‘I spoke to Niall Quinn’ – Ex Birmingham City, and Blackburn Rovers player wished to sign for Sunderland

Robbie Savage has said that he would have joined Sunderland under Roy Keane.

Robbie Savage stated that he would have joined for Sunderland under Roy Keane.

Keane, then Sunderland manager, has related the story of the club’s close call with Savage several times, stating in his book that he opted not to sign the player after hearing his voicemail greeting.

Savage, formerly of Blackburn Rovers, Manchester United, Leicester City, and Birmingham City, will instead join Derby County.

“I spoke to Niall Quinn at Sunderland and the chairman at Derby – both wanted me, both agreed a fee, and I agreed to meet Roy Keane at the Marriott in Hale,” Savage was quoted as saying.

“He’d call me, we’d organize a meeting, and then I’d go to Derby to make a decision. I went to my agent’s residence in Wigan, but there was no reception. Because of the Budweiser commercial on TV, my phone message was, ‘It’s Robbie, wazzzup!’.

“Roy did not call, and I did not receive an indication that someone had rung. By 2 or 3 p.m., nothing had happened, and I needed to be in Derby by 5 p.m.

“I called Niall and told him, ‘Roy hasn’t called; if the manager can’t even bother to call me, I’m not coming.'” I went to Derby and signed for them.

“I first learned about what happened years later, in Roy’s book. He must have called me and gone straight to voicemail, with no reception. I wish the phone had rang so I could have replied, ‘Hiya, Mr Keane – okay, I’ll be there, I’d love to speak with you. I would have joined for Sunderland because it was Roy Keane.

“A voicemail message is an odd excuse not to sign me; it makes for a wonderful narrative and makes people mock me, but I don’t get it because, if you read the book, Roy needed a character – someone who could lift the changing room.

“All he had to do was chat with my previous managers, and they would have said, ‘Great in the dressing room, would give you everything, and a better player than people believe’. As a manager, surely you don’t leave voicemails.”