rovers transferred Shay to Swindon Town in 1994 as a loan player. He never received the chance to play in the field until 1996.

Things changed as Shay joined Newcastle United under Dalglish’s management. Shay earned his first cap in a match against Sheffield Wednesday on August 9, 1997. This match was a huge success for him because his team managed to win the match and Shay overperformed his fellow goalkeepers Pavel Srníček, Shaka Hislop, and Steve Harper. In November 1997, Shay received a strange goal that made history.

After collecting a cross, Shay Given rolled the ball out in preparation to make a long clearance. However, he had no idea that the opposite team striker Dublin was behind him.

Dion Dublin took advantage of the situation and rolled the ball into the empty net. He stood strong for the team for 12 years and his performance was proof that he wasn’t getting old, he was just developing his skills day by day and he was becoming an unbreakable wall in front of

’s net.

His stay at Newcastle was highly competitive since the club had 3 other goalkeepers and each one of them was looking for an opportunity to make themselves worth replacing Shay Given. After a few defeats manager had to put replace Shay with Harper, but shortly after Shay reclaimed his position in the starting 11.

Shay accomplished what a few could accomplish, he made his 400th appearance for Newcastle United on January 1, 2007, in a match against

.

Manchester City offered Shay a four-and-a-half-year contract for 6 million pounds on February 1, 2009. Shay was assigned number 37. After joining his new club, he blasted Newcastle's management for not doing their best to keep him at the club. He gained his reputation by keeping a clean sheet in a match against Middleborough on February 7.

Originally the number 1 jersey was occupied by Joe Hart and after his transfer as a loan player, Shay took the number. In 2010, Manchester City replaced Shay with Hart and this action resulted in Shay's dissatisfaction.

took advantage of the situation and made a five-year offer to Shay with a fee of 3.5 million pounds on July 18, 2011. His first appearance for the team was on 21 July against Walsall.

Given started off weak and as a result, he was replaced by Brad Guzan. He was given a temporary role in the team and was appointed as the assistant of Paul Lambert.  In the 2014- 2015 season, Shay was featured in all of the matches.

The last club of his playing career was

. He came to an agreement on the terms of the contract with Stoke City on July 10, 2015. Due to his age, he was signed as a backup for their first-choice goalkeeper Jack Butland.

He had a good season with the team but his performance was dropping and he was losing his reputation since his age was holding him back from competing with the new and talented players of the premier league.

Shay Given finally ended his playing career on July 28, 2016, after donating all of his international fees to the charity.

International

Regarding

Shay Given nationality

, he has played 5 games for the youth side and 134 games for the senior side of the Irelands national team. Albeit having a rough time in the domestic games, he was called to the Irelands national squad in 1996.

He received his first cap on March 27, 1996, in a match against Russia. Despite Ireland's overall failure, given proved himself in the field and became a first-choice goalkeeper in his national team.

Successfully qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, Ireland faced

in the first game of the knockout round. The game was extended to the extra time and penalty shootouts in which Spain managed to defeat Ireland and this was the end of the line for Ireland's 2002 World cup journey.

Once again, Shay was given the opportunity to participate in the FIFA World Cup in 2006. But this opportunity didn’t last long as Ireland failed to qualify for the tournament. However, Shay equaled Packie Bonner's record of 80 appearances against Slovakia on March 28, 2007. Two years after, he reached the milestone of 100 appearances for the team in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying game.

On August 13, 2012, Shay announced that he was going to fill in for retirement from international football. But to everybody's surprise, due to his lack of playing time with his club Aston Villa, he was available for Ireland's 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.

His first tournament participation after his retirement was Euro 2012, a complete disappointment as Ireland failed to progress from the group stages. Shay Suffered a knee injury in a match against Germany in Euro 2016 qualifier and had to step off the field and watch their marvelous win over

by 1-0 from the bench. Ultimately, Shay Given his final retirement from international games on July 28, 2016.

Managerial

The managerial side of Shay Given Biography starts in June 2018, when he was assigned as the goalkeeping coach of derby county, which was under Frank Lampard’s Leadership.

Soon Frank Lampard left his position giving it to Philip Cocu, But Shay's position wasn’t changed. In November 2020, Cocu was dismissed and Shay became part of an interim coaching quartet alongside Wayne Rooney, Liam Rosenior, and Justin Walker.

The next year Rooney was assigned as the club’s permanent manager and Shay Given was appointed as the first-team coach. He is still in his position in Derby County.

Now let us get to the last section of Shay Given biography where we have prepared a list of his achievements, domestic and international awards, and accomplishments.

Shay Given Honors!

Shay Given achieved his first trophy when he was on loan for Sunderland. In the 1995-96 season, Sunderland managed to stand on the top of the league table of the first division. Most of his achievements as a team are involved with the FA Cup tournament. Manchester City was the team that Shay won his only FA Cup award with, in 2010-11.

Shay and his teammates in New Castle and Aston Villa failed to win the finals and occupied the second position in the tournament in 1997-98 and 2014-15. In 2006, New castle obtained UEFA Intertoto Cup, which was originally called the international football cup. His only achievement for his international side is the Nations cup of 2011.

To talk about his individual awards, we have to mention that Shay Given was elected as the FAI Senior International Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006. Furthermore, he was chosen as the best player of the year for New castle in the 2005-2006 season.

All things considered, Shay Given has been a wonderful player and a wonderful father for his children. For his love for humanity and society, he has helped a lot of people throughout his career and has made sure that he had done his part in making the world a better place. This is what it is all about. To reach your goals and help others to reach theirs.

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