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Fair play to shay, brilliant player, great memories, thank you for your commitment, and fair play on admitting when you've gone past your best before, takes a lot to do that. all the best in the future.
Hopefully others will follow suit and we can move on and try and progress...onwards and upwards
I'm a little bit suprised really, thought he would stay on. It was Duffer & Dunne I thought we'd lose after the Euros.
If Westwood is going to be back-up for Mignolet at Sunderland which I suspect he will be, then he needs to move before the end of August
If he moves he'll be moving back to the championship or to a lower league. No team in a top club will be facing into the new season without their first choice goalkeeper prepared. Backup at Sunderland or starter for a lower team, either way its not the preparation we need for him.Quote:
Originally Posted by JGKyne
would prefer him to start for a lower team. A game is a game for a keeper. Its the one position where ability is more equal irrespective of what team you play for.
Sad to see Shay go, a superb servant and one of the players who maintained the fans respect throughout his career. He had a real connection with the fans. Unfortunately he did go out with a bad euros and I suspect that may have swayed his decision.
As for Westwood, thus far I have liked what I have seen, appears to be a good replacement. Got to take his chance now.
I fear the likes of Dunne will follow Shay now, we really really need Dunne to stay for one more campaign.
Fair play to Shay Given, he has been the Irish goalkeeper since I was twelve years old. I'm sad to see him go but I can more than understand him wanting to focus on his club career at this stage of his life given the injuries he's suffered over the past two years.
I hope Westwood plays regularly, even if he's on loan in the Championship. I don't like having an international starter being on the bench for his club team, especially at that position.
It would be nice to have an Ireland vs. England testimonial for him, he's certainly been in the top ten Premiership goalkeepers since the Premiership came into being.
One of the greatest Irish players ever
Thanks Shay, a true legend! Saved our backsides so so so many times over the years. Pity Euro 2012 didn't go better, but I think 2010 was the tournament that a lot of our older servants should have been at.
The back of the bus is looking a bit bare :(
http://thescore.thejournal.ie/this-i...57697-Aug2012/
Really disappointing that he has decided to call it a day as is by far the best goalkeeper available to us. I hope Trapattoni and Tardelli get in contact with Shay after the Serbia game and try to get him to change his mind. If the other three also retire, it feels like we can write off this qualification campaign.
It'll be interesting to see how Shay gets on for Villa this season. Is he really on the way out, or was the Euros just an injury or bad form or something else.
I think he's the only one of the four potential retirees that we have a replacement for though. The other three would/will be much bigger losses.
Did he not get a contract extension at Villa? One hears there are extensions ...and then there are extensions...
Okay even I don't have a clue what I'm on about there. I've seen it wrote or heard it spake, in general non-specific terms, that retiring from international football could very much sweeten a deal -especially in duration terms, in just such a circumstance as Shay finds himself.
My understanding was that he had an agreement in principal made with McLeish when he signed that he'd retire after Euro 2012. With McLeish being sacked he wanted to assess the position of Lambert, he didn't mind what Shay did but cautioned him that Brad Guzan would be competing for his spot.
Given is on something like 60 grand a week at Villa untill June 2016.
He must have a very good agent. Is it Michael Kennedy?
Not surprised at all. And like Stu said it's the one retirement I didn't fear.
Best of luck Shay. The Greatest we ever had. EVER!
What's all this talk about Westwood being on the bench and if he can fill Given's boots.
What about Paddy Kenny?
A lot of short termism based on his Euro performance around here, I'm not sure how you could be satisfied with Westwood being out number 1 given both his lack of experience and the fact that he isn't a first team starter. The other alternatives are all playing in lower leagues, there is no replacing him at this stage and this is a hit that'll be felt larger than I think many here are expecting.
Sad to see Shay go. One of my favourite Irish players ever and his retirement day has been a day I've always dreaded. What a great servant he's been though. He'll be difficult to replace and will be missed big time. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't apprehensive about the future without him behind our defence. Besides his ten appearances for us, I haven't seen enough of Westwood overall to be able to judge him properly. How many of those have been full internationals?
All of them (by definition!) His competitive debut was against Macedonia last year (the home game I think; not sure). Think that's his only competitive cap.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
All the grattitude in the world to Shay for 16 years and 125 appearances. Irish legend and certainly our best ever goalkeeper.
Westwood's always looked solid for us and, barring a couple of early boo-boos, for Sunderland. Wouldn't surprise me to see him oust the looper Mignolet.