ROGER Jones, Terry Gennoe, Tim Flowers, Brad Friedel, Paul Robinson – Blackburn Rovers have been blessed with a succession of top-class goalkeepers over the last 40 years.

There is one, however, who got away, and that is the man who is hoping to get his hands on a second FA Cup winners’ medal this weekend.

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Shay Given was restricted to just three appearances for Rovers after the then unknown 18-year-old was signed from Celtic in the summer of 1994.

Given’s problem at Ewood Park was the level of competition in front of him.

And, while he enjoyed successful loan spells at Swindon Town and then Sunderland, who he helped achieve promotion to the Premier League, he could not dislodge England international Flowers from between the posts.

He left the club in the summer of 1997, snapped up for £1.75 million by Newcastle United and Kenny Dalglish, the manager who had brought him to Rovers.

Given went on to play 462 times for Newcastle before he moved to Manchester City and then to his current club, Aston Villa.

The Republic of Ireland international, now 39, has also won 128 caps for his country in a distinguished career that he hopes to round off with victory in Saturday’s FA Cup final against Arsenal at Wembley.

Gennoe, his old goalkeeper coach at Rovers, had no doubt his protégé would go on to great things.

The pair have stayed close over the years.

Gennoe was reunited with Given at Newcastle after he left Rovers, where he served as a player for 11 years, in 1997.

And, after Gennoe followed Dalglish to Celtic in 1999, he returned to Newcastle, and to Given, seven years later.

And such is the close bond between the pair, Given tempted Gennoe out of retirement in Spain in 2011 to take over the vacant goalkeeper coaching position at Villa.

“I don’t think I’d have done that for many people,” said Gennoe who, at the age of 62, now expects to retire permanently after leaving Villa Park in February.

“Shay phoned me up and asked me if I’d come back from Spain.

“And of course I’d said yes because Shay is more like a son to me than a goalkeeper.

“I remember we, my wife and I, took Shay down for his first game on loan for Swindon, at Hereford, and I’ve always felt that closeness with him.

“The first time I’d come across Shay was when I was sent over to Holland to watch him and see if he was worthwhile taking on at Blackburn.

“But, funnily enough, Pat Devlin, our Irish scout at the time, sent me to the wrong place on the wrong day!

“Shay was with Celtic at the time and they didn’t really see the potential whereas our Irish scout did.

“So I went over and I saw that potential, too, and Kenny ended up signing for him.

“He had Tim Flowers and Bobby Mimms ahead of him at Blackburn and he couldn’t get in.

“So he moved to Newcastle and he’s had a fantastic career and I’m desperate for him to get an FA Cup winners’ medal.

“I know he got one at Manchester City, but he never played that day, so to play and win one would be fitting. It would be fantastic.”

Given may have had to play back-up to Flowers and Mimms at Rovers but Gennoe believes the time the Irishman spent working with the duo proved invaluable.

“It was from working alongside Bobby and Tim that Shay got his work ethic,” said Gennoe, who made 289 league appearances for Rovers, which remains a club record for a goalkeeper, between 1981 and 1990, before he took over as the club’s part-time goalkeeper coach.

“Tim was an extraordinary trainer. He would ring me two weeks before pre-season was due to start and say, ‘do you fancy coming down and doing something?’ “So I’d do a one-on-one session with Tim before pre-season. That’s how passionate he was and Shay picked up on his ethic of staying behind and doing extra.”