Given crosses another bridge

SO then, Shay Given, were you aware in advance that Wayne Bridge wasn’t going to shake hands with John Terry at Stamford Bridge on Saturday?

Ireland’s No 1 pauses for an unfeasibly long period of time. Finally, with just a hint of a smile, he answers. “I had an idea, yeah,” he says. At which point, Given and the huddle of reporters surrounding him on the side of the Arsenal training pitch, dissolve into laughter.

Yes, it’s mad stuff, really, the idea that, after his Manchester City team have turned over league leaders Chelsea on their own turf, all anyone really wants to ask the Donegal man about is the latest twist in English football’s prime-time soap opera. For the record, Given doesn’t think the Bridge-Terry saga seriously impinged on matters on the field of play on Saturday.