SHAY GIVEN, the former Ireland and Newcastle goalkeeper, has lifted the lid on his Parkhead exit all those years ago.

The 45-year-old, capped 134 times by his country, started out as a youngster at Celtic before departing for Blackburn Rovers in 1994.

As a boyhood fan, Given admits that staying in Glasgow and challenging for a place in Lou Macari's team was his preference at the time.

But the shot-stopper felt he had no other option but to quit the Hoops and move down south after receiving a "horrendous" offer of a first professional contract.

Given would go onto become a mainstay in the Premier League, having a highly successful career at the likes of Newcastle, Aston Villa and Manchester City.

But it all could have been so very different - had Celtic been a little more generous with their offer.

"My contract was up and Lou Macari wanted to keep four, five or six of us on," Given explained on the Open Goal podcast.

"They offered us all the same contract and my dad said ‘you are not signing that’ - it was horrendous.

"I was going from an apprentice to a pro and it was something like 20 or 30 quid more. I was signing pro but you’d get more playing in the League of Ireland.

"I had faith in my own ability and if I hadn’t made it at Celtic then I would have somewhere else, albeit that I wanted to stay at Celtic.

"But they said take it or leave it so my dad said that we’ll leave it. That was as black and white as you could get but he was right at the time. There was no coming back from that.

"I was getting 100 quid a week as an apprentice and they offered me something like 130 or 150 quid and I had to pay half in digs.

"My dad was quite angry with it really to be honest. We thought that was their opening offer and they’d come back like in any negotiation but that was a wrap."