Apparently he is in doubt for the Liverpool game . He broke his nose and bruised his wrist, in a fight with Warren Barton in the dressing room after the game.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Answers

It's a shame that Barton wasn't the one that came off worse.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Or even Soton's Barton lookalike who decked Shay during the match. ;-)

Sorry to hear it Shay, but....One Stevie Harper, there's only one Stevie Harper! ;-))

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

What was the fight about Rik ?

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Something to do with Warren's back-passes? Is this for real, Shay I can believe, but Warren seems quite level-headed?

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

According to the 'window cleaner', they were fighting about one of the baths. There are only 7 of them in the changing room and Barton was about to jump into one, when an argument broke out . Given asked Barton what he needed a bath for as he had hardly broken into a sweat. So Barton hit him, breaking his nose. Given tried to punch him back but missed , hitting the wall.

NUFC have tried to keep it quiet saying Given was injured during the game..

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

From icNewcastle:

Shay Given faces a fight to face Liverpool on Saturday after being in the wars against Southampton last night.

For not only did the Republic of Ireland keeper break his nose but he also suffered concussion and a badly sprained wrist in an incident involving Southampton striker Kevin Davies just before half-time.

However it is a credit to Given's professionalism and bravery that he not only carried on playing for the rest of the game but was also one of the few United men on the night not to let himself down.

Given had stitches inserted into a mouth wound after the game and he will have an X-ray on his wrist injury once the swelling has gone down.

But with four days to go until United's final away game of the season, Bobby Robson is hoping that his No 1 keeper will have recovered.

The United boss said: "The Southampton boy came right through on Shay and I don't know how the referee did not see it. However, I think he turned his back to indicate that he was not giving a penalty."

Davies had earlier been booked for a foul on United midfielder Christian Bassedas and he would obviously have been in trouble if referee Steve Lodge had considered that he had fouled Given. In fact the Barnsley official actually gave a drop ball - much to the annoyance of the home supporters.

Given has been in superb form since he withdrew his transfer request at the turn of the year and he would be a big miss at Anfield. But United have a more than capable deputy in Steve Harper and the goalkeeping situation is probably the only area United do not need to worry about strengthening.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

>>>NUFC have tried to keep it quiet<<< That explains why the disinformation is being put around in the Ronnie. I don't believe a word of their story. Shay looked OK in the 2nd half right in front of me.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

You're right Screecher it's a bloody cover up.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Interesting. Not having seen the match, the Ronnie's story sounded plausible enough. Was this fight before or after Barton's press interview?

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Sounds like wishful thinking to assume the players were sufficiently annoyed with the performance to even raise voices let alone fists. Watching on Sky, Given took a nasty knee in the face which could easily have swelled up after the game. Treating this rumour with extreme caution as the last thing we need now is unsubstantiated stories of unrest within the camp. It might make us feel better, but it won't help the team.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Ignore them....Rik and Screach are winding you up!

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

No I'm bliddy not! He did look OK in the 2nd half. But I guess they'd wiped the blood off by then. As for Barton hitting Shay on the beak. Come off it. On last night's performance, Barton could hit nowt. Not even the bar.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

I'm not trying to defend Barton, but he did have a shot on target yesterday.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

The fact of the matter is . When things aren't going well a lot of us pick on the likes of Barton and Speed.

Why?

Possibly because they are past their best and will never get better. The youngsters will improve with games, but the old boys will slowly become more lethargic. So why dosen't BR give some of the younger lads a few games at the end of the season, then try to offload these overpaid arselicking wasters in the summer, replacing them with real quality players using the trillions of pounds promised by the owners of the club?

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Correction. That wasn't a shot on target, that was a backpass.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

I was behind the goal during the nose busting event. He bleed a lot and did take his glove off and rubbed his wrist a few times.

But if he had a sprained wrist why did he come out during second half?

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001

Because he knows that Harper will probably keep his place and Shay has World Cup Qualifiers to come at the end of the season.

I'd rather he twatted Barton.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001

I just said the same thing to a fellow Toon supporter!

Better yet send Warren to me and I will smack him one ;o)

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001

Jay
Don't you have a special method of chastisement for video pirates ? Giving Barton some of the same would be better than just smacking him. :-))

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001