Christmas has come early for ‘excited’ Given

Former Republic of Ireland number one Shay Given feels Christmas has come early after being rolled out of cold storage to make the 600th club appearance of his career today.

Given, 37, joined Middlesbrough on-loan from Aston Villa on Thursday and will make his debut for them against Bolton. He had been frozen out by Villa boss Paul Lambert and had not made a competitive appearance since Villa’s FA Cup defeat at Millwall in January.

Given jumped at the chance to sign for new Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka and said: “I can’t wait to be honest, I want to get the talking out of the way. I’ve played football all my life and recently it has been very frustrating. It’s like Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day to get back in the thick of the action.”