Sparky v Savage: Welshmen reunite in non-league rivalry

One managed Manchester City, just as they were being transformed into the richest club in the world and started scooping up the best footballing talent on the planet.

The other had his first taste of management down the road at phoenix club Macclesfield FC, just a few years after the original club was wound up in the High Court because of £500,000 of unpaid debts.

But, in a classic case of master meets apprentice, former club and country colleagues Mark Hughes and Robbie Savage will meet as managerial equals this Saturday in a setting far removed from their days together at the top.

The pair contest a top-of-the-table tussle in the National League when Hughes’ Carlisle United host Savage’s Forest Green Rovers at Brunton Park.

“To be fair, Mark’s probably the one manager in this league who I can’t say: ‘Did you play in the Premier League 350 times?'” joked Savage, who played 346 top-flight games for Leicester City, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers – where he was managed by Hughes – and Derby County.

Savage is right. Hughes’ CV is not too shabby – more than 600 appearances as a player for the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Barcelona.

Then as a manager more than 450 top-flight games at Blackburn, Stoke City, Southampton, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers, as well as an 18-month spell at the Etihad Stadium just as City were coming under their transformative Abu Dhabi ownership.

By contrast, Savage’s management career started in the Northern Premier League Premier Division – the seventh tier of the English game – with Macclesfield Town before he moved to fifth-tier Forest Green in the summer

Hughes – known affectionately as ‘Sparky’ from a childhood comic book hero – is managing at non-league level for the first time after joining Carlisle last season following an 18-month spell at Bradford City.

The 61-year-old could not save the Cumbrians from relegation, but he is hoping to get them back into the Football League at the first attempt – with Savage’s Forest Green one of their main promotion rivals.

Rovers are second in the National League and Carlisle are third – both just a point behind leaders Rochdale – going into the reunion between the former Wales and Blackburn colleagues, which falls sweetly on Savage’s 51st birthday.

“Sav was great to work with as a player, he just had that high energy and his teams are very much indicative of how he played,” said Hughes, who managed Savage as Wales boss between 1999 and 2004.

“Sometimes people misinterpret how he is as a personality. He sometimes does things and says things for effect, certainly in his role as a radio presenter and pundit, but first and foremost he’s a very enthusiastic football person.”

Hughes also signed Savage for Blackburn in 2005.

“With some players you never knew what you’d get from one week to the next, but that was never the case with Robbie,” he added.

“When things were going bad, he would grab a game by the scruff of the neck and get a reaction from his team-mates. I always had a lot of respect for Sav in that regard.

Could Savage emulate his old Wales boss by managing in the Premier League or at international level one day?

Wrexham-born Savage, who won 39 caps as a player, says he is currently “a million miles away” from managing Wales or any Football League side, but would like to take charge of his country at some point.

Savage certainly has a useful mentor at Forest Green – fellow Welshman Mark Bowen, who used to coach him with Wales and Blackburn as Hughes’ number two, and is now director of football at the Gloucestershire club.

“Robbie is a very driven person and a real student of the game,” said Bowen, who played a key role in Savage’s appointment as manager at The New Lawn.

“He hasn’t got a lot of outside interests other than football. He watches it, he reads it, he studies it.

“The chairman [Dale Vince] was convinced at the start Robbie could and should be the man for Forest Green Rovers. We’ve brought in a lot of new players, around 15, and we thought it would take a while for it to settle down.”

WInning eight and drawing five of their first thirteen games before losing for the first time against Rochdale last weekend came as a pleasant surprise.

“We certainly didn’t expect to hit the ground running as we have,” added Bowen.

“I look at people who have had chances at higher leagues and better clubs and ask: ‘Are they any different to a Robbie Savage?’ Ultimately you’ve got to win football matches and he’s doing that.

“There’s nothing stopping him going to a higher level – hopefully with Forest Green Rovers.”

Having spent most of his coaching career working alongside Hughes, Bowen believes the former Wales and Manchester United striker was not given the credit he deserved for managing six top-flight clubs over a period of 14 years.

Hughes was denied his best chance of Premier League and Champions League silverware when City, flush from their initial Middle Eastern buyout, sacked him in 2009 after 18 months in charge and replaced him with Roberto Mancini.

“I always feel that Mark got a bad lot of it. The day Mark got sacked by Man City they were lying sixth in the Premier League and in the semi-finals of the League Cup,” said Bowen.

“We used to compare ourselves to the likes of David Moyes and ‘Big Sam’ [Allardyce]. For a long period, you could arguably look at Mark’s record and it was better than those two.

While Hughes’ top-flight days may be behind him, he is certainly relishing his current status as Carlisle’s potential saviour, with the ultimate aim of beating Savage’s Forest Green to the one and only automatic promotion spot.

Savage’s only focus this weekend is trying to get the better of his old boss.

“Mark was my hero, you know,” Savage said. “I’m managing at the same level as someone who’s had an unbelievable managerial career.

“He’s got a very, very good side but on the sideline he’s just Mark, he’s not my hero, he’s Mark, manager of Carlisle.

“So I’ll be trying desperately to beat him, as I would be trying desperately to beat Braintree or whoever we’re playing against. I respect him massively, it’s going to be strange, but it’s a big month for us.”

The respect from Hughes is mutual, but he hopes a feverish Brunton Park crowd will make it as hard as possible for Savage’s promotion contenders.

“I think he likes to engage the crowd so we’ll see how that goes with the lads in the Paddock,” said Hughes of the vociferous terraced section behind the dugouts.