A SAVAGE PANTOMIMER

Robbie Savage might have been a "pantomime villain" of football, but he has probably never had a dead cat thrown at him. On this day in 2005 he managed to get a transfer from Birmingham City to Blackburn Rovers to hook up with his old international manager, Mark Hughes. Rob claimed he wanted to be nearer to his parents in Wales, despite the fact that Blackburn is just five minutes closer to Wrexham than Birmingham! Birmingham managing director Karren Brady said, "If Robbie has come close to that decision because of the distance between Blackburn and Wrexham, then he should take a look at a map!"

Robbie is now a football pundit and head coach at Northern Premier Division club Macclesfield.

During his career he played predominantly as a midfielder, starting off as a youth player with Manchester United before joining Crewe Alexander, when released by the Old Trafford club. He became a regular for Leicester City in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and performed a similar role for Birmingham and Blackburn Rovers. In 2008, he joined Derby County after a short loan spell with Brighton and Hove Albion later that year, he returned to captain Derby, with whom he finished his full time playing career. He played for Wales 39 times.

On 24 November 2019, Savage came out of retirement to join Stockport Town of the North West Counties League. He made his league debut for the club the following evening, as an 80th-minute substitute in a 3–2 victory over FC Oswestry Town. That was his only appearance. He is now a pundit for the BBC and regularly presents 606 on BBC Radio 5 on Sunday evenings. He also co-presents Early Kick Off on BT Sports.

Full name	Robert William Savage
Date of birth	18 October 1974 (age 50)
Place of birth	Wrexham Wales
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.82 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Macclefield (head coach)
Youth career
	Brickfield Rangers
1990	Lex XI
1991–1993	Manchester Utd
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1993–1994	Man U	0	(0)
1994–1997	Crewe Alexander	77	(10)
1997–2002	Leicester City	172	(8)
2002–2005	Birmingham City	82	(11)
2005–2008	Blackburn Rovers	76	(1)
2008–2011	Derby County	124	(7)
2008	→ Brighton and Hove (loan)	6	(0)
2019–2020	Stockport Town	1	(0)
Total		538	(37)
International career
1992	Wales U18	2	(0)
1995	Wales U21	5	(1)
1995–2004	Wales	39	(2)
Managerial career
2024–	Macclesfield
*Club domestic league appearances and goals