Seamus John James Given (born 20 April 1976) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of Ireland's greatest ever players and – in his prime – one of the Premier League's best goalkeepers, he is the second-most capped Republic of Ireland player, with 134 caps (a tally exceeded only by Robbie Keane).
Given began his career at Celtic; however, he never made a first-team appearance and joined Blackburn Rovers on a free transfer in 1994. Whilst on loan from Blackburn, he was part of both the Sunderland team who won the Football League First Division title in 1995–96 and the Swindon Town team who won the Football League Second Division title that same season. He was signed by Newcastle United in 1997 for a fee of £2.5 million, where he was part of the teams who were runners-up in the 1998 and 1999 FA Cup campaigns, and was named in the Premier League Team of the Season for the 2001–02 and 2005–06 seasons. He played in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup with Newcastle, and was involved in the club's title challenge in 2001–02. On 1 February 2009, Given joined Manchester City for £6 million on a four-and-a-half-year contract. On 18 July 2011, he joined Aston Villa for a fee believed to have been around £3.5 million, signing a five-year contract. Given joined Stoke City in July 2015, remaining with the club for two seasons before retiring.
Having surpassed the total of 100 caps required for membership, he is part of the FIFA Century Club. Given gained his first international cap in 1996 and played in goal during every match for his country during the 2002 FIFA World Cup campaign, helping them reach the knockout stage. He was later on the pitch in Paris when the Republic of Ireland were knocked out of the play-offs for a spot in the 2010 FIFA World Cup by France before helping his team qualify for UEFA Euro 2012. Given played at UEFA Euro 2012 and was selected in Martin O'Neill's 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016, but did not appear in any of Ireland's four matches at the tournament. He announced his international retirement in July 2016, having amassed 134 caps for his country and kept 52 clean sheets.
Club career
Early career Born in Lifford, County Donegal, Given's footballing career began at local amateur side Lifford Celtic, where he shot to notoriety for conceding seven goals on his debut. He was propelled into the limelight when he played in an FAI Junior Cup semi-final for Lifford Celtic. At 14, his performances for the club attracted attention from Scottish club Celtic, and he was invited to train with their youth side during a pre-season tour of Ireland in 1991. Given signed for the club a year later. Despite being named to the substitutes bench for the Old Firm derby against Rangers on 1 January 1994, Given never made a first-team appearance. Retrieved 30 December 2008
His performances for Celtic's youth team did bring him to the attention of Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish, and he signed for the English side on a free transfer in the summer of 1994. Given revealed that Celtic offered him a one-year contract to stay at the club before moving to Blackburn Rovers.
Blackburn Rovers The season after Given's arrival saw Blackburn win the Premier League title and Given was unable to oust first-choice goalkeeper and England international Tim Flowers from the team. He made two loan moves to Swindon Town. Given acted as understudy during his first spell at the Wiltshire club, but helped them start their Championship-winning Second Division campaign during the 1995–96 season. He played in five games for Swindon before returning to Blackburn at the end of 1995. Given suffered an arm injury shortly after returning to Blackburn, but it turned out that the injury was "not as bad as first feared".
Given was sent on loan again in January 1996, this time to First Division side Sunderland. Given kept 12 clean sheets during his 17 games for the club, and formed part of the team who won promotion to the Premier League as champions.
Ahead of the 1996–97 season, Given was linked a move away from Blackburn, with Sunderland trying to re-sign him permanently. However, he stayed at the club throughout the summer transfer window, with manager Ray Harford intended to keep him and told him to challenge Flowers for the first-choice goalkeeper role. Blackburn even offered Given a new three-year contract to stay at the club. However, Given continued to be Blackburn's second-choice goalkeeper behind Flowers. He made his debut for the club on 24 September 1996, coming on as an 86th minute substitute in Blackburn's 2–0 win against Brentford in the second leg of the League Cup second round. Following an injury to Flowers, Given made his Premier League debut in Blackburn's 1–0 defeat at Wimbledon on 14 December 1996. He then kept his first Premier League clean sheet in a 0–0 draw against Derby County on 28 December. It was later revealed that Given did not sign the contract offered to him and intended to leave at the end of the 1996–97 season due to a lack of first team football. This led him to put a transfer request, even it was unlikely to leave the club in the January transfer window.
His performances on loan impressed Kenny Dalglish, who had recently been appointed manager of Newcastle United, and prompted him to sign Given again. But the Magpies faced competitions from Sunderland, Celtic, and Liverpool. Given signed for the North-East club in the summer of 1997 for a fee of £1.5 million following an independent tribunal, as Given was under the age of 23 at the time.
Newcastle United 1997–2001 Given was one of the first signings of then-newly appointed manager Dalglish. Given made his debut in Newcastle's 2–1 home victory over Sheffield Wednesday on 9 August 1997 and immediately established himself in the first team, beating fellow goalkeepers Pavel Srníček, Shaka Hislop and Steve Harper to the position. Newcastle advanced to the final of the FA Cup, and Given played the whole match as the team were defeated 2–0 by league champions Arsenal. The club also progressed to the final the following year, but Given was replaced by Harper as Newcastle lost 2–0 in the final, this time to Manchester United.
In November 1997, Given conceded a strange goal against Coventry City when, after collecting a cross, he rolled the ball out in preparation to make a long clearance. However, he had forgotten that Coventry striker Dion Dublin was still behind him, and Dublin quickly took advantage of the situation by rolling the ball into the empty net. The coincidence of the goalscorer's name quickly led to the popular joke among football fans that Given "is the only Irishman who doesn't know where Dublin is" and the goal itself is still regularly featured on lists compiled of bizarre goals.
Given submitted a written transfer request in December 2000 after failing to regain his place in the first team from Harper after a thigh injury had ruled him out of a match against Leeds United. Manager Bobby Robson stated at the time: "A lot of clubs have a very good goalkeeper and one who stands by. I think we have two keepers — and Harper is proving that — who can play in the Premiership". The club rejected Given's request and he later withdrew it, stating that his "intention was simply to express [his] frustration at being left out of the team," and that he "never had any intention of actually leaving the club." An injury to Harper led to Given being recalled to the first team, and he kept his place for the rest of the season.
2001–2004 In the 2001–02 season, Given played in every Premier League match as Newcastle's previously unexpected title challenge ended in a fourth-place finish in the league. A highlight of the season was Given saving a Fabrizio Ravanelli penalty in a 1–0 win over Derby County on 24 November 2001. Given was selected in the PFA Team of the Year and Newcastle's league position meant that they would enter the qualifying stages of the UEFA Champions League the following season.
The next season, Given again found himself competing with Harper. After a 5–0 qualifying round win, Newcastle progressed to the group stages of the Champions League. He played in the first three group matches, all of which Newcastle lost. Harper then replaced Given for the next two games. Given returned for the final group match against Feyenoord in the Netherlands, and Newcastle's 3–2 win meant that they qualified for the second round. Internazionale scored four times past Given as Newcastle lost 4–1 in their opening match in the second group stage. Newcastle conceded a further three times away to Barcelona, beat Bayer Leverkusen at home and in Germany (with Given saving an Oliver Neuville penalty in the home tie), and drew with Inter at the San Siro, however a 2–0 loss at home against Barcelona meant that the club finished third in their group and failed to qualify for the knockout stages. Given played every game in the second round. Given played all 38 league games for the club, as well as his twelve European appearances, as the team finished in third place in the Premier League, meaning the club would enter the Champions League qualifying round in the 2003–04 season.
Having finished third in the league in May 2003, Given and Newcastle lost 4–3 on penalties to Partizan Belgrade early in the 2003–04 season, meaning that Newcastle failed to reach the group stages of the Champions League. The club instead qualified for the UEFA Cup, where they reached the semi-finals. A fifth-place finish in the league meant that the club qualified for the following season's UEFA Cup competition. Given played in every one of the club's league matches for a third successive season, as well as all thirteen European games.
2004–2006
After a poor start to the 2004–05 season, Graeme Souness replaced Bobby Robson as Newcastle manager. Given overtook Alan Shearer as having played in the most European matches for the club on 16 September 2004 in a game against Bnei Sakhnin, and Given's twelve European and three FA Cup appearances helped Newcastle reach the UEFA Cup quarter-final and the FA Cup semi-final. Given missed two Premier League games as the club finished in 14th place.
Although the club entered the Intertoto Cup in the 2005–06 season, a defeat by Spanish club Deportivo de La Coruña meant that they did not qualify for further European competition that season. Given played in all of the club's league matches as they finished in seventh position and he signed a new five-year contract with the club in the summer. His performances for Newcastle led to Given being named in the Premier League's Team of the Season. Given played in all of the club's FA Cup games as they reached the quarter-finals, and captained the team for three games during Shearer's absence.
On 17 September 2006, Given suffered a one-centimetre tear in his bowel after a tackle by West Ham United striker Marlon Harewood. Doctors likened the injury to one more likely to happen in a car crash. Manager Glenn Roeder signed ex-Newcastle veteran Pavel Srníček as cover for Steve Harper, and youth goalkeeper Tim Krul played a full match in Newcastle's 1–0 UEFA Cup win at Palermo on 2 November. Given returned on 18 November for Newcastle's 1–1 draw at Arsenal.
2007–2009
Given made his 400th appearance for the club on 1 January 2007 in a 2–2 draw against Manchester United. He ended the 2006–07 season with 22 league appearances as the club finished in 13th place, and reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup.
Given's 2007–08 season was prematurely ended by injury in February 2008 when he had a re-occurrence of a previous groin injury in the 5–1 home defeat by Manchester United.