Savage appointed Forest Green manager

Forest Green Rovers person appointed erstwhile Wales midfielder Robbie Savage arsenic their caller manager, aft Steve Cotterill was sacked past week.

Savage, who played for Leicester, Derby, Blackburn and Birmingham among others during his career, has been managing non-league broadside Macclesfield FC since 2024.

Cotterill's departure from the National League nine was confirmed connected Thursday, aft the broadside missed retired connected promotion done the play-offs past season.

"I consciousness I person an accidental to make a squad to make an attacking marque of shot - an assertive signifier of shot to effort and get Forest Green backmost into the EFL," Savage said successful a nine statement.

"I privation a fast, breathtaking benignant but the astir important happening is to triumph games."

Forest Green finished 3rd successful the National League past play but were beaten by seventh-placed Southend successful the play-offs connected penalties, to miss retired connected a spot successful the Wembley final.

Savage links up with erstwhile Wales team-mate Mark Bowen astatine the Bolt New Lawn, who was appointed Forest Green's manager of football past month. They person not disclosed the magnitude of his contract.

His son, Charlie Savage, besides had a spell connected indebtedness astatine Forest Green during the 2nd fractional of the 2023-24 campaign, scoring 1 extremity successful 15 games.

The assignment is the 50-year-old's archetypal successful absorption successful the apical 5 tiers of English football.

However, past play helium won promotion to the National League North with Macclesfield - wherever helium has had an association since 2020 - during his archetypal run successful charge, with the nine clinching the Northern Premier League Premier Division rubric with six games to spare.

Savage said astatine the clip it would instrumentality "an atrocious lot" for him to permission for different club.

A Macclesfield statement, external said the departure of Savage was "disappointing" but that helium leaves with "our precise champion wishes and eternal gratitude for everything that helium has done for our shot club".

Savage won the archetypal of his 39 caps for Wales successful 1995 aft opening his playing vocation astatine Manchester United, though helium failed to interruption into the archetypal squad astatine Old Trafford.

He went connected to play much than 600 games crossed the EFL and Premier League successful a 17-year career, which began astatine Crewe, earlier helium signed for Leicester successful 1997, wherever helium played much than 200 games and won the League Cup.

He played for Birmingham earlier joining Blackburn successful a woody worthy £3m successful 2005 and ended his vocation astatine Derby successful 2011.

Aged 45, Savage made a little one-game comeback for non-league outfit Stockport Town successful 2019 but has predominantly been moving arsenic a media pundit.