Forest Green Rovers boss Robbie Savage has spoken candidly about the pressures, joys, and emotional highs of life in football.
In a heartfelt conversation with Stroud Times editor Ash Loveridge, Savage described match days as an “emotional roller coaster,” saying the pressure and anxiety can be intense.
Savage admitted that his management style is deeply emotional, reflecting his playing days. He acknowledged both the strengths and weaknesses of this approach, insisting that he wears his heart on his sleeve and strives to galvanise players through emotion.
Listen to Robbie Savage’s interview below:
As the sands of time move on, Savage feels he isn’t mellowing yet: “No, I think I’m becoming worse. I’m becoming worse. I didn’t think at 51 years of age I’d be becoming worse, but I am like that in my life. I’m an emotional, you know, quite an insecure character, you know, which people don’t see. And of course, you know, when you go home and reflect and then you go to your apartment, on your own, you’ve got no family or friends around you, and even when you’ve won, I take things to heart, and we can do better, and then obviously I reflect on it the next day, I look at the game, I’m seeing errors we’re making, and again, I just want to improve my players, and inevitably, if my players can improve, and I can improve more than my players, we can all improve together we’re all going to be in a happier position, my players are going to get rewarded, they’re going to have better lives for themselves and their families and we can all move on this journey together.”
Savage revealed: “It’s such an emotional roller coaster being a manager and the pressure and the anxiety on a match day is quite incredible. The build up in the week is great, but a match day is where it counts and I switch off. So whether there’s 80,000, 50,000, 2,000 in the stadium, my sole focus in that 90 minutes is my team. Now when I played, I blanked everything else out. And at times, you know, when I do get emotional, it can be heard. But that’s me. Do I need to balance that out a little bit? Of course I’ll try, but my management style is trying to galvanise people, get the best out of people through emotion. And it can be a strength, it can be a weakness. I’ve got so many things to learn as a manager. So many things to learn, and my emotion is one. I’ve got no question about that.
“But I’ve played on emotion as a player. I’m an emotional person in my life, and I’m an emotional manager. That’s my style. And of course, I try and read books on how to get better with my emotion, but that’s me. And, when I say I can’t change, of course I can try and improve my emotion, but that can either be seen as such a strength or a weakness. And if you can get the balance right, it can be such a powerful tool, you know, that I need to work on it. Of course I do.”
“I’m honest and that’s all I can ever be. You know, and I can’t, as a player I was honest and I can’t hide my emotions, I wear my heart off my sleeve, even as a player, I do as a manager.
“I’ll always try and be transparent, honest and open and that’s who I am and that’s all I’ve always been. And at times, you know, yeah I do need to show my emotion in a different way, but I’m just, I’m a winner. And that winning mentality is what I’ve had all my life. It’s in my family. It’s, you know, with my two sons. It’s the way we are as a family. And I can’t, I can try and curve it a little bit, but I’m not going to stand in the technical area and just, I’ll sit there and just show no emotion. That’s who I am.”
Football is Savage’s life, with no time for hobbies, he explained: “It’s always been my life, it’s my life, I love it, I watch every game, it’s my life, it’s been my life, it will be my life, you know, hopefully for the next 30 years. It’s my life, and that’s why I am a football person who cares, who’s passionate, who’s emotional, and this is who I am, and this is why this is why I’ve got to where I’ve got to, because I care and I’m a winner.”
Mentors have played a key in Savage’s development, he added: “I’ve been brought up around football people, Eric Harrison, Sir Alex, Martin O’Neill, you know, people who, you know, I respect massivley – Nigel Clough, you know, brilliant people, brilliant footballing history and, you know I’ve been proud to be part of them.”
With the recent rain of biblical proportions, Savage showered Rovers’ grounds team with praise: “Head groundsman Nick and the ground staff do an incredible job. The standard of the pitches at Forest Green, the two training pitches and the first team pitch are Premier League standard. There’s no doubt about it. I think a lot of games might get called off this weekend. We’re due a lot of rain on Friday. But our pitch, Nick assures me, it will be unbelievable.”
Savage admits he’s got a raft of selection dilemas to make after Temi Babalola got off the mark with a brace in Tuesday’s 4-2 victory over Tamworth: “I love those problems. You know, I’ve always said, you know, at my previous club I wanted 22 starters and I’ve got that here.”
Savage felt summer marquee signing Nick Haughton hit his straps on Tuesday, coming off the bench to bag a goal against Tamworth: “Nick (Haughton) had about four shots in the first 10 minutes he came on, so we’re delighted for him. The relief when he scored was huge. It was huge for him and huge for me, because, you know, I’ve brought him to the football club and every single player I bring in, I want them to be the best they can be. And hopefully now he can get off and running.”
Savage insists the National League is an unforgiving one and he’s unequivocally backed the National League objective of the 3UP campaign, which will see all games kick-off at 3.03pm on Saturday in its call for a third promotion spot to League Two.
“It’s one of the hardest leagues, I think, in the pyramid system to get out of and of course, every single manager in this league would want that to happen, especially when you’re fighting at the top end of the division. But the parameters are set before a ball is kicked, that it’s one up and through the play-offs. So the three-up campaign, I’m a huge advocate for, if that’s in place before a ball is kicked, so we all know what we’ve got to aim for. There’s no excuses if we finish 4th and lose in the play-offs. We then can’t moan about, well, it should be three-up because before a ball is kicked, we know that.
“I think it hopefully can be implemented. The 3.03pm kick-off time will put more spotlight on it. Obviously, you know, I’m on 606 also, you know, I can, you know, highlight it there as other fans can. So hopefully, yeah, it’s a great thing. The National League is a League Three.”
Savage is expecting a tough test against a Gateshead side, who haven’t won in five National League games, but ever the taskmaster the Rovers’ boss wants more from his team: “We need to be better than we were the other night. There’s no question about that. But again, I think we had the highest XG this season than any team’s had so far. We’re still top of the XG differential in the top five leagues, which is credit to my players. We are relentless in the way we attack. We had unbelievable chances the other night.
“Gateshead have a good manager in Alun Armstrong. Every team we play against, we respect them – they’re a good side, but we’re a we’re a very good side also.”
On the injury front, Savage has concerns over Jordan Moore-Taylor (ankle), Laurent Mendy (groin) and Nick Haughton (sickness).
Striker Kairo Mitchell is expected to remain sidelined for another six weeks, but recent signing Sean Etaluku should be back in the mix for the busy Christmas period
On a positive note, Savage is expecting goalkeeper Luke McNicholas to be back out on the grass in three weeks.
“It wasn’t as bad as we expected, which was a huge positive,” revealed Savage. But by bringing Harry (Isted) in now, we’ve now got three very good goalkeepers. So now when Luke’s (McNicholas) fit, we’re going to have three unbelievable goalkeepers to shoot from and more competition for that number one spot. You know, so Luke will come back and he’ll have to fight for his place, but the positive was that it wasn’t as bad as first feared, so that’s a huge plus.”
Savage gave an update on Ryan Inniss after he was withdrawn at the break against Tamworth: “Ryan (Inniss) came off, Abraham (Kanu) came on and played well. So, again, Ryan’s been brilliant for me. He’s an infectious personality – he’s a leader. That’s why he’s had the captain’s armband on. You know, he must have had a huge decision to make whether to stay and play or, you know, go up and play for Trinidad. He decided to stay. We were delighted about that. You know, but as a manager, you have to make decisions. So we’ll assess the squad, we’ll see where we are, but the team I select or we select at the weekend will be strong enough to beat Gateshead.”
