Savage: clown or refreshingly honest?

[LcFc_Smiv]

Just read this off of BBC Sport, it's a column by Savage explaining how players can engineer a transfer move. He talks about methods and tactics he used to try and force a move. I was trying to think if any of them may have related to his time at Leicester, however I remember very little about his final time with us. Anyway it's an interesting read, slightly unsurprising from a man like himself.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23703265

[theessexfox]

Hate that sort of stuff, if you want a move request one, but don't undermine the club. 

[glenny_fox]

Good read but it makes Sav sound like a right mardy twat.

[Renart]

The Mods might want to move this if they think this is in the wrong place but as he is an ex-player that is talking about his career that included 5 important seasons at LCFC then I decided to put it here.

 

Just interested in what people thought of this:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23703265

 

Savage tends to come up in conversation with my non LCFC supporting friends more regularly than other ex-Leicester players for obvious reasons (his media profile and his ability to be controversial). I received a couple of messages this morning from two football following friends (a Leeds fan and a Reading fan) in regard to this BBC article; the long-and-the-short of what they were saying was that rather than seeing the article as being an honest assessment of the workings of football politics they felt that he was confirming what everybody already knew and that was that he was a bit of a clown (the words they used were a little stronger). 

 

Now, my opinion of Savage was always that if he played for you then you loved him and if he was playing against you then you hated him. Controversial as a player but I thought he was great in the late 90s and have probably overlooked certain aspects of his game and character, tending to defend him in the past and even revelled (as he obvs. does) in how riled up he manages to get other fans. I tend to deliberately forget that he also played for Derby.

 

What do people think about what he is saying? I know most of his references are to the controversial move from Birmingham to Blackburn but is there anything in there that refers to his time at Leicester? As fans do we continue to defend an ex-player such as Savage because of nostalgia when if he hadn't played for us at such an important time then we might have a very different opinion?

 

Finally, Savage: Legend or Clown?

[Munshi]

Never liked him.

[Guest MattP]

That article just sums up.

 

1. Just how much power players have.

2. How no matter what they say so few of actually give a shit about the clubs they play for and fans.

3. Savage is an utter cnut, clown is too nice.

 

 

t helped get my name out there and flush out possible interest. It's harder to do that nowadays because the media often know what's true or not, but I called people I knew a few times and got them to make up a story.

 

 

I wanted to give the impression I was being forced to train on my own. That night, the TV report went out and I thought I had accomplished my mission.

 

Undermine the Manager? It was something I did. On one occasion, I was out of favour, so I went to the chairman and told him I wanted to leave. I had two years left on my contract and told him I would settle for one year's pay if he would let me go.

 

At one club, I was sitting in the physio room and let it drop that I wanted to join another club. I added that I was so confident of a deal happening that I insisted I would be playing for that club the following week.

 

It can be hard to do, but one sure way of losing the manager's backing is by not giving 100% in a match. I say it's hard to do because you're not just letting yourself down, you are letting your team-mates, fans and family down.

I only did it once and I'm not proud of my actions, but it felt like it was the only avenue left open to me

 

Tapping up is illegal but it goes on. Players do it and managers do it. I had two managers call me at home while I was still under contract at a club. And I've tried to engineer a move myself by speaking to players at clubs I was interested in joining.

 

What a model professional he really was.

[Renart]

That article just sums up.

 

1. Just how much power players have.

2. How no matter what they say so few of actually give a shit about the clubs they play for and fans.

3. Savage is an utter cnut, clown is too nice.

 

 

 

What a model professional he really was.

 

The texts I received said something similar.. (was just toning it down for the children) 

[theessexfox]

There's another thread about this but worse than clown.

[Dan LCFC]

That article just sums up.

 

1. Just how much power players have.

2. How no matter what they say so few of actually give a shit about the clubs they play for and fans.

3. Savage is an utter cnut, clown is too nice.

 

 

 

What a model professional he really was.

 

I used to like him until I read that. What a cvnt.

[Renart]

There's another thread about this but worse than clown.

 

Yep. I have just seen that. Must have gone up while I was writing my essay of a first post. Was going to delete this thread but I think the poll is interesting so I'm not going to.

[Danno]

Love me a bit of Sav

[Number 6]

I guess I'd like to sit somewhere between the two options but with those available I'd go legend for the success we had with him in the team.

A lot of what he says doesn't sound good but I'm not surprised by it and at least he is being honest.

[Guest MattP]

Never forget when the twat started kissing his Birmingham badge to goad the City fans at St Andrews.

 

If ever an example of the overuse of the word 'legend' is needed, here is it.

 

Legends - Chandler, Rowley, O' Farrell, Banks, Lineker, Walsh.

 

Not Legends - Savage, Morgan, Benjamin, Taft, Blyth etc

 

It's not hard.

[Kitchandro]

I do like that he's opinionated and says what he means as a pundit but sometimes it can just be annoying.

 

He comes across as a right nob in this article. It's almost like he's giving other players advice on how to engineer a move.

 

Some of the things in there are so pathetic it's unreal. How much of a baby can you get?

[Fox92]

Always liked him.

 

Regardless, as Martin O'Neill said, he was a part of one of our greatest squads, and deserves a lot of credit for that.

[Corky]

Never forget when the twat started kissing his Birmingham badge to goad the City fans at St Andrews.

 

If ever an example of the overuse of the word 'legend' is needed, here is it.

 

Legends - Chandler, Rowley, O' Farrell, Banks, Lineker, Walsh.

 

Not Legends - Savage, Morgan, Benjamin, Taft, Blyth etc

 

It's not hard.

 

http://www.givemesport.com/123203-savage-takes-swipe-at-leicester-fans

 

Robbie seems to disagree.

[FoxesFan123]

This is exactly the sort of thing that has made Savage a bit of a celebrity in the footballing world - controversy. Lets be honest, he wasn't a fantastic player and didn't really achieve a huge amount, but he was popular because of the type of player he was and how hated he was by opposition teams. He's doing the same thing now.

He probably didn't do half the things in that article but if it gets the people talking about Sav in the forums, it'll help keep his status for another year or so.

[inckley fox]

I loved him at Leicester, but felt he never recovered from the day someone told him he was actually a good footballer. O'Neill once said of him "He's got everything except for talent", and when the likes of Taylor began encouraging him to do less running around and more 'playing' I felt he became less effective.

 

As for his character, well I seem to recall whisperings that certain players didn't like him. There was the incident in which he got extremely emotional because Wise bought him a barbie doll impaled on a dildo, or something like that, in the Secret Santa. But then again, that was Wise.

 

I lost respect for him on two separate occasions. First when we played Birmingham in the Adams years. Savage got a great reception then spent the whole game hurling himself over and desperately trying to get our players booked. I think we had two sent off that day and he was at the heart of both of them, remonstrating with the ref. He got booed off the pitch. Then, years later, he took stick from our fans while playing for Derby and complained that we had 'short memories'. Hmm.

[Guest MattP]

http://www.givemesport.com/123203-savage-takes-swipe-at-leicester-fans

 

Robbie seems to disagree.

 

He has got to be on the wind up there saying he was one of our greatest ever players!

[Kitchandro]

He has got to be on the wind up there saying he was one of our greatest ever players!

 

It's quite insulting tbh.

[21st Century Fox]

He likes his white trainers.

[Facecloth]

Never forget when the twat started kissing his Birmingham badge to goad the City fans at St Andrews.

 

If ever an example of the overuse of the word 'legend' is needed, here is it.

 

Legends - Chandler, Rowley, O' Farrell, Banks, Lineker, Walsh.

 

Not Legends - Savage, Morgan, Benjamin, Taft, Blyth etc

 

It's not hard.

Trevor Benjamin not a legend?!? What are you on?

[Babylon]

Just imagine if he was here now and was up to that stuff and the manager wanted rid because of it.... people would be saying "Bloody Pearson falling out with players blah blah"

[Finnegan]

Legend.

[Freeman's Wharfer]

Bit of a loveable w*nker for me.

 

Loved him when he played for us and growing up he was my favourite player. That was always for what he was like on the pitch though, loved by Leicester fans but hated by everyone else. It was always known that off the pitch he was a bit of a tit and players from that era such as Izzet and Walsh don't seem too keen on him. What he did when playing for Birmingham and Derby leaves a bit of a sour taste but then that's the very same stuff we used to love from him.

 

Since he's retired I don't mind him too much. He's basically continued to do what he did during his football career by making a lot out of what he has (not a lot) without a massive amount of intellect to do it. I do think however that at the minute the Savage bubble is getting bigger than he's got the sense to maintain and would expect it to burst in the next few years when he does something stupid or his profile gets too big for him to cope with because he starts to believe he's something he's not.