[Archived] Savage - The Bad Apple

[mrsjansen]

One of the most commited, heartful and inspring players since Super Atko, I will miss you and will cheer you when your name is announced against us unlike the sadly fickle fans we seem to have attracted of late.

Best of luck mate.

And off the pitch he actually is a really nice guy. It was always great to see him on TV getting interviewed. Always very cheeky, but always had time for the fans.

I still remember when he arrived and he wanted 31 on his shirt as he cost 3.1 million and to rub it in the noses of the Birmingham fans. Maybe in the past he could have done things better when he left birmingham.

I too will be cheering him when he comes back here and wish him all the best in keeping derby up.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Well I'm really unhappy with the sale of Savage, we have two midfielders still on the books who aren't as good as him (Tugay and Mokoena) and two (Dunn and Reid) whose fitness is far from assured.

Hughes has huge shoes to fill for a paltry 1.5m.

Good luck to Sav, inspirational character to have in the side and around the Club. Wish we'd had him throughout his career at his peak - doubt we'd have gone down in '99 if we had.

Have to agree about Moko not being as good as Savage.Anyway,good luck Sav,your goal from the free kick away to Salzburg was a belter!

[RevidgeBlue]

Compare this to say Lucas Neill, who simply played his contract out, informed the club well in advance that that was his intention, and was sold early simply so that the club could make a few quid out of him. Yet Neill is roundly booed whenever he returns to Ewood and subjected to all sorts of abuse. Funny old game.

All Savage wanted to do was play for us - Neill was exactly the opposite, he didn't, and was even made captain, yet shoved that honour back in Hughes' face. It's a no brainer really.

[broadsword]

I thionk it speaks volumes that only Deby are willing to pay big money for him.

I think he may well have had it now, but even a slowed-down savage has got to be better than Mr Axe.

In any case, I wish him (Robbie) well. The great big tart!

[Scotty]

All Savage wanted to do was play for us - Neill was exactly the opposite, he didn't, and was even made captain, yet shoved that honour back in Hughes' face. It's a no brainer really.

There's certainly no brains in the people who boo Neill, I'll give you that. Neill seemed perfectly happy to play for us until his contract ran out, and he certainly didn't shove anything in Hughes's face that I'm aware of.

Anyway, I don't want to rake up the past again. I just wanted to show that, imo, Savage has caused much more upset with the manager and, possibly, the rest of the team in recent weeks than Neill ever did.

[Beta Ray Bill]

Best of luck Robbie.

A mate who's a Huddersfield fan saw him early last summer whilst on holiday in sunnier climes (when he was out with an injury) and he looked really down.

My mate asked him if it was to do with missing the end of the season and he gestured over his shoulder at an expensive boutique. "it's worse than the injury, the wife's in there!" Top comment!

At least we'll get to say goodbye when already relegated Derby visit Ewood at the end of the season.

[Roar of the Rover]

He were'nt the most technical gifted player but one thing he did was work his backside off for us, All the best Robbie!

[Fife Rover]

Have to agree about Moko not being as good as Savage.Anyway,good luck Sav,your goal from the free kick away to Salzburg was a belter!

Yes all the very best to Sav; no one can deny that he plays with his heart on his sleeve and he has always done his best for Rovers. I hope he succeedsat Derby and helps to keep them up. That would be some feat!!

Oh and SG194: I preferred Sav's "goal" against Chelski from his free kick (or was it a throw in?) that just skimmed off Reid's head on the way in.

[Exiled_Rover]

Any word on the price?

[G Somerset Rover]

Apologies if it's been mentioned but did anybody see him on Skysports News pretend to get in that average looking car? I thought for a second 'what's Sav playing at with that motor' and then he pulled away from the car laughing at the Sky camera's. What a character!

[rebelmswar]

Any word on the price?

Supposedly 1.5 mil with extras. I am guessing that is games played and such.

[Exiled_Rover]

So a sizeable loss then. Not so sure about this bit of business at all.

[rebelmswar]

So a sizeable loss then. Not so sure about this bit of business at all.

I think as Nicko said we have had a few years run out of him and he is older, so maybe not such a bad price, but it will be difficult to find a replacement for the money. I worry more about the youngsters leaving on freebies much more however.

[frosty]

Axe is not good enough and i am sad to say Reid has become an injury nightmare for us, we need a ball winning midfielder not an attacking midfielder, we have got enough of them with Dunn, Tugay and Bentley, with Savage about to go we now don't have a good quality ball winning midfielder in our side

Tugay is not an attacking midfielder, but yeah I agree now we don't have a real ballwinner.

Good luck Savage, I'm sad to see him leave in a way.

[Lathund]

So a sizeable loss then. Not so sure about this bit of business at all.

He's 33 now and has broken a leg. When we got him from Brum it was a case of them wanting to keep him, now we want to sell. Considering that, it's a good fee.

Show me some (Outfield) players of similar abilities who went for more than that aged 33?

Again, people ignore the fact that he's on sizeable wages as well. I've said this several times, but going from a player on £45k to one on £15k would save us £2.4m over the remaining length of his contract. I'd expect a quality replacement to be on more than that, but anything below Sav's salary is money saved.

[rebelmswar]

He's 33 now and has broken a leg. When we got him from Brum it was a case of them wanting to keep him, now we want to sell. Considering that, it's a good fee.

Show me some (Outfield) players of similar abilities who went for more than that aged 33?

Again, people ignore the fact that he's on sizeable wages as well. I've said this several times, but going from a player on £45k to one on £15k would save us £2.4m over the remaining length of his contract. I'd expect a quality replacement to be on more than that, but anything below Sav's salary is money saved.

I wish we knew a ballpark of what he is on, I am sure Nicko would never tell though. Could one of our resident accountants figure it out?

[tonygreenbank]

Good luck , Robbie ,

Thanks for being a real star and a character for us. We have had more media coverage with you on board than for a long time. You always gave 110% and for that you deserve our respect. I hope you do well at Derby. The biggest compliment I can pay you is that probably for the first time in your career you will not get booed when you come back to a former club!

[LeChuck]

I just wanted to show that, imo, Savage has caused much more upset with the manager and, possibly, the rest of the team in recent weeks than Neill ever did.

Nonsense. Neill had made it absolutely clear that he didn't want to stay at Rovers under any circumstances, he just wanted more money elsewhere. It must have peed a lot of other players off that he was given the captain's armband and still acted this way. Fair enough, he was always committed on the pitch, but so is Savage whenever he plays so Neill is no better in that department.

Savage simply wants first team football at this stage in his career, if we could offer him that then there's no way he'd want to leave. I bet you won't find one Rovers player who won't sympathise with a 33 year old just wanting first team football as he approaches the end of his career. I can't imagine it's upset Hughes either; he blatantly has decided he's not much use to us anymore if Mokoena is constantly selected ahead of him, I'd imagine he's secretly glad to have his (relatively) huge wages off the bill and £1.5 million in the kitty.

Edit: As others have said, I wish Sav all the best. He personifies the first few years of Hughes' reign and was one of the main men at helping us forget the last years under Souness. £1.5 million for a 33 year old, who will be lucky if he has 12 months left at this level, is fantastic business for the club...especially if the wage he was rumoured to be on is true.

[DP]

Definitely a good fee for his age. I remember when we signed savage for 2.5 - 3 mill and a lot of people weren't happy with that fee for a 30 year old. Well, 3 years later and look how far we've come and what an key player he has been. OK, he's cost us a lot in wages but how much have we gained from finishing higher up the league.

I'll reiterate an earlier point. I don't think MH would be selling Savage if he thought he could recapture the form of pre-broken leg. It will be a huge disappointment if we don't bring in somebody credible to take his place, to partner Dunn or Reid in the 1st team.

[bluebruce]

The amount we're getting is nothing short of excellent. He's 33! Clubs usually don't get a penny for someone at that age. So to take what we paid, compare it to what we're getting and saying it's bad business is pretty dumb. If anything the amount we're getting makes me LESS peeved that we paid 3.1 million for him, which I felt at the time was a rip off for a 30-year old journeyman we would get next to no resale value on. We've ended up only paying a net 1.6 million (Maybe less after the add-ons come along) plus wages for 3 years of Robbie, much of it at the prime of his career. It's proven to be a much better piece of business than I initially felt it would be when we signed him.

[rebelmswar]

It seems we pretty much all agree. Couldnt the mods change the title of this thread to "Savage the Golden Delicious"?

[John]

Sad to see him go, but it is time to move on. Deserves a big round of applause when we play Derby.

He contributed a lot to the start of the Hughes era, on and off the pitch.

[thenodrog]

He gets booed because he lied about his intentions. Had he gone to Liverpool, an undeniably bigger club, then he wouldn't get half the reaction he does now. It's the fact he went to WHam, who were a good shout for relegation, for £40k (or whatever) more a week and then proclaimed it was to further his career at a larger club.

wtf has 'big club' got to do with it? 'Big' wage is the key to any professional player. The undoubted intention was to maximise his earning potential in what was prob the last major contract of his footballing career. He did well in allegedly doubling the remuneration that we were paying him. Neill was straight and honest with our club about his intentions and honoured his commitment like a man in a mature and businesslike fashion so I for one have no complaints. Who would not wish to double their salary for the last few years of their working life? I find people who bear a grudge of Neill to display remarkably closed and immature mindsets. No doubt the 'WHU are a big club / ambitious/ world cup winning players etc etc' was simply for the benefit of his new clubs fans and thats all..... Every new player comes out with that stuff when they put on a shirt for their first press photo call. Compare his actions to the many liars and backsliders that have left us in the past. Keane promised to sign, shook on it before backsliding out, Bellamy LIED that he was staying, Colin Hendry publically committed to a 4 year deal just 6 months before deciding to take the Gers call.. LIAR / that fraudulent twot Ferguson's actions were despicable... LIAR / even 'God' Shearer LIED to Jack Walker and Dunny the childhood dingle hardly acted like the big Rover's fan that he claims to be when he couldn't wait to sign for Brum.... hardly a big club either eh? I simply cannot understand the animosity that is directed at Neill. He acted like a man with honesty and integrity in trying to make the most from his abilities and thats good enough for me..... and quite obviously Mark Hughes too! Yet still the more vindicative on here cannot tell the wood from the trees. Odd.

[tcj_jones]

I'm really gonna miss not seeing Sav in the blue and white. He was a top character and I think we'll miss him badly unless a good replacement is found. He really has been one of my favourite players over the last decade or so.

As for Neill, those who boo him really annoy me. I wasn't particularly happy with the circumstances in which he left, but after five years at the club, he should be allowed to take on a new challange without being subject to abuse.

[Shevchenko]

I'm really gonna miss not seeing Sav in the blue and white.

Uhm...?