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From the latest transfer news, quizzes, videos, features and interviews with the biggest names in the game, plus lots more.Signup +Once a week...And its LIVE!Sign up to our FREE live football newsletter, tracking all of the biggest games available to watch on the device of your choice. Never miss a kick-off!Signup +Join the clubGet full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in.Subscribe to our newsletterRobbie Savage needed some reassurance and guidance when Forest Green Rovers struggled earlier this season. His old Wales team-mate, Craig Bellamy, phoned with some advice. Typically, Bellamy didnt sugar-coat it.Craig rang me when I was on that losing run, Savage recalls. I felt anxious, vulnerable when we were losing. Craig said to me, no disrespect, but this is what you know. What do you mean?! This is you. As a player, you did unbelievably. "But the majority of your career, you werent challenging for trophies, you were surviving. You left Manchester United and had to fight. In games, you fought, fought for the team. So take it into management. Fight. This is you, this is where you now thrive.Vegan lunch and table tennisSavage, 51, knew Bellamy was right. He turned to his old strengths that had driven his career: fighting and proving doubters wrong. Forest Green need only a point from three games to confirm their place in the National League play-offs (while Halifax need a mathematical miracle). Sitting in his office at the loud and lively training ground just off the M5 last week, Savage is smiling after a wholesome vegan lunch in the canteen, winning a table tennis game, a good run of results and the stream of staff and players coming in to see him. You may like 'I was drinking an awful lot. One crazy night my pal said, "Have you seen there's a football club on Rightmove?"' Inside story behind Macclesfield FC owner's incredible FA Cup run and the two games funding the club for a year Every time a manager got sacked, it was always, Scholesy, are you going to do the Oldham job? I thought, F**king hell, go on then, Ill give it a crack Paul Scholes recalls his spell in charge of his boyhood club Robbie Williams came, did the podcast, then sat with us for another hour afterwards, just chatting he doesnt watch telly, he just loves watching YouTube. He loves Mark Goldbridge! Ben Foster tells FFT about his transition from player to podcaster One group had all failed the crossbar challenge and had to draw cards in front of Savage to see who bought the biscuits for the next away trip. Savage needs company and needs validation. Insecurity drives me, he explains. I will never lose that insecurity.The reason is nearby. A photo of Uniteds youth team, including the Class of 92, is propped up prominently on a shelf opposite his desk. That picture is the reminder every single day that I was let go, wasn't good enough, that Ive got a point to prove, whether as a player, whether as a media (pundit and presenter), whether as a manager. At times, I've been made to feel vulnerable, isolated, embarrassed. For instance, the World Cup.Savages mind rewinds to being on a BBC panel in 2014 with Clarence Seedorf, Thierry Henry and Gary Lineker. Lineker tweeted a photo of the pundits. There was a picture of all their trophies on their shirts, Savage recalls. There were four Champions Leagues amongst 10 trophies superimposed on Seedorf and a World Cup and 10 other trophies on Henry. Mine was one League Cup. It was pre-planned. I felt embarrassed. I had imposter syndrome anyway, that I shouldn't have been there, the World Cup, even though I play for my country. It just made him even more determined. Some people who don't know me want me to fail. They think of me the player.Savage was a feisty, competitive central midfielder for Crewe, Leicester, Birmingham, Blackburn, Derby and for Wales on 39 occasions. He often riled rival fans, who havent forgotten. That tribalism, he says.Get FourFourTwo NewsletterThe best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.Along with his extensive media work, Savage moved into coaching at Macclesfield before leaving for Forest Green last summer. He was accused of being disloyal to Macc. Im loyal! Whoever I've worked for. Daily Mirror 15 years. 606 15 years. TNT/BT Sport eight years. Macclesfield four and a half years.He pauses, running through his memories.Man United, I had a great time there. But I wasn't a Man United player, because I never made the first team. Leicester, I gave everything, Player of the Year twice. One trophy. I showed loyalty to Leicester, but when they got relegated, I got a phone call to say, Listen, you're an asset. We've gone down. Somebody's bid for you, would you go? So I said, no problem. I would have stayed, but it was best for the club, and for me, I moved on. What to read next It really surprises me that I never see Robbie Fowler getting linked with jobs hes a fantastic manager and one of the smartest people Ive come across Former England striker baffled at why Liverpool legend is yet to get a role in the EFL RANKED! The 10 best British managers in football right now If youre at your happiest, smiling and working as hard as you can, then theres nothing more you can give How Aston Villa star Morgan Rogers has developed a winning mindset He moved to Birmingham and showed Leicester fans exactly where his allegiances lay when he played them in December 2003. I kissed the badge because my mentality was when I got booed, I'll show you. Im instinctive. Sometimes I'd say something and then think, oh, boy, what have I done that for. Paolo Maldinis shirt. He threw the Italian legends shirt away for the TV cameras before an international. Because I want to please. And occasionally wind up. Graeme Souness chased me down the tunnel at Birmingham once (in 2004). I told him he was fifth choice for the Newcastle job! I want to show people at the club I'm at that I'm all in.He re-appraises one opinion. I also know what its like to be disloyal - at Birmingham. He agitated for a move to Blackburn in 2005. I pushed that, he acknowledges. At the time, Savage claimed that he wanted to be closer to his poorly parents in Wrexham. There was two miles difference. I was idolised at Birmingham. Because of what I'd given for the club. But I wanted to go and play for Mark Hughes. I earned more money, lets be totally realistic. He moved on after three years. I went to Derby - Nigel Clough is great.Blackburn and Derby are the two sets of fans who welcome me back. Otherwise, every club I seem to leave, whether Ive been loyal or disloyal, theres a tendency not to like me. It does hurt. I should be going back to Birmingham as a club legend. I couldn't walk out at the King Power. Some would applaud, but the majority wouldn't.At Macclesfield, I gave them four and a half years of my life, putting that club before my family. Now, there's no loyalty. Im hated there. It's quite strong, right? Just because I left. I should have been able to go to the Brentford game (in the FA Cup), stand there and get applauded. I cant go back to a club I put my heart and soul into. I didn't get a wage, by the way. I sold my shares, and there was a financial gain from that. It affected my health, affected my family. It was horrific.I feel there's an injustice because of what I did for Macc. Rob's money (the owner Rob Smethurst) saved them but I was there every day and built a club. People think I want them to fail. I don't, they're doing brilliantly well. John Rooney - brilliant. Crystal Palace (the FA Cup win) brilliant. I'm proud of that, but I have to go to the next stage, which is here.Why Forest Green? Savage points across a couple of fields and a road to where Eco Park, the new stadium, will be built. I want to be in there with this club. It's unbelievable. My ambition is to manage high with Forest Green. I want to repay them here because theyve given me a chance. Where the owner Dale (Vince) has been brilliant is in (saying), if you finish 15th, dont worry. I've asked you to create me an entertaining, dynamic style of football with young players. I know it takes two, three years. And hes a man of his word. Dale's massively humble. Hes got where he is through hard work. Id call him a friend, and respect. If I left here, Id look him in the eye and say thank you.Do I think I can manage in the Championship? Yes. I listen to Gary Neville and Roy Keane on The Overlap (with Paul Merson in February), saying, I'm doing it the hard way, doing a good job. Jermain Defoes just gone into Woking. Massive respect. Subconsciously, he might think, I can start higher. But this is the way to do it. Ashley Cole. Gone to Cesena. Learning their trade.I had two or three opportunities in the EFL which werent right for me. Any time someone has linked me with a job, I've rung the owner. I'm happy. I want to get us into the league. He's given me an opportunity when some chairman might have been scared of my personality and image.We've got a decent budget, yes, because the owner wants to progress. Look at Rochdale, York, Southend. These teams have two, three years to build. We're here in the play-offs within seven months. We don't get enough credit. Almost every manager I come across says brave because I've ripped up a squad that finished third under a manager (Steve Cotterill) who's managed 1,000 games. (Cotterills side faltered in the play-off semi-finals to Southend last year).His successor has just given a presentation to Rovers players about last Fridays opponents. Savage goes through Brackleys last six formations, their pressing and where the goalkeeper likes to pass, often to the right. Savage instructs his left centre-back to cover across to support his full-back. When you see Monday Night Football, this is what they do, but not as much detail. And people say on the radio, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I do. It does bother me. His team beat Brackley 4-0.The biggest thing for me is when I see pundits on TV be a bit confrontational, saying a manager should have done this, should have done that. I was guilty of that as a pundit when I was younger, to try and get your foot on it (the media ladder). Theyve got no idea. Until youve walked in these shoes as a manager, whatever level, it's massive pressure.He's been booked seven times this season, the latest in taking the rap for an outburst by a member of his coaching staff who the officials couldnt identify. And not one's been for foul and abusive language. Don't believe in it. All my staff, if they swear, internal fine. Its a hard job for the fourth official, but all these yellow cards? For celebrating goals, and leaving my technical area to defend my players after terrible challenges.Detailing the pressures of his job, Savage relates a story of how preparation for a Saturday game at Gateshead was complicated by off-field events. Friday morning, had a phone call from a player in hospital, ill. The next night, a players grandma died. A players father had a heart attack. Savage showed compassion, made changes, and won the game 2-0.Trailing 2-1 at half-time at Eastleigh, Savage addressed the players. I don't like standing up in front of people. I've got to deliver a team talk. Our fans are amazing, but there's a little portion that when were getting beat 2-1 at Eastleigh, its you don't know what you're doing. Savage changed four players and won 4-2. What Im very good at is I know football. I know what a game needs.He needs victory. My life is about three points on the Saturday. I cant lose. Its that competitive side. Even at table tennis! Youve just seen! If you lose the game, and you haven't made the right subs, the bus journeys home are horrific. I've heard people say, you've got to stay constant. I can't. Those wins mean so much, and I want those highs, and the lows are so low its horrific.Then the missus (Sarah) phones and you don't want to speak. Then I worry about Charlie (his son who plays for Reading). How has he got on? I'll drive home to Manchester, home nine, 10 o'clock. Can he then relax with Sarah? No, too wired. I'm looking at every interview, watch Match of the Day. Because I've got 606 (the Radio 5 Live phone-in he co-hosts) on Sunday. I've got to get up to speed.I dont really see her, and thats the hardest thing. That sacrifice. When we were younger, we could move round, having a family, Leicester, Birmingham, went to Manchester when I was Blackburn. Derby, I travelled. Now she's older, and she's got all her friends in Manchester. As a manager, if I sign a four-year contract, it might be nine months. So she said, Listen, with the vulnerability of a manager, I'm going to stay here. Still together. I go back when I can. When I first started going home, we used to go for walks. But I was on my phone.As a player I never had sleepless nights. As a manager, I do. A couple of times I woke up and the bedsheet is ringing in sweat. Its not healthy. At Macclesfield, I woke up one night and my heart-rate was 189. Had to go to hospital. Panic attack. It's unbelievable the stress. Failure drives me on to be better. Winning is just a relief.Defeats stay with him. I go back to Carlisle, two last-minute goals (to lose 4-2 in October). That drives me. And with Macc last season. Ashton away. Leek at home. He doesnt forget.I work tirelessly. I'm dedicated, as a player, as a manager. I'll never talk about my career. I mentioned it once when somebody asked me the other day, what did I do before a game. So Savage told them a surprising story. I told them that when I played against Roy Keane or Patrick Vieira in the Premier League, Id think I was the best player on the pitch. That was my mentality. It was, Im going to make sure I'm better than you today. I told them (his Forest Green players), Youve got to think that here.As a manager you are reliant on players. If you havent got a good dressing-room, youve had it. People knew as a player when I was sulking because of my body language. Now when I come into work in the morning, I have to put on an act. You can't show your emotion.He understands the frustration of those not in the team. Id be one of the worst in the dressing room when the manager wasnt picking me. Id have been the loudest one. He talks to Charlie, 22. Ive got lots of players his age. I try and learn off my son. Savage is disappointed, devastated that Wales didnt qualify for the World Cup especially as Charlie has an opportunity in the future. He already has two caps.One of Savages 22-year-old players is Jili Buyabu, a wing-back on loan from Sheffield United, talented but with a hectic family life. Buyabu sits down in Savages office and relates how his partner went into labour early, and how he delivered the baby at home. Family comes first, Savage tells him.A beaming Buyabu heads off. I love being around people, Savage continues. These lads are keeping me young. They don't want to leave for the day. They love it here. That's what we've created. There is jealousy of us as a club. Songs get sung about us, stuff online. But you see the club, what we're doing. We're ahead of our time.His experienced director of football, Mark Bowen, soon walks in, liaising with Savage about the team. Marks great for me. I listen to Mark. I listen to my staff. I listen to psychologists. Im just trying to gain knowledge. He rings Sean Dyche Dychys been great David Moyes, Mark Hughes and Martin ONeill for advice. I rang Glenn Hoddle three times the other day. I was trying to find out whether he was getting the Spurs job!Savage laughs and looks around. We're in the Cotswolds, beautiful part of the world, good people, great owner. Im in a good place now.TOPICSForest GreenMacclesfield TownMacclesfieldManchester UnitedWalesCreweCrewe AlexandraLeicester CityBirmingham CityBlackburn RoversDerbyDerby CountyRochdaleYork CitySouthendSouthend UnitedGatesheadEastleighNational LeagueWorld CupPremier LeagueHenry WinterSocial Links NavigationWriterHenry Winter is one of football's most popular and respected writers. Previously the Chief Football Writer for The Times and a Football Correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, his work now primarily features on his Substack. He has also lauched his own podcast 'The Winter View'
