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To be honest i dont know where to start but this is a Shay appreciation thread.i have no doubt in my mind that we have got one of the very top goal keepers in the world playing for us.he has been immense since he joined us.to be honest im not sure i would swap him for any other keeper in the game.hes a rock week after week since joining city.its been obvious for years how good he is as hes been doing his best for newcastle on motd for years so we all knew how good he was.but to be honest watching him week in week out has made me believd he is truly a different class.has to be the best value for money signing hughes has made.

He is going to be worth quite a few points to us over the course of the season. Today he was the difference between one point or three.

True spiv but hes saved us points on more occasions than i care to remember.his worth to the side is immense.he makes saves other keepers could only dream about.

Can't think of a better keeper anywhere in the world if I'm honest.

Blue tinted specs discarded i cant think of anyone i would rather between the sticks for us

Green & Blue wrote:Blue tinted specs discarded i cant think of anyone i would rather between the sticks for us

I agree G&B. I seriously wouldn't swap him for any goalie in the world.
I was just saying, if Given was from one of the top international countries, like France, Italy or Germany etc, or had played for Arsenal or the scum over the years instead of the Barcodes, he'd be without doubt more widely regarded as one of the top 5 GK's in the world, which is what he is. He's world class and makes game saving stops almost every week. He's phenomenally consistent.
The greatest City goalkeeper of all time??

Shay is a great keeper but a long way off being our greatest of all time.

We have a reputation for having top goalkeepers...Frank Swift, Bert Trautmann, Joe Corrigan...Shay has some way to go yet.

john68 wrote:Shay is a great keeper but a long way off being our greatest of all time.

We have a reputation for having top goalkeepers...Frank Swift, Bert Trautmann, Joe Corrigan...Shay has some way to go yet.

They were all great goalkeepers, no doubt about that, and in terms of legend status they are above Shay now. I'm too young to have witnessed them personally. I think he's certainly the best i've seen in my 26 years on earth. But with our trophy cabinet about to be filled, I sense Shay is gonna play a huge part in this next Chapter and legend status awaits him.

wouldn't swap him for any keeper in the world, anywhere.

I remember rumblings from a few quarters wondering why we were replacing Joe Hart? Games like yesterday is why. Hart is a good keeper, Given is a great one.

Best keeper in the prem without a doubt - once we get the back 4 playing week in week out like chelski - he will look even better

Best in the world right now all my scouse and rag mates say he is the one player from City they would love to have.

Given is magificent, I truly hope he plays for a long time still because it's going to be difficult to find another one like him when he will retire.

john68 wrote:Shay is a great keeper but a long way off being our greatest of all time.

We have a reputation for having top goalkeepers...Frank Swift, Bert Trautmann, Joe Corrigan...Shay has some way to go yet.

Mate the only thing those you listed have above Given is time.

He is one of the greatest goal keepers in WORLD FOOTBALL. How in God's name he wasn't snapped up from Newcastle before now is anyone's guess. My guess is that he wouldn't leave, pure and simple.

When I heard we were signing him I was SO excited and I had a quiet chuckle to myself when I read some of the comments at the time on here!

Hey, one or two of you are pretty good at pulling up the old threads on players - now would be a great time to check out the thread when we found out we were signing Shay...

Go on then?!!

He's the best keeper in a City shirt in my 41 years.

Original Dub wrote:When I heard we were signing him I was SO excited and I had a quiet chuckle to myself when I read some of the comments at the time on here!

Hey, one or two of you are pretty good at pulling up the old threads on players - now would be a great time to check out the thread when we found out we were signing Shay...

Go on then?!!

I've always rated Given but hand on heart I really didn't see the need to buy him at the time. Within about 3 games I realised that the reason I didn't understand why we were bothering to sign him when we had a very promising keeper was that, even though I rated him, I massively underestimated just how damn good a player Shay is.

He is a bloody tremendous goalkeeper. Better than Corrigan for me, significantly so. Can't comment on Swift/Trautmann but Shay Given is an all time Premiership great.

Agree with what you say Dub, the only reason no-one signed him before us can be solely his loyalty to Newcastle United.

He seems like a really likeable fella as well

ant london wrote:

Original Dub wrote:When I heard we were signing him I was SO excited and I had a quiet chuckle to myself when I read some of the comments at the time on here!

Hey, one or two of you are pretty good at pulling up the old threads on players - now would be a great time to check out the thread when we found out we were signing Shay...

Go on then?!!

I've always rated Given but hand on heart I really didn't see the need to buy him at the time. Within about 3 games I realised that the reason I didn't understand why we were bothering to sign him when we had a very promising keeper was that, even though I rated him, I massively underestimated just how damn good a player Shay is.

He is a bloody tremendous goalkeeper. Better than Corrigan for me, significantly so. Can't comment on Swift/Trautmann but Shay Given is an all time Premiership great.

Agree with what you say Dub, the only reason no-one signed him before us can be solely his loyalty to Newcastle U***d.

He seems like a really likeable fella as well

On the 'likeable chap' comment - he's a super super bloke mate. I became great friends with a guy from Donegal (Shay's town) when I lived in Australia and he was good mates with him. I was there during the world cup in Japan and Shay used to email this guy and send him photos of the team when they were having the craic after the matches. Some hilarious ones of Shay doing Karaoke up on the tables after we scored a last min goal against Germany!

By all accounts he's a warrior and to have him in your side is like having a constant inspiration and motivator in the dressing room. By god have we needed that since I started following City!

The funny thing is, I didn't think he was the best keeper around purely because he was Irish. It was because I got to see him EVERYTIME he playe for his country and hand on heart I can say I can't remember ever seeing him having one bad game for Ireland. To be honest, having watched him all these years you kind of get used to him being outstanding and us Irish folk just say "well that's Shay, what do you expect..." every game.

Well, it takes effort not to take you for granted Shay, so if you're reading....

Keep it up you legend, I know you will anyway!!

Shay is amazing and its a shame he is who he is, as mentioned before if he had played for a high profile country and club he would be top 5 easy!

but playing for newcastle and ireland, not really in the major domestic of international competitions he gets overlooked.

He is alot better than jaskerlanen but he has a similar story imo.


Super shay!!!

[quoteHe is a bloody tremendous goalkeeper. Better than Corrigan for me, significantly so. Can't comment on Swift/Trautmann but Shay Given is an all time Premiership great][/quote]

I know I might get slated for what I´m about to say but hey it´s a forum about opinions so I´m bluddy well gonna express em!

Not quite at Big Joes level yet and here´s why IMHO

Firstly commanding the box - Joe was awesome in this respect and gave confidence to the whole back four - Shay , prolly coz of his height more than anything doesn´t quite tick that box (there were 2 crosses yesterday that Joe would have gobbled up for brekkie)but Shay is a better shot stopper although not by much - remember Joes save at Elland Road - I was there and it´s still probably the best save I´ve ever witnessed. Shay is fitter and more mobile than Joe but that stands to reason dunnit?!

Secondly and more importantly is the loss of form and confidence Joe suffered in the early 70s - anyone remember the Spam 1-5 debacle? He was a broken man but fought back when Kieth Macrae got injured at Leicester, an injury I was literally 20 yards away from at Filbert St. , and the rest they say .... Joe went on to become yet another City goalkeeping legend. To come back from that took immense strength of character.

I´m certain it´s only a matter of time before the man from Donegal takes his rightful place among City greats , but it´s still early days for him here and I´m sure even he would recognise that it might take a couple of finals.trophies or C.L. qualifications for him to cement his place amongst such illustrious company - a great signing nevertheless and possibly Les´s most influential
,

Just a thought here but who now feels sorry for Joe Hart? I certainly do as we really thought he was gonna be huge for us and it looks like Shays gonna be going nowhere anytime soon.

I'd much rather have Joe Hart in goal.
































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