Forest Green Rovers boss Robbie Savage was subjected to discriminatory chants and abuse during his side’s 3-2 defeat to play-off rivals Scunthorpe United on Saturday night.
A group of home supporters directed discriminatory abuse at Savage, triggering a warning announcement from the stadium announcer during the game.
In his post-match club interview, Scunthorpe boss Andy Butler praised Robbie Savage but expressed disappointment at a section of the crowd for aiming discriminatory chants towards the Forest Green boss. Butler said: “Robbie is a very good manager and a very good man. He’s very humble when you speak to him. But let’s keep the discriminatory abuse to a low because I don’t want any punishment for that. Apart from that, the support here was great.”
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A Forest Green supporter who attended the game added: “I took my children to the game and it was absolutely shocking to hear. Nobody deserves that type of abuse, and this is the fourth time this season it has happened to our manager. This is a hate crime, and the FA, Scunthorpe, and Forest Green need to take action. My wife listened at home, and you could pick up the chants on TV and radio. The game should have been stopped, and our captain should have taken the team off. Nothing will be done, and our beautiful game is sadly going back into the 1980s.”
In a thriller, Rovers took the lead through Ricardo Rees in the fifth minute, his fourth goal in three games, the Welshman raced on to a long ball from Laurent Mendy to swiftly lift the ball over Scunthorpe goalkeeper Rory Mahady. Rees was red hot – thumping the foot of the post and was also unfortunate not to win a penalty when he took a tumble in the box, but Scunthorpe were back on level terms just before half-time when Danny Whitehall converted a penalty after he had been bundled over in the box by Elijah Morrison and completed the turnaround five minutes into the second half through a fizzing strike from Zain Westbrooke.
Jili Buyabu fired an unstoppable equaliser for Rovers just before the hour, the Iron secured all three points with 15 minutes left when Carlton Ubaezuonu drilled home.
Listen below as Robbie Savage shares his post-match thoughts with BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s Billy Hunt. The Rovers’ boss praises his side’s performance despite the defeat, commends captain Laurent Mendy, lauds Scunthorpe boss Andy Butler, and shares his views on chants from the home crowd.
