Shay Given takes stroll up memory lane as he discusses Newcastle - and how it changed under Mike Ashley

Shay Given took an emotional stroll up memory lane on Thursday lunchtime, to St James’ Park, in the shadow of the statues of Sir Bobby Robson and Alan Shearer.

It has been, by his own admission, a little while since he sat on a train and rolled into Tyneside, where the city’s bridge and its football club so dominate the skyline and heartbeat of its people.

Given has written the memoirs of a 23-year career from his current home in Manchester, but Newcastle was where a young man from Lifford in Donegal put down his roots and came within sight of becoming its football club’s record appearance holder.

When Given decided he’d had enough of the circus of Joe Kinnear and a chaotic period in Newcastle United’s history in 2009, he’d represented them 463 times, just 33 shy of Jimmy Lawrence’s all-time record from 1922.

“Yeah, I’d love to have the record here, of course I would,” he says. “You can look back now later in life and maybe regret things but it’s very difficult when you're in that moment.

“You're in that team, losing five goals against Liverpool and it could have been any score. Every week I was getting battered and you get lower and lower and your hope gets ebbed away.

“Of course I was aware of the record, but I have a short career. My dad said that when I was 16 and I left home, ‘You need to get in the first team as quick as possible, you're not leaving home to sit on the bench. You're going to play football and try and win something.’

“Life is that short, you can’t look back and say maybe I should have stayed. Man City could have signed any goalkeeper in the world but they wanted me and it gave me a big boost as well. The bigger picture was, ‘Can I win a trophy somewhere else?”

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Given moved to Newcastle when he was 21, to win something. The club had just come within a whisker of being English champions.

“That was the club I thought I’d signed for,” he adds. “We’d just missed out on the Premier League the season before and we were playing Champions League football.

“I think beating Barcelona in ’97 was probably the highlight. It was such a special night. They were just going to turn up, win and go back to Barcelona with their sombreros on but Tino was phenomenal and Keith Gillespie was probably even better. The atmosphere in there, what 36,000, you'd think it was 136,000, you couldn’t hear yourself think. It was unbelievable.

“We had two FA Cup finals, a UEFA Cup semi-final with Marseille, Sporting Lisbon in the quarter-final, but it’s still going now, that wait for a major trophy. It’s frustrating when I look back. It’s not really a regret because it wasn't for the want of trying.”

He says the club changed under Mike Ashley, who took control in 2007.

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“It felt like everything Mike was doing at the time was to wind everyone up, the fans and the players,” he adds. “It feels like he’s never wanted to be there all the time he has been there. I know it’s for sale now but it think it’s always been for sale.

“Possibly Rafa Benitez would have been a harder manager to have left back then. It was coming for a while. It was an accumulation of a couple of years, the best players were leaving and players who I felt shouldn't have been playing for Newcastle were getting in.

“The feel of the club and the ambition was zero if not zilch. There was a ship bobbing along in the ocean and no real leader of the ship. It was just surviving. Newcastle leads a leader, it needs a captain, it needs someone from the top to lead it.

“When I left, it was a case of sell all the best players, get free transfers in, relegation fights and all that kind of thing. The club should be challenging for the Premier League.”

To that end, Given, like his former captain Shearer, has spoken of a desire for a new owner.

“If a club like Newcastle had people like Sheik Mansour or that sort of ilk and backing, this club could go anywhere it wants, because of the fanbase and the stadium,” he says.

“Of course it is realistic for Newcastle to be as big as Manchester City, of course, why not? You look at where Man City where when they took over, they were lower part of the Premier league. Now you look at where they are now, favourites for the Premier League and one of the favourites for the Champions League.

“With Rafa in charge, the club has the right manager, the right stadium, the right fanbase, all the major stuff is in place. If there was major investment in the team there would be queues around the block to get in.

“I’d have liked to have played for Rafa. Who wouldn’t? He’s a winner. He's done a great job at the minute. I’m just glad he stayed in the summer. It was touch and go if he was going to be here.

“He’s brought a feel good factor back to the club. If a takeover does happen and he gets backed, the club can start picking up momentum and start challenging. He’s the right guy to drive the club forward. If he gets the right financial backing the club can go places.”

Shay: Any Given Saturday - The Autobiography, Trinity Mirror Sport Media, hardback and ebook on sale now.