Gold attacks Savage over handshake
Birmingham chairman David Gold has launched a stinging attack on Robbie Savage after the midfielder refused to end their feud and insisted: “I don’t deserve to be treated that badly.”
Savage and Gold were involved in a war of words after the former Welsh international midfielder moved from Blues to Blackburn in acrimonious circumstances during the January 2005 transfer window.
Gold decided yesterday’s Barclays Premiership game between the clubs was the right time to bury the hatchet and was left bitterly disappointed when Savage brushed aside his handshake.
Gold ended up having the last laugh after Savage had scored his first goal for Rovers thanks to Mikael Forssell’s first goal in open play for two years.
Gold said: “I am going to get on with my life now. I am hugely disappointed with what happened on Tuesday.
“When you put your hand out to shake someone else’s hand, and they don’t reciprocate, it’s pretty unpleasant. It’s horrible.
“It really disappointed me because it just didn’t occur to me that Robbie would react in that way.
“I was great friends with Robbie. I don’t deserve to be treated that badly.
“I tried my best to keep him at Birmingham. I did everything in my power because for two and a half years he was outstanding for us.
“It was him who left, reneging on a four-year contract, which was pretty outrageous.
“Nevertheless, I still offered to shake his hand because you’ve got to move on in this world.
“You shouldn’t carry grudges. We are big boys and we’ve got to get on with our lives.
“Will Robbie regret what he did? I don’t think so.
“I wish him well but again I will say it’s disappointing for someone to ignore the hand of friendship.”
Birmingham moved out of the bottom three as a result of the victory over Rovers and striker Chris Sutton is confident they can remain in that position.
He said: “The good thing from our point of view is that we have managed to get ourselves right back into the shake-up.
“We were a few points adrift up until recently and now we are in a strong position for the first time this season.
“Our good run has coincided with Portsmouth having a phenomenal run of results. I think most people are looking at their games left and thinking they have got the best chance.
“But the good thing is we are playing well, and are still in control of our own fate.
“I don’t think it matters now whether we are home or away because every game is equally important.
“We have probably got tougher fixtures on paper than Portsmouth, but we have a side who are capable of causing any team problems on our day.”
Blackburn manager Mark Hughes wants his side to earn some tangible reward from a season that has seen them challenging for a European spot.
Successive defeats against Liverpool and now Birmingham have effectively ended their chances of a Champions League spot but Hughes still believes qualifying for the UEFA Cup is within their grasp.
He said: “It’s been a good season up until now and we can be well pleased, but we need to keep going until the end.
“We must try to look for nine points from the last three games to give us a chance of the UEFA Cup place. It is going to be very difficult to qualify for the Champions League now.”
