Robbie Savage: Diary of a Football Manager: How coaching kids prepped me for management…

In association with Planet Sport Bet, Robbie Savage is taking us behind the scenes each week at Macclesfield FC.

Robbie has played one of the leading roles in the rebirth of a now-thriving football club, first as director of football, now as first-team manager as the Silkmen seek to climb their way from the ninth tier back to the Football League. 

This week, Robbie reflects on how coaching his son’s Under-13s Sunday League team lit a fire in him while urging other ex-pros to follow his path…

I played 350 Premier League matches, captained four top-flight clubs, and represented my country 39 times. But seven more Northern Premier League points will secure what I consider my biggest achievement in football.

Coming from down here in the seventh tier, given what I achieved as a player, some people might struggle to understand that perspective. But being a manager – especially at a club like Macclesfield, making its way back from the dead – gives me the chance to positively influence so many more people than I ever could as a player.

I can’t explain what a buzz it is, alongside my coaching team, to give these lads the platform to better themselves and be the best possible version of themselves. We have assembled a squad full of talent, but their character and personality are what shine brightest for me.

Condescendingly, many people questioned why, with my credentials in the game, I’ve come this far down the ladder to start my managerial career. Others at this level scoffed, suggesting that a long career at the highest level is no preparation for working in the NPL. They had a point.

But Macc isn’t where my coaching path began. That was many rungs even further down the ladder in the Timperley and District Junior League with Egerton Under-13s. Long before I even knew I wanted to be a manger.

I had no idea of the fire that would be lit in me by coaching my son Freddie’s team. Alongside Jonathan Wall, a long-time friend and colleague who is now director of BBC Sounds, we took a team of enthusiastic boys who, previously, were being hammered most weeks and guided them first to a cup triumph before they then went on to win the league. Giving young lads an environment in which they could thrive and grow was a real privilege that I loved being a part of.

After Egerton, I got involved in the Macclesfield junior ranks. Many of the lads had been released by academies and that rejection, along with a County Cup final defeat at Under-15s, sparked what became one of the area’s best grassroots sides ever – in my opinion – at Under-16s. We had an invincible season, winning four trophies while taking on some top academies. We beat a Leeds academy team featuring Archie Gray, who has been one of the few bright spots in Tottenham Hotspur’s campaign this season.

Inevitably, that success prompted jealousy and sneering from others. It was said we must be paying players or parents. Which, of course, was absolute rubbish. We simply assembled a top-class, spirited bunch of boys and gave them the platform to develop as individuals and as a team.

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The themes in football are so often the same, no matter the level. So much of the pride I’ve felt and the cynicism we’ve attracted this season with Macc, I’ve experienced before, with those Egerton and Macclesfield juniors, some of who have gone on to play at a variety of levels, through the non-league system to EFL clubs.

So despite this being my first year as a senior manager, none of this is new to me. I’ve earned my stripes away from the spotlight, where the environment is a lot more unforgiving than it is on the bigger stages.

I really believe that other ex-pros should learn the coaching trade down here. Too many think that because they played a bit, they have the right to turn their nose up at any level below the Championship or EFL. Then they are surprised when they struggle in jobs they might not have earned because they haven’t experienced what managing people and players is really like.

Whatever we achieve, as a team this season and myself as a manager, no one can say it hasn’t been earned. Everyone in football says they want to play or manage at the highest possible level, but how many are really prepared to put in the hard yards?

I did it as a player, especially after being released by Manchester United to have the career I did; I paid my dues when starting out in the media; and as a manager, I’ve learned so much more by starting at Step Seven than I might have done had I taken a short cut to Step One or Two.

Similarly, my boys have given everything this season. This team is the image of its manager and coaching staff and I could not be prouder of the whole group. We haven’t achieved our objective yet, but our work ethic means we have given ourselves a 23-point lead and the best possible chance of achieving what we set out to.

That relentlessness was evident again on Saturday when we came from behind once more to win at Lancaster City. Eleven times now we have trailed this season; yet we’ve taken 18 points from losing positions.

Fighting back has been a theme throughout my time at Macc and throughout every coaching experience I’ve had. Losing the promotion play-off final last season, and the glee that prompted in others, was what prompted me to go into management so you can be certain that we will enjoy and relish whatever success comes our way. Hopefully very soon.

For that, we need seven more points, and we’ll be going for three in front of another 3000-plus crowd on Saturday when Matlock Town come to the Leasing.com Stadium.

Robbie Savage is a brand ambassador for Planet Sport Bet

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