Aston Villa vs Liverpool: 'This FA Cup run has been wonderful,' says veteran Shay Given

Do you ever get over it?” Shay Given is remembering the deep disappointment of being dropped for the 1999 FA Cup final.

He had played in every round leading up to Wembley but in the week of the final learned that Ruud Gullit, then his manager at Newcastle United, was selecting Steve Harper in his place to face Manchester United. “It’s not an easy one and it was Ruud Gullit at the time who didn’t even tell me,” he recalls. “He got the goalkeeping coach, Terry Gennoe, to tell me I wasn’t playing. That was a bit of a slap in the face.”

For the Aston Villa goalkeeper, the old Wembley was not a happy place – he had lost the 1998 final with Newcastle against Arsenal, as a 22-year-old, and a semi-final defeat would follow in 2000 – and by the time he did win there, he was a mere spectator under the new arch as Manchester City beat Stoke City in the 2011 final.

“I’ve got the medal at home but I don’t even know where it is, if I’m being honest,” adds Given, who did not feature in a single tie that year. “It was nice to be part of winning it with Man City but when you don’t play it doesn’t have the same value to it.”

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A winner’s medal this season, by contrast, would be something to cherish. The old pot has had a revitalising effect on Given, 39 tomorrow, who has figured in every round for Villa up to this afternoon’s semi-final against Liverpool. It is a notable change of fortunes for the likeable Irishman, signed by Alex McLeish, who has not represented Villa in the Premier League since Paul Lambert dropped him in favour of Brad Guzan after his second game in charge in August 2012.

“It can be disheartening sometimes if you’re basically training for not very much at the end of it,” he says. “It’s been a great carrot for me, this FA Cup run. It has shown the fans that I’m still capable and hopefully it puts a seed of doubt into the manager’s head as well.”

He has made a point to himself too. “When you don’t play you need to go back and prove even to yourself that you’ve still got it,” adds Given, whose Cup displays meant he reclaimed the Ireland goalkeeper’s jersey for last month’s qualifier against Poland. “I’ve made saves in every game and as a goalkeeper, it’s nice when you contribute to getting through. You want to play in the big games, the big atmospheres, and it was great in the quarter-final when we beat West Brom. Villa Park was rocking and I’ve not seen that for a while.”

The pick of his saves actually came in the fifth round, in the narrow victory over Leicester City, when he flew to his left to stop a Matty James shot with the contest goalless. “It was a good save and it was an important save at that time of the game,” he says and Tim Sherwood, on a watching brief having just replaced Lambert, certainly took note. “He’s a large part of the reason we’re in this semi-final,” says the manager.

As it was, Sherwood stole the headlines that day by descending from the stands for a transformative half-time team talk. “It was not just half-time at Leicester,” Given explains. “There have been other occasions where people have seen the angry side but 10 minutes later he is putting his arm around the same player. One of his best skills is man-management. He knows how to get the best out of people.”

Given has known Sherwood for a long time – his now manager was on the Ewood Park pitch when he made his senior debut for Blackburn Rovers as a late substitute for Tim Flowers in a League Cup tie against Brentford in September 1996. “He does wear his heart on his sleeve,” Given continues. “People and players especially respond and respect that. Tim is a very positive guy, both in football and life, and that has rubbed off on the players.”

One beneficiary of this man-management is 19-year-old winger Jack Grealish, who is expected to start today – “Jack needed someone to put his arm round him and really get behind him [and] this manager has done that” – though it is the reborn Christian Benteke, scorer of eight goals in his last six matches, who represents Villa’s biggest source of hope. “It’s the Christian of old, powering past centre-halves and directing a great header into the goal,” says Given of the striker’s winner at Tottenham Hotspur last weekend. “The gaffer has encouraged us to get more bodies, more support up to him and more balls into the box as well. If we can do that against Liverpool he’ll cause them some problems.”

In the spring sunshine this week, Bodymoor Heath felt a different place after the gloom of Lambert’s reign. Last term, especially, was a strange old time for Given who was, he recalls, “cast to one side” as one of “the players they wanted off the wage bill”.

He did not play once, going on loan to Middlesbrough instead for three months, yet, bizarrely, finished the campaign as one of Lambert’s temporary assistants. “Weird” is how he describes that interlude. “Life is too short to have grudges,” he adds. “I’d done my A licence, my B licence and the club were in a bit of a sticky position because of the staff that had left.”

What happens next is unclear. He would love to play at Euro 2016, if Ireland qualify, but knows he needs regular first-team football. “Maybe we’ll sit down in the summer and see what the thoughts of the manager are.”

Happily for Given, Sherwood’s thoughts on his line-up for Wembley today are already clear. Indeed the manager confirmed on Friday that the Irishman would be his starting goalkeeper up until the final, should Villa advance. “Personally, you’ve got to give it to the guy who’s got you that far, if he’s done well,” adds Given himself, the memory of Gullit’s decision all those years ago yet to fade.

Aston Villa v Liverpool is live on BT Sport 1 today, kick-off 3pm