Two goalkeeping greats got to share the stage tonight at our RDS Roadshow with Carlsberg.
We had the pleasure of goalkeeping insights from Denmark and Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel and Ireland and Newcastle United hero Shay Given.
The goalkeeping genes are of course very strong in the Schmeichel family seeing as his son Kasper is a Premier League winning goalkeeper after playing his part for Leicester City in their surprise 2015-16 triumph.
But it wasn't an easy route to the top for the younger Schmeichel who came through into Manchester City's first team and then found himself cast aside as current England No 1 Joe Hart supplanted him.
It was an episode that of course did not go down well with Schmeichel as he told us.
"He was always eager to go out on loan and he comes back from a loan spell - a year at Bury - Stuart Pearce calls him into his office and says, 'Listen, you've gone from being a young lad to a grown man. I'm so proud of what you've done and now you come back pre-season, it's up to you,'" said Schmeichel.
Manchester City's Joe Hart and Aston Villa's Shay Given shake hands at the end of a 2011 match. Mike Egerton/EMPICS Sport
"And then the next week he signs Joe Hart who is the same age. So for that great message, it was like being knocked out by Muhammad Ali and Kasper's summer holiday was completely ruined. He was worried and rightly so. He came back and he was No 2 and eventually he dropped down to No 3 and this is where I become really, really proud of him.
"He then realised, 'This is not happening. I have to restart my whole career' and he went to Notts County in League Two, then worked his way up and eventually won the Championship with Leicester. But he's had to go a very long route to get to that. And I'm not saying this as his Dad, I'm saying it as objective as I can. I think his talent should have been given more chances. He should have been given an opportunity far earlier."
Delighted that stories about Kasper now have him as his Dad rather than Kasper being framed as his son, he also praised Given, who was at City for a time, for "taking really good care" of Schmeichel as team-mates.
âš½ï¸ @No1shaygiven reflects on how he dealt with making mistakes at our @carlsberg roadshow #OTBRDS pic.twitter.com/A8SUqzz5Xu
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) November 9, 2017
"What Kasper's done is amazing," Given added, "Because to have this great shadow hanging over you in a sense - not in a bad way - but one of the great goalkeepers of all time as your father and then you're a goalkeeper. So how do you deal with that because I know Kasper doesn't like people saying, 'I'm Peter Schmeicel's son'. He wants to be his own goalkeeper and rightly so. He's won the Premier League. He's a champion now."
Given also discussed a period when he used a sports psychologist to try and get his game back on track.
"I was my worst critic. I was so hard on myself - more than anybody else and more than any manager or any media and I just thought I could do to improve," said the Donegal man.
Peter Schmeichel believes the uncertainty at #LFC is hampering Simon Mignolet's form #OTBRDS pic.twitter.com/SROwQVVizh
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) November 9, 2017
