Pride Park Stadium
Pride Park
Location	Pride Park Derby DE24 8XL
Coordinates	52°54′54″N 1°26′50″W / 52.915°N 1.44722°W / 52.915; -1.44722Coordinates: 52°54′54″N 1°26′50″W / 52.915°N 1.44722°W / 52.915; -1.44722
Broke ground	1996
Opened	18 July 1997
Owner	Derby County F.C.
Operator	Derby County F.C.
Surface	Concrete
Construction cost	£28 million
Architect	Miller Partnership
Capacity	33,597
Tenants
Derby County F.C. (1997–present)

Pride Park Stadium is an all-seater football stadium located on the Pride Park business park on the outskirts of Derby, England. It is the current home of Football League Championship club Derby County, who moved to the stadium from the Baseball Ground upon its opening in 1997. With space for 33,597 spectators, Pride Park Stadium has the sixteenth-largest capacity of any English football stadium, the twentieth-largest of any stadium in the United Kingdom, and the one hundred and twenty-first-largest in Europe.

The ground has hosted one full England international fixture, played whilst the new Wembley Stadium was under construction, as well as several England U21s fixtures and a friendly match between Brazil and Ukraine.

History[link]

Planning and development[link]

Prior to moving to the Pride Park Stadium, Derby County had been based at The Baseball Ground since 1895. Although at its peak the ground had held over 40,000 (the record attendance being 41,826 for a match against Tottenham Hotspur in 1969)^[1] the Taylor Report, actioned after the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster had seen the legal requirement for English football stadia to become all-seater by 1994–95 season ^[2] resulting in its capacity dwindling to just 17,500 by the mid 1990s, not enough for the then-ambitious second tier club.^[1] An additional problem came with the ground's wooden components (considered unacceptable in the wake of the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985) and, in February 1996, chairman Lionel Pickering made the decision to move the club to a new stadium, having originally planned to rebuild the Baseball Ground as a 26,000-seat stadium.^[2]

The club originally planned to build a purpose-built 30,000-seat stadium at Pride Park, with 4,000 car parking spaces, restaurant and conference facilities, a fitness centre, a supporters club and new training ground. A year later the stadium plan was changed to become part of a £46 million project by the Stadivarios group that would also include a 10,000-seat indoor arena.^[2] However, Peter Gadsby, the club's associate director at the time and head of the Miller Birch construction company felt the project was both too ambitious and expensive and instead plans were drawn up by new Chairman Lionel Pickering to modernise and extend the Baseball Ground to hold 26,000,^[3] at a cost of £10 million.^[2] However, despite signing a construction agreement with Taylor Woodrow, Gadsby suggested the club make a second attempt at securing the then-redeveloping Pride Park business park, settling with Derby City Council for a smaller site than previously agreed.^[2] On 21 February 1996, prior to a match against Luton Town at The Baseball Ground, the club announced to supporters the decision to move to a £16 m state-of-the-art stadium for the start of the 1997–98 season.

Derby City Council were paid £1.8 million for the land and the club's four directors – Lionel Pickering, Peter Gadsby, Stuart Webb and John Kirkland each paid £2.5m towards a package deal to pay for the stadium.^[2] The stadium itself was based upon Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium, which opened in 1995, though it had more than 30 amendments to the original plans.^[2] After toying with the idea of naming the new ground "The New Baseball Ground", it was settled that the club's new home would be called The Pride Park Stadium.

Construction[link]

Engaging the same architects as Middlesbrough (The Miller Partnership)^[4] Derby's plans predominantly followed those of the Riverside Stadium, with the first stage being a detached main stand facing a horseshoe running unbroken round the other three sides, with the possibility of the corners being filled in later and the ground's capacity being increased if and when necessary by raising the horseshoe roof.^[5]

Pickering laid the foundation stone in November 1995^[4] and, after decontamination, the first of the more than 1,000 pre-cast concrete piles^[2] was sunk in September 1996.^[4] This was followed by 6,500 tonnes of concrete and more than 2,100 tonnes of steelwork as the ground began to take shape.^[2] Tapping in to the excitement amongst supporters, the club setup a visitors centre which included a computer-generated tour of the stadium taking shape^[4] and attracted more than 75,000 fans.^[2] The opportunity was also made available for supporters to buy special bricks – on to which they could engrave a message of their choosing – which would be set around the outside of the completed stadium.^[2]

The weather of the 1996 winter was not kind to the contractors but extra urgency was provided by the news that the stadium was to be opened by Queen Elizabeth II.^[4] This news – the first time the Queen had opened a new football stadium – ensured that the workers, at one point behind schedule, had to pull out all of the stops to get the stadium completed in time. The pitch stood at 105 metres long and 68 metres wide, meeting the requirements for an international venue, and measured five yards longer and four yards wider than the pitch at the Baseball Ground. It also came with a three-metre grass margin.

Opening[link]

The East Stand

The Queen opened the stadium on 18 July 1997 in front of 30,000 spectators. By this time the south west corner, which stood between the main stand and the horseshoe, had been completed. The interest from potential corporate clients had been so high that Pickering pressed the board to go the full distance with the stadium, raising the final initial costs of completing the stadium to £22m. Work was still in progress on the remaining corner on the opening day, leaving Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh to jokingly ask Taylor Woodrow contract manager Ross Walters, "Haven't you been paid yet?"^[6] An overture to the Opening Ceremony came two weeks later, on 4 August 1997, with the first ever game at Pride Park Stadium being played against Italian side Sampdoria, the match ending in a 1–0 defeat with Vincenzo Montella scoring the only goal of the game. The attendance of 29,041 was the highest for a Derby County home game in 20 years.^[7][8] The fixture kicked off a tradition of pre-season friendlies being held against European teams at the ground, with Barcelona (twice), CSKA Moscow, Athletic Bilbao, Lazio, Ajax and RCD Mallorca all visiting the stadium over the next 6 years.^[8]

The first competitive fixture to be completed at the new stadium came on 30 August 1997 and ended in a 1–0 against Barnsley in front of 27, 232, with Stefano Eranio scoring the only goal from the penalty spot. The stadium's inaugural competitive fixture had come against Wimbledon was called off with the score at 2–1 after the lights went out in the 11th minute of the second half. Referee Uriah Rennie abandoned the match following a delay of more than half-an-hour while engineers tried unsuccessfully to restart two failed generators. Gadsby said: "We had 11 maintenance people on duty including six electricians but nobody has yet worked out why both generators failed. There was a bang of such strength that it fused them both."^[9] This proved to be the only major problem with the new stadium, which delivered everything which had been promised of it and went on to gain international recognition.^[6] Later additions to the ground raised the capacity to 33,597 and a final cost of £28m.

Ownership Issues[link]

Although the financing of the stadium's construction was carefully structured so that the club paid and owned the ground without encroaching on funds reserved for the development of the team, the club's eventual relegation from the top flight in 2002 saw it enter financial crisis^[10] and eventually it was temporarily entered into receivership by The Co-operative Bank, who instantly installed a new board composed of John Sleightholme, Jeremy Keith and Steve Harding, for the cost of £1 each. Financial circumstances worsened as the debt spiralled to £30m plus and an unpopular^[11] refinancing scheme was put in place which saw the stadium sold to the "mysterious"^[12] Panama-based ABC Corporation and the club paying rent of £1m a year to play there, which local journalist Gerald Mortimer described as "an affront.. to those who put everything into building (the ground)."^[12] The ownership trio of Sleightholme, Keith and Harding were dubbed "The Three Amigos" and, after came under increasing criticism from the Derby's support, in the form of two separate supporters groups, the RamsTrust and the Rams Protest Group (RPG), they eventually sold out to a group of local businessmen, dubbed "The League of Gentlemen" by the local press, led by former board member Peter Gadsby, in April 2006. The Gadsby-led consortium returned Pride Park to club ownership.^[13] Three years later, Murdo Mackay, Jeremy Keith and finance director Andrew McKenzie were charged with taking a secret commission worth £440,625 from the club and were each sentenced to a combined seven and a half years in prison.^[14] As of August 2009, the club still owed £15m on the mortgage of The Pride Park Stadium^[15] which was later revealed to be due to be paid off in 2016.^[16]

Pride Plaza Redevelopment and Ground Expansion[link]

Clough and Taylor Statue

During the 2006–07 season, in which Derby earned promotion back to the Premier League after 5 years, the club released details of a proposed £20m development of the area surrounding the stadium, to include the building of a 165-bed hotel, bars, restaurants and office space, to create a local service centre for employers located on the Pride Park business park. Three squares would also be introduced which would be named after legendary figures associated with the club – all-time leading goalscorer Steve Bloomer, the club's greatest manager Brian Clough and former-Chairman Lionel Pickering, who had died in 2006. The club insisted no money would be taken away from the team to pay for the development.^[17] On 9 November 2007, Derby City Council agreed to let the plans go ahead. Following promotion to the Premier League in the 2006–07 season, the club announced plans to expand the capacity of the stadium up to 44,000 for the start of the 2008–09 season, if the club successfully survived. The plans included adding rows of seats to the north, south and east stands and would have allowed the club to break its current club record attendance.^[18] However, the club failed to maintain its top-flight status and when, in January 2008, was sold into new American ownership, in the form of General Sports and Entertainment^[19] both the Plaza plan and the Ground expansion initiatives were scrapped.

In 2008 a 9'0 high bronze statue of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor – who had managed the club between 1967 and 1973 – was commissioned to adorn the north west portion of the ground to be called Unity Plaza. The statue was designed by Andrew Edwards and features both Clough and Taylor holding the League Championship trophy which they won with the club in 1972. It was unveiled on 27 August 2010.^[20]

2018 World Cup and 2012 Olympic bids[link]

In 2009, Pride Park was earmarked as a possible World Cup venue when Derby County announced its intention to apply to be one of the host cities as part of England's bid for the 2018 World Cup Finals, with Derby Chief Executive Tom Glick saying that "What we [the board] know is that Derby already has the core elements to be a host city... We are going to find out what the requirements are but we are certainly expecting that the requirement would be at least 40,000 seats. The ability to do that at Pride Park Stadium exists, the land exists. So we know that if we were successful, that is something that could be done".^[21]

The South Stand (right)

To qualify as a host stadium the ground would need to expand to at least 40,000 capacity and the club announced that three methods could be undertaken to achieve this – two of which would leave the stadium permanently expanded.^[22] Option A would see the additional capacity supplied by temporary stands erected behind each goal, removing the current roof, and be supported by steel structures, with all the stands removed after the World Cup and the original roofing replaced.^[22] Option B would also see temporary seating built in the north and south stands as well as an additional structure placed on the east stand which the club could choose to keep, increasing the capacity to 39,000.^[22] The final Option, C, would see the removal of seating from the north, south and east stands and three new 20 row decks placed in each stand. This again came with the option of retaining the east stand expansion, raising the stadium capacity to a permanent 37,000.^[22] The club itself stated that it preferred to explore temporary, rather than permanent, expansion, saying "We'd like to meet the World Cup standards for matches when it comes to expansion but then perhaps scale down the stadium to something closer to where we are right now. That way, we can keep the intimacy and special atmosphere that has almost become a hallmark of going to a Derby County match. When the team play at home, having a full stadium is a huge advantage because it creates a brilliant atmosphere. What we wouldn't want to do is have a stadium that all of a sudden was too big after the World Cup had gone."^[22] On 16 December 2009, Derby's campaign was rejected by the FA, along with Hull and Leicester. Tom Glick later commented, "We're all greatly disappointed. Thousands of hours of hard work has been put in across the city from a number of agencies. We need to get some feedback as to why the bid was not successful."^[23]

The club was later unsuccessful in its attempt to be the midlands football venue for the 2012 Summer Olympics, losing out to Coventry City's Ricoh Arena,^[24] with the Selection Committee citing the fact the stadium "has fewer dressing rooms and no hotel" in comparison to the Coventry-based stadium.^[25]

Additional ground developments[link]

On 17 January 2009, a bust of Steve Bloomer was unveiled next to the home dugout.^[3][26]

The Plaza @ Pride Park development[link]

On 3 October 2011, Derby County announced that they had submitted plans to Derby City Council for a £7 million development of land outside the stadium, which the club named "The Plaza @ Pride Park".^[27]

These plans include five cafes/restaurants, two convenience stores and 2,000 square metres of office space. These plans have been scaled down from the planned £20 million pound development proposed in 2007.^[28] Derby County CEO Tom Glick, said that these plans would help the club deal with the new Financial Fair Play regulations which will be introduced in the Football League from 2012, as revenue from the Plaza will be reinvested back into the club.^[27]

This planned development also coincides with a plan from the City Council to build a multi-use sports arena on the same site as the proposed Plaza.^[28]

On 12 January 2012, Derby City Council's Planning Control Committee gave planning permission for the development,^[29] Derby County Chief Executive Tom Glick stated the club had moved the next stage of the development, finding a development company to build the plaza.^[29]

Records[link]

The highest attendance at Pride Park Stadium for a competitive Derby County match is 33,378 in a Premier League match against Liverpool on 18 March 2000.

Average league attendance[link]

The bust of Steve Bloomer, located adjacent to the home team's dugout

Non-Derby County Matches[link]

As one of the largest football grounds in the Midlands, Pride Park has also hosted some notable matches not connected to Derby County.

Pride Park has hosted one full England international; a 4–0 friendly victory over Mexico on 25 May 2001, when the national side toured the country during the building of the new Wembley Stadium. The match also holds the record for the highest attendance at the stadium: a full-house of 33,598.

The ground has hosted five England U21 matches. The first was on 9 February 1999, a friendly match against France, which ended in a 2–1 victory to England. The crowd of 32,865 was the highest to watch the U21 in England since 1983.^[30] The next two fixtures were both European Championship Qualifiers, with 30,155 seeing a 1–1 draw with Germany on 6 October 2000^[31] and 32,418 saw a 1–0 victory over Holland on 13 November 2001.^[31] The U21's then played Holland U21s again four years later, on 8 February 2005, in a friendly, with a crowd of 33,184 seeing the home side lose 2–0.^[31] The most recent match was on 6 February 2007, when 28,295 saw a 2–2 friendly draw between England U21 and Spain U21, a match which was the first match under the tenure of current England U21 manager Stuart Pearce.^[31] Partly as a result of Derby's successful hosting of international U21 football, Pride Park was selected as a host venue as part of the English bid to host the 2013 European U21s Championship.^[32]

Away from the England national side, the stadium hosted a friendly between Brazil and Ukraine on 11 October 2010.^[33] The match ended in a 2–0 victory for Brazil, Daniel Alves and Pato scoring the goals,^[34] in front of a crowd of 13,088 live spectators and TV viewers in over 100 countries.^[35] Though Brazil coach Mano Menezes bemoaned the low turnout ("I expected more fans but I think it was a good game."^[36]) though Derby Chief Executive Tom Glick declared himself relatively pleased with the turnout, stating "I think everybody was hoping that we'd have a sold out crowd of over 30,000 but, realistically, time was working against us. We only had 13 days to sell the tickets and a big crowd just wasn't on the cards. But I think we've proven that we can turn it around, operationally. The promoter, Kentaro, has seen that. So we have done ourselves a favour in terms of bringing something else like this back again and we will continue to pursue things like this."^[35]

Away from international football, on 4 May 2009, Pride Park hosted the 39th FA Women's Cup Final, which saw Arsenal run out 2–1 victors over Sunderland to win the cup for a record fourth consecutive time, in front of a crowd of 23,291.^[37]

Notable non-football events[link]

Although primarily a football venue, Pride Park Stadium has also hosted events away from sport. It first hosted Rod Stewart on 26 June 2005, whilst touring his Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III album.^[38] This was followed by Red Hot Chili Peppers, who played at the ground as part of the tour for their Stadium Arcadium album on 5 June 2006.^[39][40]

Images[link]

Panorama taken from the south stand lower.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pride Park Stadium

• Pride Park Stadium website

For the stadium, see Pride Park Stadium.

Pride Park is a business park on the outskirts of the city centre of Derby, England. It covers 80 hectares of former industrial land between the River Derwent and railway lines.

History[link]

The site was formerly part of the railway yards, and was derelict for many years. It was the original site of Derby’s railway manufacturing industry, but land here had also been used for gas and coke works, gravel abstraction and landfill. These uses left behind a cocktail of contaminants, including tars, phenols, heavy metals, ammonia and boron. Extensive redevelopment took place over 10 years to reclaim the site, including the building of a new access road to open the area up. Part of the site has been transformed into a nature reserve called "The Sanctuary", in conjunction with Derby City Council.^[1]

The Sanctuary[link]

This 10 hectare site adjacent to Derby County F.C. stadium and the River Derwent was heavily contaminated from its former use as a gas works. The site had been designated a "Site of Interest for Nature Conservation" in the master plan by the council. Part of the site was used to safely encapsulate the contaminated material removed from other areas of the site. The site is home to ground nesting birds and a plan was created to encourage their nesting. The site is home to the skylark, a bird considered significant under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP). The Sanctuary is not an open access area but viewing points are provided on the perimeter for the public.^[2] In 2006 it was designated a Local Nature Reserve.

Occupants[link]

• It has been home of Derby County F.C.'s Pride Park Stadium since 1997 when they relocated from the Baseball Ground in the Normanton district.
• A Park & Ride car park for access to Derby city centre is located next to the stadium.
• Internet bank Egg plc has its headquarters in the business park.
• The business park also houses a Holiday Inn Express hotel and several car dealerships.
• The sports goods retailer JJB Sports has offices on the Park.

Expansion Plan[link]

Derby County Football Club are proposing to expand facilities on offer around the football stadium with a £20 million development plan. ^[3] This is despite the club being unsuccessful in their bid to include the stadium as a venue in England's bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.^[4]

On 3 October 2011, Derby County Football Club announced that they had submitted plans to Derby City Council for a £7 million development of land outside Pride Park Stadium, which the club named "The Plaza @ Pride Park".^[5]

These plans include five cafes/restaurants, two convenience stores and 2,000 square metres of office space. These plans have been scaled down from the planned £20 million pound development proposed in 2007.^[6] Derby County CEO Tom Glick, said that these plans would help the club deal with the new Financial Fair Play regulations which will be introduced in the Football League from 2012, as revenue from the Plaza will be reinvested back into the club.^[5]

This planned development also coincides with a plan from the City Council to build a multi-use sports arena on the same site as the proposed Plaza.^[6]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Photo gallery of the football stadium from BBC Derbyshire
• [1] News from Pride Park from the Derby Telegraph
• Pride Park Stadium review from thisisfootball.co.uk

Coordinates: 52°54′50.90″N 1°27′30.38″W / 52.914139°N 1.4584389°W / 52.914139; -1.4584389

This Derbyshire location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Robbie Savage

Personal information
Full name	Robert William Savage
Date of birth	(1974-10-18) 18 October 1974 (age 37)
Place of birth	Wrexham, Wales
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth career
1991–1993	Manchester United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1993–1994	Manchester United	0	(0)
1994–1997	Crewe Alexandra	77	(10)
1997–2002	Leicester City	172	(8)
2002–2005	Birmingham City	82	(11)
2005–2008	Blackburn Rovers	76	(1)
2008–2011	Derby County	124	(7)
2008	→ Brighton & Hove Albion (loan)	6	(0)
Total		537	(37)
National team
1995–2005	Wales	39	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Robert William "Robbie" Savage (born 18 October 1974) is a football pundit and former Welsh professional footballer who played predominantly as a midfielder. During his career he captained Derby County, and also played for the Welsh national team. He now presents 606 on BBC Radio Five Live on Sunday evenings alongside Mark 'Chappers' Chapman. He appeared on series 9 of Strictly Come Dancing.

He gained notoriety for his playing style. In 2008, the Daily Mail labelled him as the dirtiest player in Premier League history, based on numbers of yellow cards received, though he has since been surpassed as the player with the most Premier League yellow cards by Lee Bowyer.^[2]

Personal life[link]

Savage was born in Wrexham in October 1974 to Colin and Valerie Savage.^[3] He attended Ysgol Bryn Alyn in Gwersyllt, until he completed his GCSE studies in July 1991. On leaving school, Savage joined Manchester United as an apprentice.

Savage is married to Sarah. The couple have two sons.^[4] His father was diagnosed with Pick's disease, a dementia-type illness, when he was in his mid-50s, and died in 2012.^[5]

Savage had said in the future he would like to finish his career at home town club Wrexham before going on to manage them.^[6] He also said that the greatest regret of his football career was not signing for Everton when he had the chance in 2005.^[7]

Football career[link]

Club career[link]

Early career[link]

Savage started his playing career as a trainee striker at Manchester United. He played in the FA Youth Cup winning team of 1992, and was later given a professional contract, but never played a first team game for the club and signed for Crewe Alexandra in 1994.^[8]

He switched into midfield and proved himself as a highly competent young player at Crewe, helping them reach the Division Two playoffs in his first two seasons at the club; a remarkable feat for a newly-promoted club who had only played at this level twice in the previous 30 years. Crewe then made it third time lucky by sealing promotion via the playoffs in 1997. It was the first time that Crewe had reached the second tier of the English football league system, but shortly after helping Crewe win promotion, Savage handed in a transfer request to manager Dario Gradi.

Leicester City[link]

Savage playing for Leicester City in 1997–98, his first season with the club.

Savage was transferred to Premier League side Leicester City for a fee of £400,000, managed by Martin O'Neill, in July 1997. Savage spent five years at Leicester, where he made his name as a reliable, competitive and fiery midfielder. In 1999, Leicester reached the League Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur. In a controversial incident, Savage made a poor tackle on Tottenham's Justin Edinburgh who retaliated by swinging his arm out. Contact was minimal, but Savage fell to the ground. Edinburgh was sent off for raising his arms, and although Tottenham went on to win the final, many Spurs fans still hold a grudge against Savage for the incident to this day. However, a year later Savage reached the League Cup final again, this time winning 2–1 against Tranmere Rovers. The cup win is Savage's only winners medal.

Birmingham City[link]

When Leicester were relegated from the Premiership at the end of the 2001–02 season he transferred to newly-promoted Birmingham City for a fee of £1.25 million, signing a three-year contract.^[9] At the beginning of January 2005 he submitted a written request for a transfer, allegedly wishing to be nearer his ailing parents in Wrexham, despite the fact that Birmingham is closer to Wrexham than Blackburn is.^[10] On 19 January he completed a move to Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £3 million.^[11] Savage played well in his time at Birmingham, scoring 11 goals in 82 league games, his best ratio of goals to games to date.

Blackburn Rovers[link]

In his first five months as a Blackburn player, Savage helped his new club to Premier League safety and reached the FA Cup Semi Final, a 3-0 loss to Arsenal in his homeland's Millennium Stadium.

In March, Savage called an end to his international career after new manager John Toshack dropped him for a World Cup 2006 qualifying game against Austria.^[12] His feud with Toshack and the Welsh FA continued long into the 05/06 season as Savage insisted he retired from international football only because Toshack told him he wasn't good enough to play for Wales.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005–06, Savage was a regular performer for Blackburn, making 42 appearances and scoring once,^[13] against former club Birmingham.^[14] The following season, he scored against Salzburg^[15] and Wisla Krakow^[16] in Rovers' UEFA Cup campaign, but his season was cut short by a broken leg in January, which kept him out for the rest of the season.^[17]

During the 2007–08 season, Savage endured further problems with his knee, suffering a knock in the 2–1 win at Spurs after being caught by Robbie Keane. Surgery was required which kept him out of the starting lineup for six weeks. Following the return of Steven Reid to the Rovers starting lineup and some good form by David Dunn, he found it harder to get into the starting eleven. Savage was well liked by the Blackburn fans and was given a standing ovation by a near capacity ground by the Rovers fans when he returned with Derby.^{[citation needed]}

Derby County[link]

Savage playing for Derby against West Ham United in the 2007–08 season

On 9 January 2008 Savage joined Derby County for a fee of £1.5 million on a two-and-a-half year contract,^[18] and later revealed that he had taken a pay cut to join Derby in his search for first-team football and had rejected a move to Sunderland because he felt Derby had wanted him more.^[19] As the number 8 shirt, which he had worn at previous clubs, was already allocated to then-captain Matthew Oakley, he took the number 44 shirt because the numbers add up to 8.^[20] He was appointed the new Derby captain after Oakley was sold to Leicester, and he skippered the Derby side in his first match, a 1–0 home defeat to Wigan Athletic.^[21] Savage's arrival, however, could not prevent his first season at the club from ending in relegation, and his performances were frequently below-par, something he acknowledged.^[22]

Rumours of Savage leaving Derby came in July 2008 when he missed out on every pre-season match. In August, Leicester City chairman Milan Mandaric declared an interest in Savage, which was dismissed by Derby.^[23] Paul Jewell repeatedly left Savage out of the team, after Derby's poor start to the 2008/2009 season,^[24] and he was replaced as captain by Alan Stubbs. Stubbs was forced to retire shortly into the new season through injury, but Savage was not considered for the role due to not being in the first team, and the armband went to Paul Connolly.

After failing to break back into the first team, Savage was sent out on loan in October to Brighton for a month to keep match fit.^[25] He would later reveal one year later, in a build-up to a match between Leicester and Derby County, that he had tried to secure a loan deal to the Walkers Stadium (Leicester had declared an interest in him months earlier). Savage even telephoned club ambassador Alan Birchenall and former teammate Paul Dickov to put in a good word with manager Nigel Pearson. Pearson, however, "said no", despite Derby offering to pay "90 or 95 per-cent" of Savage's wages.^[26] Following Jewell's resignation as Derby manager, Savage found himself brought back into first team contention by new manager Nigel Clough, who made him first choice in central midfield. Savage scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 loss to Doncaster Rovers on 27 February 2009.^[27]

Savage signed a year extension to his Derby contract with the club on 10 August 2009 to take him through to the end of the 2010/11 season. The next day he was named in the Championship Team of the Week for his performance in the opening day victory over Peterborough United.^[28] Later that month, Savage was renamed as Captain of Derby County, replacing Paul Connolly, who manager Nigel Clough wanted to "concentrate on his own game". Clough felt Connolly "was quite relieved in some ways because it is a big responsibility, especially when you are at full-back and out of the action" and that Clough wanted a Captain who was "in the middle of the park".^[29] In response, Savage said that "I did not deserve the captaincy when I first came to the club. I was handed it from the first day and I shouldn't have been. It was too much pressure for me and I had a nightmare. I let it get to me. I think I'm ready for it now. I feel more comfortable with it now."^[30] Derby struggled once again during the season, not achieving safety until the 44th fixture, but the season was a personal success for Savage as he appeared in all but one of Derby's 51 league and cup fixtures during the campaign, the match which he missed being due to suspension, starting 49 of them. He also scored twice; a free kick against Queens Park Rangers in a 4–2 home defeat and a volley at Sheffield United in a 1–1 draw. He also won the club's internal player of the year award^[31] but lost out on the fan's award to Shaun Barker.^[32]

Savage again started in the Derby first eleven in the 2010–11 season in a new 4–2–3–1 formation around new signing James Bailey, though Derby got off to a poor start winning just one of their opening seven league games, with Savage's form making fans question the justification for his place in the team and his status as skipper.^[33] He made his 100th appearance for the club in a 2–2 draw against Queens Park Rangers before he was dropped to the bench for a 1–1 draw at Barnsley, the first game he had played no part in for Derby (barring unavailability for selection) since Nigel Clough's arrival as manager in January 2009.

On 16 October 2010 Savage played his 600th career match in a 3–0 victory on Preston North End, scoring an injury-time penalty to seal the win.^[34] In January 2011, Savage revealed that he was considering leaving the club for a move to Vancouver Whitecaps, Savage stating "One thing is for sure, I will be leaving Derby County at the end of the season, if not before, even if they offer me a new contract. My time is up here. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time with Derby and I want to walk away with my head held high".^[35] One fan responded by telephoning Savage during an interview on Radio Five Live and telling him to "leave the club now" and "take young Mr. Clough with him".^[36] Savage eventually rejected the move, stating it was too big a move for his family.^[37] On 31 January 2011 Savage announced on his Twitter page that he would be retiring at the end of the season to concentrate on his growing media career.^[37] In his last two games, a home loss against Bristol City and an away defeat at Reading he was met with a round of applause and a standing ovation from both sets of supporters.

International career[link]

Savage retired from international football in September 2005 having attained 39 caps, saying he wished to concentrate on his club career.^[38] However, many people believe the reason he quit was due to a spat with Wales manager John Toshack. Savage did give the explanation that "John Toshack said it was my way or the highway – well I'm on the M56."^[39]

On 6 March 2006, he appeared on Welsh radio, partaking in a debate with pundit Leighton James over his exclusion from the Welsh squad. Early in his international career he clashed with former Wales manager Bobby Gould when he jokingly threw a replica of Paolo Maldini's shirt into a disposal bin before a match against Italy.^[40] Savage was initially dropped by Gould from the squad only to be reinstated the next day.^[40]

Style of play and controversies[link]

Savage in 2010

Savage's style as a midfield player was all-action and energetic, and he regularly collected yellow cards, and for a while held the dubious distinction of being awarded the most yellow cards of any Premiership player in the league's history – 89, although he has now been overtaken by Lee Bowyer.^[41] A controversial player, Savage is loved by fans of teams he plays for and hated by many others, in part due to his style of play and in part due to several controversial incidents he has been involved in. Fans of Aston Villa, Derby, Tottenham, West Ham and Arsenal have accused him of simulation, whether to win a set piece or to get an opponent red carded.^[42]

During a match against Newcastle United in August 2003, the referee Matt Messias swung his arm out and accidentally hit Savage in the face as Savage was running behind him.^[43] Savage went down to the floor holding his face and Messias called a halt to the game. Messias looked down to check Savage's condition, and gave Newcastle striker Alan Shearer his red card who showed it to the referee as a joke. Savage shortly got back up on his feet and had sustained no injuries, but fans, players and referees alike took much delight in this comical incident. It has been shown many times on Soccer AM as have many other recordings of Savage being hit in the face by the ball or an arm. One particularly memorable incident occurred at Arsenal's former ground, Highbury, when a ball kicked by Robert Pirès struck Savage in the face, to the delight and loud cheers of the home fans. Also, on 17 January 2010, whilst commentating for BBC Radio 5 Live's coverage of a Premier League match between Aston Villa and West Ham United at Villa Park, a clearance by Villa midfielder Stiliyan Petrov hit Savage in the face causing some minor bleeding to the nose.^[44]

Savage has, however, only been sent off twice in his career: Once during an international game for the Welsh national team, and once during a Premier League game for Blackburn. He received his first-ever red card when he was sent off in Wales' World Cup qualification match against Northern Ireland in September 2004 for reacting to a foul on him by midfielder Michael Hughes. Both Hughes and Savage were sent off, but, on later review, the punishment of Savage seemed harsh to some. Savage was ridiculed for threatening to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights over the decision. His once-impressive statistic of never being sent off in a Premiership match ended on 18 March 2006 when he was dismissed against Middlesbrough for two bookable offences. Both were controversial – the first for a challenge on George Boateng where he appeared to take the ball, and the second for handball when it seemed unintentional. Savage later admitted that he was probably due a controversial sending off because he had escaped punishment for illegal challenges in the past.

One famous example of his eccentric behaviour was while he played for Leicester City. In an incident to become known as "Poogate" he used the referee's toilet before a game, claiming he had an upset stomach due to antibiotics he was on at the time. The Football Association charged him and he was fined £10,000, a decision that he appealed against, but lost. Leicester fined him two weeks' wages for the incident.^[45][46]

In his first season for Leicester, in the final minute of a league game between rivals Leicester and Derby at Pride Park, Savage dived in the penalty area. Leicester were awarded the penalty, which was converted, and meant they won the game 3–2. Savage's blatant dive, his hopeful look at the referee and his aggressive fist-pumping celebration in front of the home fans resulted in a torrent of abuse from the fans and in Savage being chased across the pitch by incensed Derby players, two of whom were booked. Derby fans regularly booed, jeered and abused Savage whenever he played against them, and when he became a Derby player in January 2008, he was treated with a mixture of hostility and indifference, partly over the incident, and partly over his average form.^[47][48][49]

Savage is also famous for an incident at Villa Park, while playing for Birmingham City. After a tackle on him by Dion Dublin, a confrontation between the two and several other players occurred before Dublin headbutted Savage. Dublin was sent off by referee Mark Halsey as result.^[50]

When being interviewed by BBC Radio Derby's Colin Gibson in January 2010, Savage reacted furiously to rumours he heard that the Derby players think the club's backroom staff are not up to the job. These rumours were brought up during a phone-in on Gibson's show on the station the preceding weekend, following the Rams' 4–1 defeat at home to Scunthorpe United on 9 January.^[51]

Broadcasting career[link]

Savage occasionally acted as a pundit during his club career,^[52][53] and started working in the media more regularly in the 2009/10 season.^[54] He worked in a number of different punditry roles during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, before joining the presenting team for BBC Radio 5 Live’s 606 show in 2010.^[55] In May 2011 he was awarded the Sony Radio Academy Rising Star Award,^[56] as well as winning an award from the Plain English Campaign.^[57]

Since retiring from football in May 2011, Savage has attempted to become a more prominent broadcasting figure beyond punditry. From September 2011 Savage took part in the 2011 series of Strictly Come Dancing,^[58] partnering Ola Jordan. The show broadcast on 22 October saw Savage perform a dramatic knee-slide towards the camera, which resulted in a broken nose.^[59] Savage left the competition on 4 December 2011, and as such was placed 6th.^[60] He appeared on the ITV2 comedy show Celebrity Juice in 8 March 2012.

Football career statistics[link]

^[61]

These statistics do not include 9 games and 1 goal scored in other competitions with Crewe (8 games, 1 goal) and Brighton and Hove Albion (1 Game), Stats accurate as of 19:10, 7 May 2011 (UTC).^[62]

Honours[link]

Manchester United

• FA Youth Cup
  • Winner : 1992
  • Runner up: 1993

Crewe Alexandra

• Football League Division Two
  • Play-Off Winner: 1997

Leicester City

• League Cup
  • Winner: 2000
  • Runner up: 1999

References[link]

External links[link]

• Robbie Savage career stats at Soccerbase