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Out of favour Given set to meet Gullit on future at Newcastle

by Charlie Stuart
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND keeper Shay Given will seek clear-the-air talks with Newcastle boss Ruud Gullit to sort out his future at St. James Park.
Given was desperately disappointed at being left out of Newcastle's side for Saturday's FA Cup Final against Manchester United at Wembley after being a virtual ever present throughout the season.
"We will see what happens during the summer. There is talk of two additional keepers coming to Newcastle. That's why I will probably speak to the boss when we resume pre-season training in July," said Given.
"I need first team football to be sure of keeping my place in the Irish side. Yes, it wasn't like last year when I played against Arsenal at Wembley.
"While I was right behind the lads, there wasn't the same excitement when I woke up on Saturday morning having known for a few days that Steve Harper would be first choice.
"Naturally I was disappointed that Newcastle didn't win as I was 100% behind my team mates. Manchester United were just too strong and I now hope that they go on to win the European Cup against Bayern Munich in Barcelona tomorrow night.
"I was just so sorry for the Newcastle fans being on the losing side again. They are a magnificent set of supporters, the best in Britain.
"As for my own position I'll just have to pick myself up. That's football for you and you have to get on with the job. I have still two years of my current contract to run. So, obviously I'll have to look at the situation during the summer."
Given is likely to win his 23rd cap when the Republic take on Northern Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Saturday in the friendly in aid of the Omagh Bomb Disaster Fund.
But manager Mick McCarthy, already without injured Liverpool defender Steve Staunton because of a hamstring injury, must await fitness reports on both Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane and Leeds defender Ian Harte.
"Fingers crossed, Roy will be back with us next week as we prepare for the important Euro 2000 qualifying games at Lansdowne Road against Yugoslavia (June 5) and Macedonia (June 9).
"It was never my intention to play either Roy or Denis Irwin in the Northern Ireland game because of Manchester United's hectic schedule of fixtures in recent weeks. I've been told that Ian Harte picked up a knee injury in Leeds' last home game against Arsenal. But I am waiting for a full report from the Leeds physio. The same applies to Roy Keane who travelled out with Manchester United to Barcelona yesterday," added McCarthy.
Sale of tickets for the Northern Ireland game have been disappointingly slow, perhaps due in part to a direct clash with the live television coverage on SKY sports of the Celtic-Rangers Scottish FA Cup final at Hampden Park.
"I would appeal for the fans to attend this game in thousands to show that football really cares about the innocent victims of that terrible afternoon's tragedy last year," said McCarthy.
The full Republic squad assembled in Dublin yesterday and had a light training session at Clonshaugh before departing for three days to their Nuremore Hotel headquarters in Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan.
"The Northern Ireland game is perfect preparation for those matches against Yugoslavia and Macedonia. Fortunately we should know within the next 24 hours whether the Yugoslavia game definitely goes ahead.
"There is a UEFA executive meeting in Barcelona today and tomorrow and they have previously informed us that they would re-assess the situation if necessary. Right know our preparations go ahead as though the match definitely takes place."
Only one member of McCarthy's original squad was missing - former Bury goalkeeper Dean Kiely. Yesterday he signed for relegated Charlton Athletic for a fee of £1m for a five year deal at the Valley. Kiely joins the rest of the panel in Carrickmacross this morning.

Yugo clash to go ahead

by Bill George
UEFA are certain to confirm today that the European Championship match between Ireland and Yugoslavia will go ahead as scheduled at Lansdowne Road on Saturday week, June 5.
The Executive Committee of UEFA will debate the current situation in the Balkans, as it effects football, at a session that is planned to stretch over today and tomorrow.
In the absence of a direct instruction from the United Nations or from the European Union, the football authorities are certain to press ahead with attempts to complete the programme of matches in a group involving Ireland, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Croatia and Malta.
Mr Des Casey of the FAI said the UEFA was in a difficult position because neither the EU nor the UN issued an instruction to sporting bodies as regards Yugoslavia.
a recommendation that sporting ties would be severed, it was not a directive and that created difficulties for sports federations.
"When the UEFA debated the issue a month ago, they decided to play the games. I expect them to endorse that decision."

Legendary Hale is quitting football

SOCCER legend Alfie Hale has retired from football. He broke the news to Kilkenny City FC at the weekend.
From a 19 year old at Aston Villa, Hale has enjoyed over 40 years as player and manager at the top level.
For the last four years he brought honour and glory to Kilkenny City FC with whom as manager he won the First Division League title and brought Premier football to Kilkenny for the first time since the club joined senior football in 1985.
Hale has told the club that his decision to call it a day means that he can now spend more time with family and friends, particularly his grandchildren.
He said the greatest tribute he had ever got in football was from Kilkenny City who had honoured him with a testimonial.
Kilkenny City chairman, Tom Cantwell, said Alfie Hale had put Kilkenny City Football Club on a new plain.
"He was wonderfully professional on and off the pitch. He brought the club to a new level, winning Division One and bringing us to Premier football.
"For his brilliant service we will be forever grateful. He joined us with a three year promotion plan and achieved it in two.
"We have enjoyed working with a true professional, we wish him continued health and happiness and we trust that the wonderful bond built up between Alfie, our supporters and our football club will continue to be strong and even prosper."
A Board meeting of Kilkenny City Football Club later this week will plan for a replacement.

Fairview skipper confident Rangers can capture cup and trip to Holland

by Noel Spillane
FAIRVIEW Rangers and Irish junior international team skipper Barry Flynn believes his team can win Sunday's Guinness sponsored FAI Junior Cup final against Ballymun United and the trip to Holland that goes with it.
The winners of the FAI Junior Cup have been invited to compete in an international club tournament in Holland in August and that provides a huge incentive for both teams as well.
Fairview won the Examiner Munster Junior Cup with a facile 4-0 win over Pike Rovers in Limerick at the weekend but they face a far tougher test in Birr (k.o. 3.00) this weekend and Flynn knows that only too well.
"Ballymun have a very experienced team and they have two of my junior international team-mates in Ken Coakley and Mark Kelly in their side. They also have Christy McElligott (ex-St. Pat's) and Gary McCormack (ex-Longford Town) in the team as well and they will be very hard to beat on Sunday," he added.
"Ballymun are in the top three in their own league, and like us, they are going for the league title and a double as well. Apart from the trip to Holland, it's incentive enough for us just to win the FAI Junior Cup again. It's the biggest trophy on offer to us," added Flynn who works as an air traffic controller with Aer Rianta at Shannon but is shortly to move back to Dublin.
"We were delighted to win the Munster Junior Cup and now we can look forward to Sunday's game. The Cup double is still on now and the treble is also still a live possibility for us and that's what we all want again," said Fairview boss Dermot Finnan.
"The result and the performance meant everything against Pike Rovers but I must admit that I was a little surprised that we won so emphatically last Sunday. I think if we can play as well against Ballymun United on Sunday we will win the FAI Junior Cup as well," he added.
Fairview's Eddie Parker won the man-of-the-match award against Pike Rovers but Rangers had several players worthy of the taking the accolade.
Kevin McCarthy netted two great goals, Barry Ryan was excellent up front with Jimmy Sheehan, skipper Barry Flynn ran the show in the middle of the park and Joe Hannon was faultless at the back. If those players can play as well on Sunday, then Fairview will have a great chance of completing the Cup double again.
Ballymun United, in fact, slipped up in their last league outing losing 3-1 to St. Kevin's in Dublin over the weekend.
Rangers took "a bit of a gamble" with Trevor Lovelle against Pike but he stepped off the bench to score their fourth goal and now their biggest injury doubt is to midfield ace Jason Purcell. He has a bad groin injury and has no more than a 50/50 chance of playing.
"We have 17 or 18 excellent players in the squad and over the season you have to dip into that back-up and that's what wins you trophies. It's not necessarily the eleven that play on any particular day, it's more of a squad thing," said Finnan who has won even more trophies than Alex Ferguson !
"I like to be able to field a fully fit team and that's what we want on Sunday," added Finnan who made three changes for the Examiner MJC final win over Pike Rovers.
"Some teams talk good games but we are not like that. We do it where it matters, on the pitch and I think we can complete the Cup double again on Sunday."

Schmeichel's promise to
save best for last game

by Mark Bradley
PETER SCHMEICHEL declared that Manchester United were finally ready to achieve European glory again as he set his sights on lifting the Champions' Cup as his final act for the club.
Schmeichel has experienced just eight of United's own 31 years of hurt since the European Cup was last lifted in 1968, but in that time he has been a fundamental part of the renaissance at Old Trafford. The title was won for the first time since 1967 in his second season at United, but even though three domestic Doubles have followed, the greatest prize in European club football has so far remained a step too far.
However, Schmeichel, who insists he has no regrets about his decision to leave Old Trafford this summer, believes United have now come of age in Europe and that this is their time.
Whereas in years gone by the team attempted to play a different style of football abroad, they are now confident enough in their abilities to ferociously take the game to the opposition, just as they have been doing for years in the Premiership.
"I think we've proved we are ready. The way we've gone about our game has changed. We've tried to play our normal game," the Danish goalkeeper said.
"We've tried to be as close to the way we play in the Premiership as we can. Obviously there are one or two things that you have to include in your tactics in European football, but we set out to score goals and accept that in doing so we might concede goals as well.
"We just make sure we score more goals than we concede and everyone has been a lot happier doing that and because of that we are doing better."
Schmeichel, who will captain the side against Bayern Munich tomorrow night in the absence of Roy Keane through suspension, accepts that having lost in the quarter-finals and semi-finals over recent seasons United now need to make their mark on Europe.
After all, the target apparently set by chairman Martin Edwards as far back as 1985 was winning the European Cup before the new Millennium.
Schmeichel said: "We are up to 31 years now. The club wants to win it again and the club needs to win it again. We are the richest club in the world, we are the most important club in the world and I don't think any other club in the world has the popularity.
"Everywhere we go, you wouldn't believe the support we have. If you mention Manchester or England, people say 'oh, Manchester United', so the club need to win this trophy within the next couple of years."
This year will, however, be the last that Schmeichel's incredible abilities can be relied upon to fulfil that quest — after his announcement earlier in the season that he would be stepping aside from the maelstrom of pressure at Old Trafford this summer.
While silence will almost deafen the United defence next season, when their eardrums can finally relax without an apparently mad Dane bellowing at them every other minute, Schmeichel will leave behind him a vacuum of gargantuan proportions.
The countless pub arguments as to which player has been Alex Ferguson's best signing for United will never adequately be resolved.
But while convincing cases can be made out for Eric Cantona and Roy Keane, even Brian McClair, Gary Pallister, Denis Irwin, Dwight Yorke or Jaap Stam, it is hard to look past Schmeichel.
Bought for just £550,000, he has imposed himself on a club like few other players could even dream of.
He has screamed at defenders, even started shoving matches with them, and while the odd mistake littered his game earlier this season — especially against Bayern in the group stages — he has forcefully returned to top form this year.
Indeed, the star-jump which he produced to deny Ivan Zamorano against Inter Milan was one of the great saves of all-time and he has become, in all likelihood, the leading goalkeeper of his generation.
However, the 35-year-old keeper still insists he will be treating his final match for United just like any of the other 300-plus games he has played for the club.
"I try not to think about it being my last game. I will just go about it as normal, concentrate on the game and that's it," Schmeichel said.
"We've been trying for years to get to this point and the way it is for me is just a coincidence.
"I think it was inevitable we were going to reach a European Cup final one way or another, but I'm very happy it has happened in my time. We've been so close and yet so far away as well."
Schmeichel added: "When I said I was finishing in England I had my reasons to do that. It had nothing to do with football.
"What I said was that I would be trying my hardest from then on so that I went out on a high.
"The pressure is massive anyway, and playing for United you either cope with it or you don't cope and if you do cope, you don't notice the pressure. You just get on with it.
"This is a very exciting time for the club and for me personally and I'm just enjoying it.
"I will miss playing, there is no doubt about that, but I have made my mind up — and that's it."
It is hardly surprising, though, that he is determined to go out on the biggest high of all — lifting the European Cup in the Nou Camp.
And what Schmeichel wants, he usually gets. Just ask his defenders.

Johnsen says he's
ready for midfield role

by David Anderson
RONNY JOHNSEN is on standby to answer Alex Ferguson's midfield SOS call for the Champions' Cup Final.
United boss Ferguson must conduct major surgery on the heart of his side after losing Paul Scholes and Roy Keane through suspension.
Nicky Butt should fill one of the central midfield berths — and he sat out Saturday's FA Cup Final win over Newcastle to leave him fresh for the showdown with Bayern Munich. Phil Neville, David Beckham or even Ryan Giggs could play alongside him, but Johnsen is expected to step up from defence for the Barcelona showpiece.
Johnsen admits the bans for Keane and Scholes will leave a gaping hole in midfield, but he does not know where he will play.
Johnsen said: "It is a huge loss not having Keane and Scholes in there. I don't know what the gaffer is thinking for the Champions' League Final.
"I have played in midfield before, but he also has Phil Neville. I've played in the back four now for quite a while, and it must be about three years.
"But I will play wherever the gaffer wants me to. I will try to do a good job in whatever position I'm asked to play, and I will always try my best."
Johnsen has played most of his football this season at centre-half, but, as he proved against Inter Milan in the San Siro, he can be equally as effective in midfield.
That night Ferguson deployed him alongside Keane to beef up the middle of the park — and he helped frustrate Inter before Paul Scholes replaced him to score a late equaliser.
The return of Jaap Stam from his Achilles problem also frees Johnsen to move forward into midfield for the game, which will decide United's dreams of the Treble.
Johnsen is versatile enough to adapt and he has even played up front for Norway, although team-mate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted: "He didn't do very well."
Fortunately for United they have plenty of firepower without needing to call on Johnsen's services in that department.

Babbel steps up to
Bayern engine room

by David Anderson
BAYERN MUNICH will deploy German international defender Markus Babbel in midfield in an effort to combat Ryan Giggs in the Champions' Cup final.
The Germans see Giggs as one of Manchester United's main dangermen in tomorrow night's showdown in Barcelona. In an unusual step, Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld named his side more than 48 hours in advance to give his players time to prepare.
He has opted for the surprise choice of Babbel on the right side of midfield instead of Thomas Strunz because of his defensive qualities.
"Giggs is more of a striker than a midfielder, hence we need stability in defence," explained Hitzfeld.
On the other flank Michael Tarnat will he handed the job of trying to contain David Beckham, who the Germans have dubbed the "flankengott" or crossing god.
Bayern are well aware of United's strengths down the flanks and intend to cut off the supply to the front men. Babbel said: "It is important that the wide positions are closed off. "If we can do that then we will have a very good chance of winning."
Hitzfeld has changed his team slightly to go with what appears to be a 3-4-3 formation instead of 3-5-2.
He said: "I can't play hide and seek and that's why I have named my team."
Hitzfeld, though, has left the door open for one or two changes and he said: "There is still the final training session (today). Normally the only purpose of this is to get to know the pitch.
"On the other hand, Mario Basler was not in the team that played Manchester United in December and that happened after the last training session before the match at Old Trafford."
Hitzfeld tasted Champions' Cup glory two years ago with Borussia Dortmund, when they beat United in the semi-finals, and he claims nothing compares to it. "To win the Champions' League is something very special," he said. "The whole world will be watching and the players can become heroes."
Bayern are in confident mood going into the final. They have clinched the Bundesliga title and are on course for their own Treble.
BAYERN MUNICH: (3-4-3) Kahn; Matthaus, Linke, Kuffour; Babbel, Jeremies, Effenberg, Tarnat; Basler, Jancker, Zickler.

Italian to ref Euro final

ITALIAN official Pierluigi Collina will referee the Champions' Cup final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich.
Collina, 39, renowned as much for his bald pate as much as his strict decisions, will be assisted by compatriots Gennaro Mazzei and Claudio Puglisi along with fourth official Fiorenzo Treossi.

Bayern coach claims
United defence weak

BAYERN MUNICH coach Ottmar Hitzfeld yesterday claimed Manchester United's defence is their weak spot.
United's strike force of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole has terrorised defences in England and in Europe this season but Hitzfeld believes the English champions will be vulnerable at the back in the Champions' Cup final.
Hitzfeld said: ''United are a very compact team, strong going forward and dangerous at free-kicks but vulnerable at the back.'' The former Borussia Dortmund boss added: ''We must push them into making mistakes.''
Likely Bayern line-up: Oliver Kahn, Thomas Linke, Lothar Matthaus, Samuel Kuffour, Markus Babbel, Jens Jeremies, Stefan Effenberg, Michael Tarnat, Mario Basler, Carsten Jancker and Alexander Zickler.
Brazilian striker Giovane Elber and French World Cup winning defender Bixente Lizarazu are both long-term injury casualties.

Chase is on for Sutton and Flowers

by Ian Rodgers
ARSENAL, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough are set to lead the chase for Blackburn striker Chris Sutton.
Rovers have thrown open the bidding for Sutton and goalkeeper Tim Flowers after both players demanded moves from Ewood Park.
Sutton has exercised a clause in his contract which will allow him to leave if a bid of £10million is received. Flowers, who originally asked for a move in March after John Filan had kept him out of the number one spot, will also be allowed to leave the club for a fee believed to be in the region of £2million.
Rovers' chief executive John Williams said: ''At a meeting called at the request of the player, Chris Sutton said that he wished to exercise the release option in his contract and so seek a move.
''At this point we must underline our total commitment to getting Blackburn Rovers back into the Premier League within one season. We also recognise the need for good players within a strong squad to achieve that goal.
''But the simple fact is that Chris has a get-out clause and we will stand by his right to bring it in to play.
''Tim Flowers asked for a transfer back in February after losing his first-team place and our immediate response was to reject it.
''However, in view of his long service we also said that come the end of the season we would not stand in his way if he still wished to move on.
With Nicolas Anelka's future at Arsenal uncertain - he has consistently been quoted complaining about life in the Premiership and England - manager Arsene Wenger may decide to allow his fellow Frenchman to return to the Continent in return for Sutton's signature.
North London rivals Tottenham are currently in the process of re-building under George Graham and the situation in east Lancashire will be monitored closely as he aims to build on the Worthington Cup success and for the UEFA Cup next season.
Across the capital, Chelsea boss Gianluca Vialli wants to hang up his boots in order to concentrate on his job from the touchline and Sutton could be in line for a bid from the Londoners.
However, while Chelsea have been scouring the Continent for a top-class striker, they have consistently refused massive transfer fees preferring instead to lure players with high wages. Their record buy is Pierluigi Casiraghi for £5.4million.
Aston Villa manager John Gregory's patience with Stan Collymore is running thin and will, doubtless, not be aided by weekend allegations of drug-taking.
Beaten FA Cup finalists Newcastle could also mount a bid for the Nottingham-born forward to rekindle the Sutton-Alan Shearer partnership which was so successful at Ewood under Kenny Dalglish.
But after spending £8million on Duncan Ferguson and with manager Ruud Gullit still hoping to clinch the permanent signature of 20-year-old Louis Saha from Metz, the £10million fee could force them out of the reckoning.