LUTON on Tuesday night was the place to take the pulse of the senior Republic of Ireland team ahead of their European Championship double-header and the beat was somewhat erratic. Luton Town were up against Stoke City’s dirt-trackers who had travelled down to Kenilworth Road on the day of the match, with four Ireland internationals in the starting line-up, all of them not exactly where they want to be.
Jonathan Walters is feeling undervalued and unsettled, with Stoke refusing to offer him a contract extension for the two years he is seeking and Norwich City making what he considers a derisory offer. Marc Wilson was making his first start of the season having recovered from an ankle injury. Stephen Ireland is Stephen Ireland. And Shay Given is back playing second fiddle to a younger goalkeeper and will probably only get a look-in outside of the Capital One Cup should injury strike Stoke’s first-choice goalkeeper, Jack Butland. It was the presence in the stands of the Ireland goalkeeping coach Jim McDonagh, alongside his boss Martin O’Neill, which suggested that the greatest concerns surround Given, or at least the Ireland goalkeeping situation, even though the opposition for Ireland over the next eight days amounts to Gibraltar and Georgia.
O’Neill and McDonagh had disappeared from their seats in the directors’ box five minutes from the end of the game, so unless they moved somewhere else in Kenilworth Rd to get a better view, they missed Luton’s equalising goal in injury time and the 30 minutes of extra time which followed. Not to mention the penalty shoot out in which Given threw himself about impressively, but couldn’t stop Luton’s first seven penalties. Then the eighth struck the crossbar and the tie was settled in favour of Stoke. “I didn’t have much to do for a lot of the game so hopefully they [O’Neill and McDonagh] saw the warm-up,” Given remarked afterwards. While his teammates wouldn’t share the sentiment, Given was grateful for the 120 minutes of game time with a return to his Ireland commitments beckoning this week.
Still the goalkeeping situation remains worrying, but who else could O’Neill turn to? Keiren Westwood is struggling with a stomach injury and David Forde is back in League One with Millwall, while Darren Randolph conceded four goals at home to Bournemouth on his Premier League debut for West Ham last week. Irish uncertainties are spreading well beyond Stoke.
“It is an uncertain time,” Given agreed when he took some time out after the game to reflect on the latest chapter in his career. “But it doesn’t matter if I am playing or not playing. If selected I will be ready. I finished the campaign last season playing for [Aston] Villa, then had a couple of games with Ireland, then some pre-season games and tonight as well. I do feel I am sharp enough to play next week and I feel good. Hopefully, the manager will have seen enough tonight to give me the nod.”
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Ireland fans could be forgiven for a sense of déjà vu when it comes to Given. Rehabilitated during Roy Keane’s brief stint at the club as assistant manager, Given was nonetheless restricted to cup duty for much of last season at Villa. Tim Sherwood on his arrival as manager did restore Given to the starting line-up for the tricky end to the club’s Premier League campaign and there was a feeling that Given might have done enough to keep the jersey at the West Midlands club going into this season. Instead he had a brief meeting with Sherwood over the summer and realised his time at Villa was up.
“He basically said the clubs had agreed a fee for me to move. When a manager tells you that, you know it’s time to look for something else.”
There is no escaping the sense of a few years lost at Villa. Signed by Alex McLeish on a bumper, long-term contract in 2011, Given quickly fell out of favour with McLeish’s successor, Paul Lambert, who had a cost-cutting agenda apparently on instructions from the owner Randy Lerner, and quarantined some high earners such as Given, Stephen Ireland and Darren Bent. Lambert dug his heels in and so did Given, making for a standoff which was painful to watch.
“If you are not playing it is a waste of time, yeah. I am coming to the twilight of my career now, but when I went there I very much felt I was capable of playing in the Premier League week in, week out. Things changed there and for financial reasons or whatever they wanted me out of the club, but they did sign me . . . ”
With the Stoke manager, Mark Hughes, who was also his boss at Manchester City, Given is convinced things will be different. “He was honest with me. He said that Jack would start at the beginning of the season, but it was up to me to push him hard and try to get in the team. I have a great relationship with Mark and all his staff from Man City, so that was a big reason why I came as well. Jack is a young keeper and had a great game last week, but sometimes young players and keepers in general can have a dip in form or get an injury and the manager said I would get my chance if that was the case. When you are wanted by a club and by a manager it is a totally different mindset. I didn’t feel for a number of years that I was wanted at Aston Villa.”
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Given did think his moment had arrived when Butland broke a finger in the build-up to last week’s game against Norwich but Hughes persevered with the England under- 21 goalkeeper. Given did have other options over the summer, ones which mightn’t have presented O’Neill with such a headache. Middlesbrough, where he spent a successful period on loan while at Villa, tried to sign him, but he was reluctant to move to Teesside, because of family reasons. Given’s personal life is settled at the moment after the break-up of his marriage a few years ago and he is expecting a baby with his new partner, Becky Gibson, in November.
“I was tempted by Middlesbrough, but playing in the Premier League is a big thing and my family is based in Manchester, so family reasons were a big factor as well. I do believe I am joining the best squad of players that Stoke have had. They finished ninth last season, but ideally you want to be playing.”
Ideally, but for now at least O’Neill and Ireland will probably have to settle for what they’ve got.