Ex-Man City keeper Given: Owners showed up Hicks and Gillett | OneFootball

Shay Given says Manchester City's owners deserve credit for meeting their ambitions.

Given, who is now working as a first-team coach at Championship side Derby County, spent just over two years at the Etihad Stadium after joining them from Newcastle United in February 2009.

Given told the Open Goal Podcast: "They did say that this is our ambition. You're not sceptical, but loads of other owners have said that in the past and they have gone, just like [Tom] Hicks and [George] Gillett at Liverpool, after saying they'd do this and do that.

"But what you have to give Sheikh Mansour and Khaldoon, especially Khaldoon as the chairman, who was one of the first guys I met, and he said: 'I really got involved [in the transfer to bring Given to City] and really wanted you to come to this club. I really want to grow the club and we want to be challenging for the Premier League and European Cup. We want everything'.

"I went to Abu Dhabi for a couple of club things but I never went to the palace or anything like that.

"The good thing about the Man City thing is that they have stuck by their word. I mean, look at them now. Look where they have come from. Look what they have done to the city of Manchester.

"The training ground, the stadium and the whole infrastructure is unbelievable. So you have to give them great credit for actually saying it on day one and actually going through with it."