Shay Given has claimed that he wanted to stay at Newcastle United for life but was forced out by the club.

The goalkeeper made 354 appearances for the Magpies but left in controversial circumstances in 2009, with many fans labelling him a mercenary for making the move.

In his new biography Any Given Saturday, the 41-year-old says that the club spun his exit to make him look bad and insists that money was not the driving force behind his move.

"They made it sound like I was holding them to ransom and that poor little Newcastle were being stitched up by just another greedy footballer when, in actual fact, I wanted to stay – but only if Newcastle gave me a competitive contract and, by doing so, proved the club had big plans for the future," he wrote.

"The way the club portrayed me was a disgrace and the money it cost me wasn't – and isn't – the issue; the issue was I'd given nearly 12 years of my life to that football club, given everything.

"They'd quadrupled what they paid for me and when it came down to it, they couldn't care less about me, the future of the club or the direction it was going in. To then read in the papers that I was effectively the one 'desperate to go' made me so mad."

The Republic of Ireland international has said that he hopes his biography, which was released on Thursday, can set the record straight with the St James' Park faithful.