The date is December 8, 2021 and Manchester United are facing Young Boys in a dead-rubber Champions League clash at Old Trafford.
It is 1-1, the clock has just struck 88 minutes and United academy graduate Robbie Savage is the proudest father in Britain, live on air.
‘Coming on for Manchester United, Charlie Savage for Juan Mata. Wow, I never believed I’d say those words,’ he gushes on commentary for TNT Sports. ‘I’m starting to tear up.’
His son, then 18, had just made his dreams come true and achieved something Robbie never could. A first-team appearance for Manchester United.
‘I had envisioned that moment since I joined the club as a kid, so I just tried to take it in and enjoy it. It was amazing,’ Charlie, who now plays for Reading, tells Daily Mail Sport just over four years on.
‘I used to poke my dad about it, but he comes back to me and says, “Until you’ve played 350 Premier League games, you can’t chat to me”.’
Charlie Savage, son of Robbie, achieved something his father never could on December 8, 2021 – a first-team appearance for Man United
‘Coming on for Manchester United, Charlie Savage for Juan Mata. Wow, I never believed I’d say those words,’ Robbie said on commentary for TNT Sports that evening
As Robbie rightly points out, he carved out a more than impressive career after failing to make the grade under Sir Alex Ferguson three decades ago. The 51-year-old was rubbing shoulders with David Beckham, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes in the Class of ’92 before leaving for Crewe Alexandra aged 19.
‘A failure,’ Robbie once said of his time at The Cliff. ‘But if you’d have told me that my son would play for the first team, of course I’d have taken that.’
Charlie tells me that some of his fondest childhood memories are of watching his dad lead out Derby County in the Championship. He would sit in the stands at Pride Park with his mother, Sarah, hoping one day he could do the same. ‘It’s always been football, for as long as I can remember,’ he says.
It wasn’t long before Charlie Savage was a name being bandied around academies across the country. Having joined his local club aged just three, the Leicester-born midfielder had every side in the North scrambling for his signature at five.
Unsurprisingly he chose United, where he progressed through the ranks alongside future stars such as Anthony Elanga, Hannibal Mejbri and Amad Diallo.
‘One of the reasons I chose to sign for United was because of its tradition,’ Charlie says. ‘More so back in the day, but we could only wear black boots and that set the foundation for me to try and be a good person, first, and a player second.
‘I think that’s why a lot of players who leave United have a good career.’
Charlie admits that people often had – and still have – misconceptions about him. It turns out being the son of Robbie Savage has its downsides, too.
Charlie joined Man United at the age of five after having every side in the north of England scrambling for his signature
He earned a call-up to first team training at the age of 18, where he played alongside his childhood hero, Cristiano Ronaldo. ‘It was surreal,’ Charlie tells Daily Mail Sport five years on
After all, his father once missed out on a move to Sunderland because when manager Roy Keane rang the phone, his voicemail responded: ‘Wassuuuupppp!’
‘There were more eyes on me than someone else in my team when I was younger and maybe people might have a preconception without even knowing me,’ Charlie says.
‘But I use it to my advantage. The more people that watch you, it’s more of an opportunity to impress.’
And impress he did. It was at 18 that Charlie earned a call-up to first-team training at a time when the Red Devils had just signed Cristiano Ronaldo, his childhood hero.
‘To train with him on a daily basis was an amazing feeling and I learned a lot,’ he reflects. ‘It’s a bit of a blur to be honest.
‘It felt really surreal and I had to pinch myself at times because I’m at an age where he was my footballing idol and then I’m crossing balls in for him to head it. It was crazy.’
A few short months on and Charlie was limbering up for his debut on a Champions League night at Old Trafford. He was introduced alongside one of his closest friends from the academy, Zidane Iqbal. ‘A really special day,’ he says.
Yet that cold festive evening proved to be the only time Charlie ever turned out for his boyhood club.
He left, first, on loan to Forest Green Rovers in January 2023. Come May of that year, Charlie’s first extended taste of senior football had ended in relegation from League One. His manager during that tough period? The not-so placid Duncan Ferguson.
Charlie has two Wales caps to his name, having made his debut against Gibraltar in 2023
But he still has some way to go to match his dad’s haul of 39 caps for his country from 1995 to 2004
‘It was difficult (at Forest Green) because when I joined we were bottom of the league. It was character-building and I’ve taken a lot of those experiences into where I am now,’ he says of his time at New Lawn.
‘Duncan was a crazy character. A bit of an eye-opener, for sure, but he always looked after me. If I ever need anything, I feel comfortable calling him.’
Charlie’s statistics at the Green read 15 appearances, one goal. That strike, his first as a professional, earned him the club’s goal of the season award. Remarkably, his father was on duty for TNT Sports that day too.
‘Yeees my boy’s scored,’ Robbie cried out. ‘All that he’s been through, I’m so proud of him.’
The youngster’s short stint in Gloucester was his dad’s first close encounter with Forest Green. Five years on and Robbie is the club’s manager as they plot a return to the Football League.
Charlie meanwhile is trying to help League One Reading stage a resurgence of their own. He signed for the club on a permanent deal in the summer of 2023 at the end of his loan at Forest Green, ending his 14-year stay at Carrington.
‘I wanted to go somewhere to develop and be given the chance to make a name for myself and improve,’ he says of his decision to join the Royals. ‘Reading is obviously a Championship-size club, so it just felt like the perfect fit.’
However, the club he joined threw up challenges beyond just those on the pitch. Reading were in the midst of serious turbulence at boardroom level under former owner Dai Yongge.
They had just been relegated to the third division for the first time in almost a quarter of a century, having been docked points for Yongge’s failure to comply with a business plan he previously agreed with the EFL. And, during Charlie’s first campaign, another six-point deduction was handed down after wages and bills were not paid on time.
Reading slumped to a 17th-placed finish amid widespread protests from beleaguered supporters. The club were, seemingly, on a downward spiral they couldn’t turn around.
‘It was difficult at times when we were under embargo and being docked points,’ Charlie admits. ‘But it’s something you can’t control as a player. It helps to build your character.’
Four years on from his debut at Man United, Savage has established himself in League One with Reading
At 22, his statistics in blue and white make for impressive reading – 127 appearances, 16 goals, 17 assists, with 20 of those goal contributions coming last season
Two-and-a-half years on from his move to Berkshire and Savage is no longer the inexperienced, wide-eyed young midfielder who walked through the door at the Bearwood Park training complex.
At 22, his statistics in blue and white make for impressive reading – 127 appearances, 14 goals and 17 assists, with 20 of those goal contributions coming last season. Savage also has two Wales caps stashed away at home.
At the same age, Robbie had made just a handful of Wales appearances and was still finding his feet at Crewe in the old Division Two. Yet, with the modesty he learned on the training pitches at Carrington, Charlie plays down my rather cheeky suggestion that he could be destined for a better career than his father.
‘I can’t say that,’ he says with a smirk. ‘To achieve what he did isn’t easy. If you offered me his career, I’d take that tomorrow.’
Midway through his third campaign at the Madejski, Savage is in the midst of a promotion push. The Royals are 10th in League One, eight points off the play-offs, under new ownership and manager Leam Richardson. There is a renewed sense of optimism at the club and, having featured in all 28 of Reading’s league fixtures this season, Charlie is at the core of their bid to plot a return to the Championship.
‘We’re on the right path,’ Savage says with an assured confidence. ‘I’m really enjoying my football at the moment and the aim is to go one better and get promoted.’ The future looks bright, both for Reading and their ambitious No 8.
