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http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=
15102565%26method=full%26siteid= http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=322464&cc=3888 Savage will 'never forgive' Birmingham Robbie Savage today insisted he will never forgive Birmingham for the way the club treated him before his ｣3million move to Blackburn. Savage said he had been deeply hurt by being made to train with the youth team and play for the reserves after he handed in a transfer request. The 30-year-old, who was unveiled by Rovers this morning, said: 'I have gone through a lot and I think it had gone too far and had become on a personal level. 'The bottom line is that I'm 30, I'm a father and I was being made to train with the kids or on my own. 'To treat me the way they did was something I could possibly never forgive them for. 'The last couple of weeks have been horrible, I have not been eating through all the stress and worry, I have lost about 8lb. 'Birmingham have been coming out with things about me almost every day and I want to pay tribute to the way Blackburn handled this. I just kept my mouth shut for a change, I wanted to say what I felt but I couldn't.' Savage also responded to criticism of his insistence that moving to Blackburn would make him closer to his parents in Wrexham. 'That was pretty hurtful for people to belittle me and say that Blackburn was further from Wrexham than Birmingham. 'I lived in Stratford-upon-Avon and it took me two-and-a-half hours to get to Wrexham; now I am playing for Blackburn I will find a house in the Cheshire area 35 minutes' drive from my parents.' The Welshman admitted there had been times when he wondered if he had taken the right course of action, such was the vitriolic response from Birmingham fans. He added: 'To put in a transfer request was perhaps a pretty bold thing to do. I'm not sure I was adored by the fans at Birmingham but I think I was respected, and there were times I was thinking if I had done the right thing, but now I'm here at Blackburn I know I have. 'Mark Hughes was my hero, I had pictures of him on my wall when I was eight and I think as a manager he is the best. 'Now I just want to prove myself to the Blackburn fans, ｣3million for a 30-year-old is quite a lot of money.' Meanwhile, Blackburn will speak to their own unsettled midfielder Barry Ferguson on Monday. Rangers have already had one ｣3million offer rejected and Blackburn, who still owe ｣2.5million from the original ｣6.5million fee from the Glasgow club, insist they will hold out for much more. Hughes said: 'It is very difficult for myself and the board to really understand which way this is going to go. 'Rangers have not come in with anything like a realistic bid and it is very difficult to say which way we can go with it. 'We will be speaking to Barry and his representatives on Monday and maybe then we will have a clearer picture.' Ferguson has also handed in a transfer request but Hughes denied it was exactly the same situation as had existed with Savage. He said: 'The difference is the level we wanted Robbie at. We made Birmingham a significant increase on their investment and Rangers have not on ours and unless they do he will remain our player.' Lancashire Evening Telegraph (21.Jan.'05) The Savage love affair starts here WHETHER you love him or loathe him, it's impossible not to have an opinion on Robbie Savage. To opposition fans the length and breadth of the country, Savage is probably the most reviled figure in the Premiership - a man capable of starting a World War in an empty telephone box. But for those who truly appreciate what he brings to the party, the Welsh international is a cult hero who's only crime is to wear his heart on his sleeve. On the pitch, Savage is a fiercely competitive individual who will stop at nothing to ensure his team comes out on top. Off it, he's a loving family man, who lives in a ｣1.25 million house and dotes on his 18-month-old son Charlie. He regularly visits his mother and grandmother, for example, and gives the cash he makes from various newspaper columns to his father to augment his pension. However, that caring side to the 30-year-old's nature often gets lost in all the hype that surrounds his every move because Savage is just the kind of larger than life character that newspaper editors like to paint as the pantomime villain. He's straight-talking and opinionated, two qualities in desperately short supply in the modern game. And if there's ever any controversy, then you can bet the former Birmingham star won't be far away - even if he had nothing to do with it! But Savage doesn't care about what the general public think of him. In fact, the louder they boo him, the more determined he becomes to prove them wrong. Quite simply, he loves to be the man the rest of the Premiership loves to hate. "As you'll come to find out, everyone has an opinion on Robbie Savage, whether it's good, bad or indifferent," said Rovers' new ｣3 million signing. "Right now, though, the only opinion that matters to me is Mark Hughes' because he's paid a lot of money to get me here and I want to show him and the fans that I'm worth every penny. "I'm probably not the most liked man in the world but I don't care about that. "All I care about is doing well for this football club and for Mark Hughes. "I'm sure the Blackburn fans will soon find out that I get booed at every away ground in the country, but as long as they appreciate what I do, then that's alright. "I've still got to win them over yet. There could be a few Blackburn fans out there who might be thinking 'why have we signed him?' but, hopefully, in a few months time they'll be cheering me because I know what I can give them." It's somewhat ironic that Savage lives in an old farm in Warwickshire, next to a house where the Gunpowder Plot was hatched, as fireworks are never far away when the midfielder is around. Off the pitch, he's got a great sense of fun which makes him popular amongst his team-mates. Occasionally, that can back-fire on him, like the time he tossed Paolo Maldini's Italian shirt into a bin, which famously led to a fall out with Wales boss Bobby Gould. Or when he used referee Graham Poll's toilet and was fined ｣10,000. But at heart, he's a decent, honest, whole-hearted individual who gives nothing less than one hundred per cent, whatever cause he's fighting for. That's why Mark Hughes was so keen to add him to his squad during the January transfer window because no-one in football knows Robbie Savage better than the Rovers boss. Where others might consider him to be 'high maintenance', Hughes sees him as the perfect man to take Rovers forward with his boundless energy, enthusiasm, and insatiable will to win. He might upset one or two along the way but Savage makes no apologies for that. "I won't change the way I play," said the Wales captain. "I'm sure the Blackburn fans appreciate someone who gives everything on a Saturday, just like Paul Dickov does. "Everyone knows what Paul Dickov has brought to this football club, he works hard and I think the fans appreciate that. "And the reason why I've been a success at Leicester and Birmingham is because on a Saturday, I give my all. "It doesn't matter if I play poorly or I play well, the one thing that won't change is my desire to win and that will always be there. "If I can add something to the team then that will be great and if I can't then I'm sure people will make their own minds up." I've got a feeling Blackburn Rovers fans might just grow to love him. |
