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Robbie Savage: Diary of a Football Manager: My biggest gamble paid record returns

Robbie Savage

In association with Planet Sport Bet, Robbie Savage is taking us behind the scenes each week at NPL champions 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 climb their way from the ninth tier back to the Football League.Β 

This week, the gafferΒ sends us a postcard from Portugal where he and his players are celebrating new records that might never be broken…

 


Greetings from the Algarve! As I sit here in the morning sunshine, 48 hours after laying hands on my first trophy as a manager, the scale of what my boys have achieved this season is yet to really sink in.

A 4-0 win over Whitby Town on Saturday in front of 4,725 people saw us finish the NPL season as champions with 109 points and 109 goals. My team has surpassed almost every benchmark at this level. Some of the records we have set this season, in my opinion, will never be bettered.

Reflecting in Portugal, surrounded by my players, staff, and my pal Rob Smethurst, it’s a source of immense pride and joy, laced with a dizzying mixture of vindication and relief.

Obviously, I could not be happier with how my first season in management has gone. Getting Macclesfield’s name back on the NPL trophy after it was the first one engraved upon it in 1968 is the proudest moment – so far – of my career in football.

The vindication is rooted in my decision to take this job on. I’ve detailed my motives and what prompted me to switch roles from director of football to manager. Around this time last year, I was getting messages from people who ought to know better, so many revelling in our promotion play-off heartache.

I didn’t plan on being a manager, but the personal criticism I received for that defeat and offers from elsewhere helped prompt a change of course. But I was always confident I could succeed as a boss. Especially here, at Macclesfield, where we’ve spent the last five years putting in place the foundations for this success and the seasons to come.

As a manager, you need two things above all else: an understanding of how to read the game; and, perhaps more importantly, an awareness of how to get the best out of individuals and groups of people.

Football is always evolving, but not so much that the modern game is so different to when I played. My experience gives me an incredible insight and my thirst for knowledge means I can’t rest unless I’m armed with all the information and knowledge I could possibly need.

Leadership, though, doesn’t change so much over time. If I had to sum up my approach to man-management, it would be that I treat my players and staff like I would want my two sons to be treated. It’s simple, but it works.

So I backed myself to the point of making this promise last summer: if we didn’t earn promotion to the National League system, I would resign and walk away.

I didn’t make that promise lightly. Actually, it was the biggest gamble I’ve ever made. It would have killed me to step away from a club I have helped rebuild from almost nothing. That is why, despite winning the title by a huge margin, it feels like a weight has been lifted. I wasn’t just working to preserve my job, but also my connection to this club and the wonderful people within in.

That motivated me even more than than the doubters, most of whom have gone quieter of late. A few remain, chuntering away, but in my mind, their noise is drowned out by the sound of almost 5000 people celebrating with us on the pitch on Saturday.

That was the legacy I wanted to create at Macclesfield. To give the community back a club not only to be a part of but to be proud of. Seeing so many happy faces when Paul Dawson and Laurent Mendy lifted the trophy on Saturday, and dozens of people still out on the pitch, families playing football hours after the curtain came down on a record-breaking season… that makes me as proud as anything my players have done on the pitch.

And, as is almost always the case in football, our success this season is down to the players. I’ve tried to give them all the tools they need, but they still need to do the job. And what a job they have done! Which is why they deserve this time in the sun to bask in their success together.

I cannot wait to take these lads into next season in the National League North. We’ve concluded the hardest, most important work of the summer already by getting these boys tied down. We’ll look to make one or two additions, but I truly believe that this team will thrive again when they step up to the next level.

The aims for next season are already clear and I’m happy to state them: a top-seven finish and a promotion play-off place; reach at least the FA Cup first round; and a Wembley trip for the FA Trophy final.

Before that, though, the boys need their breather. When we return from Portugal, the squad will have May off. In June, they will be given their individual programmes to follow so that they are champing at the bit by the time we return for pre-season on July 1.

That will give us around six weeks before the season starts on August 9, in which time we have an exciting, testing pre-season fixtures programme, against opponents as high as the Championship.

On any given Saturday, I’d back these boys against any side in any of the divisions above us up to and including League Two. And others seem to be coming around to that view. I’ve been having conversations with Premier League clubs about loan talent, which is a good indication of how differently people are starting to view us. Players who, before, felt we were below them and wouldn’t entertain a phone call are now calling us. But I want to give the National League stage to the boys who had faith in Macc – and myself – in the way we believed in them when we started this journey together.

Without that trust, what we have achieved this season would not be possible. You can spout about our budget – plenty of clubs, by the way, have spent more per point than we have this season – but money can’t buy harmony.

That togetherness was evident again on Sunday, even while I was trying to keep my distance, when the players’ party rolled into the restaurant where the staff had gathered. I know from experience that many squads would dive for cover and hope they don’t get clocked if they cross paths with the gaffer during their downtime. Not my lot. They spotted me, swept in and promptly serenaded me and every punter in the place: ‘SAVAGE AT THE WHEEL…’

How good does it feel? More satisfying than anything else I’ve done in my career. And we’re still only getting started.

Robbie Savage is a brand ambassador for Planet Sport Bet

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