Robbie Savage - back to my roots

Dan Pope, Club Website editor

Robbie Savage is a footballer who stands out from the crowd. With his shaggy blonde hair he is easily distinguished from his fellow players but even if Savage had a short back and sides - difficult to picture, I know - the chances are he’d still get noticed. He is just that type of player - the sort of player who divides opinion but, love him or hate him, there is no doubt that you’ll know who he is.

His trademark locks aside, one of the first things that springs to mind when you think of Robbie Savage is his competitive nature. He is the quintessential midfield terrier, the type of player who snaps at opponents’ heels and gets in their faces at every opportunity.

He would no doubt concede that he is not the most naturally gifted player to play in English football’s top flight, but there’s no doubt that what he may have lacked in ability he more than made up for with his sheer effort and will to win.

When I caught up with Savage recently and took him back to his roots, I found out that this competitive streak was with him since his early football days. Although he played for his school side he didn't actually join an amateur club until he was almost a teenager and the early part of his informative years were spent by and large playing outside his Wrexham home.

"We lived in a council estate with a huge grass field in the middle" he says, "so every morning and every night we used to play football out there." A familiar scene to many, you can picture it now: kids haring around for seemingly hours on end, all hoping to score the winner in the cup final at Wembley before they are called in for tea. One of the kids is a little smaller than the others but is quite aggressive with it, hates losing and doesn't pull any punches with the bigger kids. On this Wrexham estate around 30 years ago, that young man was Robbie Savage.

“I used to play with a lot of older people like all my brother’s mates,” he says. “He’s four years older than me and they were all a lot bigger than me, which explains where I got my aggression from I think!”

Competing against the big boys gave Savage a decent start to his football education and by the time he joined his first proper football club, Llay United under 12s, he was raring to go. Speaking of those grassroots days, you can still hear the excitement in Savage’s voice even now.

“It was great. You’d play through snow, rain, mud, no nets - whatever it was you’d play! Not like today where the pitches are immaculate and it’s all roped off. In those days it was any weather, putting the nets up, taking them down yourself, just good old, back to basics football, you know what I mean? I couldn’t wait to go… it was fantastic!”

We all know Robbie Savage as a tenacious midfielder but as a kid he played in “all sorts of positions, though mainly as a striker.” His heroes were two north Wales striking legends - Mark Hughes and Ian Rush - and they certainly inspired Savage on to great things.

Playing up front at under 12s level, Savage tells me that he “scored 74 goals in 20 games one season.” Almost 4 goals a game? A phenomenal record, no matter what the level. No wonder he couldn’t wait to turn up each week!

A memorable season at under 12s then, but things continued to improve as Savage moved up through the age groups.

After a year playing with Llay and the youth academy at Crewe Alexandra, he moved to Bradley Youth - a new team set up by his father - where his footballing journey was set to take a dramatic turn.

“I was playing for Bradley against my old side, Llay United,” Savage tells me when I ask for his highlight from his grassroots days.

“My dad was in charge of the side and my mum was making the tea after the game. We won 2-1 and I scored both, the first a 40-yarder.”

Sounds like a great day already - a true family affair and a big win over an old team - but it was the presence in the crowd of a Manchester United scout that made it extra special for the young Savage.

After the match, the scout enquired with Savage's father about his long-haired striker and, despite being ushered away at first - his Dad was busy putting the kit away and didn't realise who the scout was! - he left his phone number with Mrs Savage and a call the next day would see their son make a dream move to Manchester United.

At 14 years of age Savage signed a schoolboy YTS contract at United, taking his place alongside the likes of Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and plenty of others destined to become household names.

Despite a long and successful period with the club - the youth team won the FA Youth Cup in 1992 - Savage was eventually released by Alex Ferguson, who didn't see him as part of his long term plans. This was a huge blow for the young man, as it would be for any young player, but the way that he responded speaks volumes for his character.

"It was heartbreaking, obviously," says Savage, "but I was determined to bounce back." His competitive resolve had only been strengthened by his time at United and, although his future didn't lie at the club, he was determined to make a success of his career elsewhere, just as Ferguson had assured him he would. He was fully aware that things would not be handed to him on a plate, however, and that hard work remained the key.

"It was tough being released by United," he says, "but there were a lot better players released than me. So I made sure that I worked hard to make things happen for me."

And how things happened for Savage, fairly soon afterwards. After returning to Crewe and converting himself from striker to midfielder, a move to Premier League Leicester City came along in 1997 and Savage soon became a fixture in the top flight of English football.

Successful spells followed at Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers and, although he now plies his trade at Championship side Derby County, his 346 top flight appearances see him placed at number 33 in the list of Premier League appearances, whilst he has also collected 39 Welsh international caps.

Savage’s success at the top table of English football was earned by his never-say-die attitude both on and off the pitch and the ultra-competitive streak of that boy playing on the council estate has never gone away.

“I’ve always tended to be a bit on the aggressive side on the pitch. I’ve always been 100 per cent committed when I go into tackles.

"If you go in any less than that you’re less likely to win the ball and you’re more likely to get injured. I have the same attitude in everything I do. You’ve got to be 100% committed.”

This attitude has won Savage support and derision on the terraces in equal measures, depending on who you support. His determination, work rate and honest endeavour have invariably won over fans of the sides that he’s played for.

The fact that the same can’t always be said by opposition fans is something of a badge of honour for Savage. He is often a favourite target - a pantomime villain of sorts - but this could be seen as a compliment for getting under people’s skin.

The 89 yellow cards received in the top flight - the highest in Premier League history - are evidence of the fact that Savage does play the game close to the edge, but with only two red cards in his entire career the facts suggest that this is not a dirty player, just a committed one.

It is clear that the desire still burns strong inside Savage who, after being moved to Brighton on loan earlier this season has since re-established himself in the Derby first team under Nigel Clough. “I’ve got one year left on my contract here at Derby and I want to keep playing here and keep playing well. Hopefully we can get promoted next season and in a year’s time, we’ll see where things are.”

Whilst not currently playing in the top flight, Savage is clearly itching to get back there and, on a personal level, is certain that he wants to end his career on his terms. “I definitely want to go out with a bit of fight. I don’t want to just fade away and keep holding on, playing lower and lower down the divisions. I’m almost 35 and it does get harder as you get older, but I want to keep giving it everything until I decide it’s time to call it a day.”

When the day comes for Savage to hang up his boots, at least he will have reason to stay in touch with the game. On a professional level, he is already working as a pundit for Radio 5 Live and, in his spare time he goes to watch his six year old son Charlie play as often as he can.

“I love going to watch him, it’s great. I go down all the time,” he tells me, though I wonder how things in grassroots football are different to his own playing days.

“I never had any pressure on me as a kid, but there is so much pressure on the kids these days. I go down and I see fathers screaming at their boys, when they are five or six years old and it’s just not right.

“I suppose it’s parents wanting their boy to do so well because of the rewards, but they push them too hard. It’s wrong.

"I see boys play that are obviously never going to become footballers, so it would be better if their mother and father just let them enjoy it.”

So the Ray Winstone character from the FA’s recent Respect video is alive and well and living in Derbyshire it seems! The Respect programme’s focus on parental behaviour may get this particular parent’s support, but what does ‘bad-boy’ Robbie Savage make of the FA’s battle to improve behaviour on the field of play?

“Well I’ve only been booked four times this season and that’s the least I’ve ever been booked in a season in my life! Referees have a hard job and they deserve respect because of this. You disagree with them sometimes, you agree with them sometimes but, at the end of the day, it’s a hard job and you’ve got to respect them.”

You may be thinking that Savage is mellowing in his old age but, despite the reduction in yellow cards and his well-rounded views off the field, I don't believe Derby County fans need to have any concerns about the season ahead. Rest assured that, for as long as Robbie Savage is playing football, you will see that same fiercely committed, aggressive and combative character that did battle with the big boys on one Wrexham housing estate some 30 years ago.

Ray Winstone image courtesy of The FA.  Other images courtesy of Grass Roots Football LIVE.

See Robbie Savage at Grass Roots Football LIVE!

Check out more from Robbie Savage on the subject of grassroots football in this interview with Grass Roots Football Live for whom Robbie is an ambassador.

Club Website is proud to be a platinum sponsor of Grass Roots Football LIVE, which takes place at Birmingham's NEC on 12 - 14 June. Other big names appearing at the show include Graham Taylor, Ian Holloway, Paul Merson and our very own Graham Poll. To find out more visit www.grassrootsfootball.co.uk.

Robbie Savage

Date of birth: 18 October 1974     Place of birth: Wrexham

Height: 6' 1" / 1.85m     Position: Midfielder

Grassroots football: Llay United, Brickfield Rangers, Bradley Youth

Professional career: Manchester United Youth Team; Crewe Alexandra - 87 appearances (2 sub) [10 goals]; Leicester City - 189 (15) [9]; Birmingham City - 88 (0) [12]; Blackburn Rovers - 95 (4) [3]; Derby County - 41 (4) [0]; Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) - 6 (0) [0]; Total - 506 (25) [34]

Professional honours: League Cup 1999/00, League Cup runners-up 1998/99

International caps: Wales - 39 appearances [2 goals]