{"id":290613,"date":"2023-09-20T16:34:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T16:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=290613"},"modified":"2023-09-20T16:34:00","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T16:34:00","slug":"former-newcastle-legend-reveals-he-once-turned-down-man-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/former-newcastle-legend-reveals-he-once-turned-down-man-united\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Newcastle legend reveals he once turned down Man United"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Former Newcastle and Celtic legend reveals he once turned down Man United to join his boyhood club &#8211; leaving Sir Alex Ferguson shocked<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Shay Given revealed he turned down a chance to sign for Manchester United\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The former goalkeeper opted to move to his boyhood club Celtic\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s podcast &#8216;It&#8217;s All Kicking Off!&#8217;\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Former Newcastle United goalkeeper Shay Given revealed he once turned down a chance to play for Manchester United.<\/p>\n<p>The 47-year-old recalled the time he once had trials with the Premier League giants, who were managed by Sir Alex Ferguson\u00a0at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Given claimed that the reason he turned down a move to Old Trafford was because he favoured a move to his boyhood club, Celtic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The former Republic of Ireland international said he was a Celtic fan growing up and believed joining the Scottish side would benefit him early on in his career.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to talkSPORT&#8217;s Alex Crook, Given said: &#8216;I had a trial at Man United and they actually offered me a contract, but I turned them down in favour of a move to Celtic.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/20\/16\/75645665-12540293-image-a-26_1695223789201.jpg\" height=\"391\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Former Newcastle United legend Shay Given reveals he once turned down Manchester United<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/20\/16\/75645899-12540293-image-a-28_1695224132979.jpg\" height=\"441\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Given opted to sign for Scottish side Celtic instead in search of regular first team minutes<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I was a big Celtic fan growing up and United had Peter Schmeichel just coming into his prime whereas Celtic had Packie Bonner who was 34 so my dad and I felt that was a quicker route to playing first-team football.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Given&#8217;s choice didn&#8217;t prove to pay off, however, as the former goalkeeper struggled to break into the first team.<\/p>\n<p>After leaving Celtic at the age of 18, Given moved back home for a month as he struggled to find a club.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I left Celtic at 18 and had to go back to Ireland and stay at home for a month or two because I did not have a club before Blackburn offered me a contract.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>After a few loan moves away from Blackburn, Given was eventually snapped up by Newcastle where he would go on to become a legend at St James&#8217; Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;If you had have said then when I was back in Donegal that three years later I&#8217;d be rocking out at St James&#8217; Park in the Champions League with the number one jersey on my back, people would have looked at me and gone, &#8216;Yeah, good one, mate,&#8217; because that was just a dream.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>He would go on to make 463 appearances for the Magpies before spells with Manchester City, Aston Villa and Stoke City.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Given recently met Ferguson at the 2023 Carabao Cup final between Manchester United and Newcastle &#8211; 30 years after he turned the Red Devils down.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/20\/16\/75645327-12540293-image-a-27_1695223979571.jpg\" height=\"440\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Given (top left) would eventually make a name for himself during huis time at Newcastle United<\/p>\n<p>The Irishman said Ferguson was still shocked that he turned the club down all these years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I met Sir Alex Ferguson at the 2023 League Cup final, some 30 years later, but he is like an elephant who never forgets.<\/p>\n<p>He said to me, &#8216;I still cannot believe you turned me down to go to Celtic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12540293\/Newcastle-Celtic-Man-United-alex-ferguson.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Newcastle and Celtic legend reveals he once turned down Man United to join his boyhood club &#8211; leaving Sir Alex Ferguson shocked Shay Given revealed he turned down a chance to sign for Manchester United\u00a0 The former goalkeeper opted to move to his boyhood club Celtic\u00a0 Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former Newcastle legend reveals he once turned down Man United - Sports Life Tale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/former-newcastle-legend-reveals-he-once-turned-down-man-united\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Newcastle legend reveals he once turned down Man United - Sports Life Tale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Newcastle and Celtic legend reveals he once turned down Man United to join his boyhood club &#8211; 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