Robbie Savage
There are many words to describe Robbie Savage. Some are listed above. Some aren’t printable. Robbie himself sums it up nine letters. “Shattered,” he says. “I’m absolutely shattered. Compared to this football’s the easiest thing in the world.”
The “this” in question is Robbie’s current schedule. The Five Live presenter – the award-winning Five Live presenter, to give him his full credit – has his radio duties to fulfil, has just recorded a stocking filler footballing gaffes DVD (“even David Beckham hasn’t done one of those,” he explains, not entirely without irony) and is shortly to be appearing across the country in A Question of Sport Live. For most of us, one of those would be enough. For Robbie it’s only part of the story: he’s also busy learning ballroom steps as one of the celebrities in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.
“It’s harder than being a footballer,” explains Robbie of the dance practice. “As a footballer you train for an hour a day, you eat properly, you sleep properly, you look forward to the next match. You could miss a few training sessions in a week and be fine for the Saturday.
“With Strictly, with a week to learn the routine, you miss a training session and that could be it, you’re out, so you do eight hours a day EVERY day. It’s hard.” He laughs and corrects himself. “It’s very, very, VERY hard. And I’m fit!”
Somewhere in between the training, Robbie has also got to find time to appear in A Question of Sport Live, the theatrical version of the popular BBC show, which tours the UK this winter.
“I did three or four last year, and really enjoyed it, so this year I said I’d do more.” While it means juggling the Strictly training, Robbie is clearly relishing the chance to appear alongside some sporting greats including Lawrence Dallaglio, Dennis Taylor, Andrew Flintoff and former Question of Sport regular, Bill Beaumont.
“They’re legends. They’re brilliant. I used to watch Question of Sport when Bill was the captain. It’s great. You sit on the panel, there’s an audience of two, three thousand, you can have some banter with the players, the crowd... You need a buzz when you finish playing football and the Question of Sport tour is it.”
Given his infamy as a player – some 89 yellow cards in a career spanning around 600 games – Robbie didn’t seem the most likely player to move into the media but, thanks to a great sense of self-deprecation and a willingness to graft, he’s been something of a revelation.
“I think I have changed people’s perceptions,” he agrees. “I wasn’t the best footballer in the world but every time I went on the field I gave it everything I’ve got and I do the same in the media. I call things like I seem them. It’s just my opinion and,” he laughs, “it might not be right, but that’s what you want. I approach it like I approach going to the pub, I just speak how I speak.”
Robbie is also aware that there’s a degree of performance to everything. “You play up to the crowd,” he admits. It’s also funny how perception plays a part. Robbie’s ‘a thug’, according to some, while Eric Cantona is ‘sheer class’ – yet Eric is the one who attacked a fan while Robbie is the one who gets attacked.
“It happened a few weeks ago,” reveals Robbie. “I took my boy to see United play, I was holding his hand and someone ran out of the crowd and punched me in the back of the head. Not being liked on the football pitch has its pitfalls...
“People assume I’ll be like that off the pitch and I’m totally the opposite. I’m insecure, shy, I don’t go out much and I really don’t like confrontation. If I’m in a restaurant and the food’s cold, I’ll eat it rather than send it back.”
The subject, perhaps inevitably, of Vinnie Jones arises. He was also – don’t laugh – a better player than he’s generally given credit for, had THAT reputation and has now spun it into a movie career. “He’s someone I look up to, obviously,” admits Robbie. “We were similar kinds of players, we both played for our country, we both had a lot of Premier League games...”
So does a film career beckon after the tour and Strictly is over?
Robbie laughs. “Who knows what can happen? What Vinnie’s achieved maybe I can achieve.” He pauses. “I wouldn’t play a hard man in the movies though. I’d be more of a Cinderella...”
Robbie Savage will be appearing in the ninth series of Strictly Come Dancing, which starts on BBC One at 9pm on September 30.
Robbie will be appearing at several venues across the UK as part of A Question of Sport Live, which runs October 22 – November 20. For tickets and information, call 0844 847 2549 or book online at www.aquestionofsporttour.com
The DVD of Robbie Savage: Football Howlers will be available from the end of November 2011.