Quote Originally Posted by SithHappens View Post
I guess the 2007 era, Robbie Savage is an example. Poor start but ended up a good player.
Good old Robbie, roundly hated for his penalty dive in the SE Corner when playing against us. Fans let him know that too. Turned it round though, aided by the fact that he was still a four letter expletive deletive but now he was ours, rather than theirs.

A story about Robbie. It all started with the January friendly in and against den Haag (ADO den Haag). He arrived late at the stadium due to having been refused boarding on the way out as he had, mistakenly, arrived at the airport with his wife's passport, not his own. He had to go back home, get his passport and catch a later flight. He then got a taxi from Schiphol Airport to the Hague. There was a Rams fan on the same flight and Robbie let the lad share the taxi. I knew all this because the lad was stood next to me in the ground. At one point, the 50 or so of us there chanted "taxi foe Savage". He laughed. Some years later, Derby played a L1 game at Forest Green Rovers. Four of us flew over and did hospitality at the game. Robbie's lad was at FGR at the time and Robbie did a Q&A. He had a chat and answered questions and then said "time for one more question". My hand was up in a shot. I asked him why he'd arrived late at the ADO ground. He knew I knew, immediately, and it showed. He told the story. Later, exiting the toilet, we bumped into each other. He called me an expletive, grinning from ear to ear and I got a hug. Quick chat with him and then back to hospitality.