Quotes from Robbie Savage

You only realise when you have children of your own how much your parents do for you. My dad, Colin, would get off work at 5pm and take me straight out and all over the country for football matches.

For many dads, pride is often defined by events like graduations, weddings or taking their sons to their first match.

I dont like Graham Poll. He thinks he is pretty special, and Im not quite sure why.

If you have ever played the game, you will know there are times when it is impossible to tackle an opponent without both feet leaving the ground, if only for an instant.

There is minimal scientific evidence to suggest the Covid-19 virus is transmitted on football pitches in fresh air, so let's not play roulette with our young people's physical and mental well-being any longer.

Harry Kane must look at the Premier League table and wonder why on earth he is still at Tottenham.

And I know the risks of changing captaincy midway through a season. At Derby, it was a great compliment when Paul Jewell handed me the armband, and I was made captain of my fourth Premier League club, but it was awkward for Matt Oakley, who had it taken away from him.

I have always been an advocate of market forces and players being paid whatever clubs are prepared to pay them. Good luck to them.

Every club has its scapegoats, but some are easier targets than others.

You'll find that I've watched around 400 games at age-group level, from six to 14 years old, over the last eight years because both my sons play for academy teams - and I have not seen a single dive.

Football has not just been a part of my life: It has been the fabric of my life.

I'd rather blow up than fizzle out. I don't want to fade away and go down the leagues.

I played professional football for 21 years, captained four clubs in the Premier League and won 39 caps for my country.

As the manager, Ive told my players that if anyone is sin-binned for backchat to referees or officials, they will miss the next two games - with no promises that they will get back in the side.

If wildly variable refereeing standards not yet a crisis, we are reaching a tipping point. And it may take more than the dawn of VARs to sort out the mess.

But helping to raise a football club from the ashes, and running it as director of football operations, is the hardest thing I've ever done by a million miles.

If I ran the show at Manchester United, I would be making a big effort to keep Paul Pogba.

I'm a campaigner for grass roots because I am a product of the grass roots system and I would like every child to have the same opportunities I was lucky enough to enjoy.

I've always liked the abuse on the football field. It inspires me, makes me feel better, I thrive on it.

With respect to the super-rich Saudis taking over at Newcastle, they are likely to bring success to a famous football club by throwing money at it.

Wading into a sell-out 3,500 crowd to separate hooligans throwing punches is not what I expected as director of football at a phoenix club.

I've had people spit in my face. I've had bottles thrown at me. My house has been attacked. I've had loads of things happen. People have written to me saying they are going to find me.

Sin bins are the way forward if we want to turn the tide on discipline in football.

When my business partner Rob Smethurst rang me up and said he wanted to rebuild the club as Macclesfield FC, and to bring me on board as his director of football operations, I thought he was mad.