Former Premier League and Wales player on changing perceptions, his insecurities, the quest to get FGR back into the league, working with Dale Vince and the loneliness of living away from family.
Watch the full interview with Robbie Savage below:
Forest Green Rovers Manager Robbie Savage believes people have a certain perception of him because of his past as a famous footballer and his near two decades of broadcasting on UK TV and radio.
He believes they also hold a certain perception of the man who gave him the job at Forest Green Rovers – club owner, chairman and high-profile environmental campaigner, Dale Vince. But he also believes, bit by bit, those perceptions are being proved wrong.
“When you are in that technical area and all eyes are on you and we all know that being me comes with added pressures, and being Dale comes with added pressures.” Savage told Sport and Life.
“And the pair of us together people said we would clash but I can honestly say he’s brilliant and we get on so well. Knowing that and knowing I’ve got the support and backing of a fantastic person and fantastic football club it gives me opportunities to make mistakes.”
“The perception of me is what I was like as a player and people don’t know the real me. And that’s why doing interviews like this I hope people see a different side to me.”
Don’t think Savage is blind to the brutal realities of football management. He acknowledges that it’s a profession where if “your mistakes become frequent you won’t be in it very long.”
But while the club fell short of the dream return to the football league – falling in the National League playoffs to Boreham Wood – Savage says he felt he achieved his immediate challenge of bringing energy and attractive football.
“I have a laugh and a joke with my owner Dale and said ‘you won’t miss the 34 texts from me in the close season!’
“I think he knows me now. We’re close and it’s a great relationship to have. He made a lovely post after the play-offs saying it’s been great to be at Forest Green this season.
“He said to me ‘come in and show your personality. I just wanted to create that environment that buzz and make it somewhere people want to be. What we’ve done this season was the remit from the owner and now next season comes a little bit more pressure.”
Savage is incredibly open and I found him very self-deprecating – both in this conversation and when we bumped into each other at a supermarket in Cheltenham a couple of weeks prior.
He talks freely about being insecure but that his confidence in his coaching ability is growing due to studying for his A-license with The Football Association of Wales and studying session plans daily.
After managing Macclesfield and now FGR he says he’s also learned to be a more forgiving pundit in his ongoing work for the BBC and others.
“When I see pundits saying ‘well, they should have done this, they should have done that,’ there’s so many things that happen which pundits won’t know about. And only the managers and people will internally know.”
Savage played in the Premier League for many years and was a player at big clubs including Manchester United, Leicester City, Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers, and he played 39 times for his country Wales. He said that those achievements came off the back of significant sacrifices for him and his family.
The sacrifices continue. And he says while he’s enjoying living in Cheltenham, it is hard being away from his wife and the family home in Manchester.
“She moved everywhere with me. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I achieved without her because she has been a rock, a rock. But it was a mutual decision that she was staying in the family home with my youngest, Charlie’s moved out (Savage’s son who plays for Reading).
“It would be unfair for me to say ‘come with me.’ Of course, I would love that. But I try and commute as often as I can.”
Football management is full-on and while the picturesque spots in Gloucestershire, including Nailsworth, Stroud and Cheltenham haven’t been lost on Savage, he tends to prefer to spend his time away from work watching football rather than sightseeing.
“Ted, I went to Bourton-on-the-Water. And I walk into Montpellier but I’m not one for walking out and sitting and having a glass of wine. I’d just rather be in the house watching the football with a cup of tea.”
“I’ll probably join the padel club. The club has a relationship with one. It can be lonely.”
Savage is enjoying managing Forest Green Rovers and living in Cheltenham. He’s enjoying working with Dale Vince. But he’s a realist and he expects the expectations to ramp up in the 2026/27 season.
“The remit will probably be can we get a home playoff or get promoted automatically.
“And I just want to say next year is going to be even better. We’re going to continue to play that fun, entertaining football, but with the goal of can we get promotion? In, I think, the hardest league in the world to get out of with that one club going up.”
For full coverage of Forest Green Rovers 2026/27 season see Ash Loveridge’s sterling writing for stroudtimes.com
