Birmingham City paid a club-record fee to Leicester City for £2.5m man - he's now set for interesting manager role | OneFootball

Robbie Savage has hit the headlines with a move to take charge of Forest Green Rovers after just one year in football management.

Robbie Savage has hit the headlines this week, as after just one season in football management, he's moved on from a club he owns shares in in the form of Macclesfield FC in order to take the Forest Green Rovers vacancy.

The Welshman, who was capped by his nation during his playing days, has been a newsworthy figure throughout his career, and he's hit the headlines again for his movement as a coach.

He was also a big public figure as a player though, and that includes all the way back in 2002 when Birmingham City paid a club-record fee to sign the midfielder after his club at the time - Leicester City - were dumped from the Premier League and into the Football League.

Robbie Savage was once Birmingham City's record signing from Leicester City After coming through the ranks and failing to make an appearance at Manchester United, Savage moved to Crewe Alexandra before finding a home at Leicester.

For the Foxes, he played in excess of 200 games, amounting to the most he managed for a single club throughout his career.

Savage was a regular for five years at the club, but after Leicester suffered relegation from the top-flight in 2002, he found a new home, trading the East Midlands for the bright city lights of Birmingham.

In a career spanning decades and more than 500 games, the Welshman played 88 times for Birmingham. Along the way, he scored 12 goals and assisted seven more, surpassing the totals he managed in the more defensive end of midfield for the Foxes.

The move, which was worth a reported £2.5m at the time and was a club-record for the recently-promoted Blues, immediately led to Savage winning the Player of the Year award for Birmingham in his first season with the club.

Savage played exclusively Premier League football for City before his 2005 move to Blackburn Rovers, and it's fair to say his footballing career probably peaked whilst at Blues in terms of his abilities on the pitch - he'd spend three-and-a-half years in Lancashire before his move to Derby County, with a career in the media sector following his playing days.

Having played a part in bringing Macclesfield back to the football pyramid though in 2020, becoming a director of the club where he owned shares, and also director of football too, Savage made his first move into coaching last year - and it's already led to a move higher up the ladder.

Robbie Savage has made an interesting managerial move to Forest Green Rovers - the start of a successful new career path?

Savage, who is now 50 years old, joined the board of phoenix club Macclesfield, who were hoping to rebuild as a club after Macclesfield Town went into liquidation.

He soon became the director of football for the side, as they steadily ascended through the levels of the English non-league pyramid.

Savage swapped that job for the head coach role in the summer of 2024 ahead of their Northern Premier League campaign, and it's one that was a major success after just one year.

In Savage’s debut season in management, the Silkmen won the league in stunning fashion. Securing the title in March, Macclesfield trounced much of their opposition during the campaign at step three, finishing 26 points clear of Worksop Town.

Macclesfield finished the 42-game season with 109 points, having scored a staggering 109 goals and won 35 times. Only three defeats marked negatively on their record, which ended with a goal difference of +79.

However, before having the chance to test himself in the National League North, Savage has jumped to the top tier of non-league football in the country by taking the Forest Green Rovers job, and presumably has had to sell his 10.9 per cent stake in the club as a result.

In the process, Savage has pulled a number of Macclesfield’s top talents up the divisions with him, with Laurent Mendy, Neil Kengni and Tre Pemberton all making the switch to Gloucestershire.

Forest Green came in for Savage, as Football League World reported, and he took the opportunity to work for the club renowned for their unique environmentally-focused and vegan project under Dale Vince The Welshman said he was not scared to take risks when appointed at the rural outfit, perhaps hitting onto a theme of his career.

Birmingham paying a club-record fee was a risk back in 2002, even if the energetic Wrexham-born midfielder had impressed in the top flight with Leicester previously.

Now, Savage has taken a risk himself; jumping up to a competitive National League with just one year of management under his belt. The question that will be asked and soon answered is, how sensible that decision was?