'I spoke to Niall Quinn' - Ex-Man Utd, Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers man wanted to sign for Sunderland

Robbie Savage has claimed that he would have signed for Sunderland under Roy Keane.

Keane, then Sunderland manager, has told the story of the club's near miss with Savage many times, claiming in his book that he decided against signing the player after hearing his voicemail greeting.

Savage, formerly of Blackburn Rovers, Manchester United, Leicester City and Birmingham City, would 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 said.

“He’d phone me, we’d arrange to meet, and from there I would go to Derby and decide. I went to my agent’s house in Wigan and there was no reception. At the time, my phone message was, ‘It’s Robbie, wazzzup!’, because of the Budweiser advert on the telly.

“Roy didn’t phone and I didn’t have a notification that somebody had rung. By 2pm, 3pm, nothing, and I had to be in Derby for 5pm.

“I phoned Niall and said ‘Roy’s not rung, if the manager can’t even be bothered to ring me, I’m not coming’. I went to Derby and signed for Derby.

“The first I heard about what happened was years later in Roy’s book. He must have rung me and gone straight to voicemail, with no reception. I wish the phone had rung, as I would have said ‘Hiya, Mr Keane – yeah, I’ll be there, I’d love to speak to you’. I would have signed for Sunderland, because it was Roy Keane.

“A voicemail message is a bizarre reason not to sign me – it makes for a good story and it makes people poke fun at me, but I don’t understand it because if you read the book, Roy wanted a character – someone who could lift the changing room.

“All he had to do was speak to my previous managers and they would have said ‘Great in the dressing room, will give you everything, and a better player than people think’. Surely you don’t go off a voicemail as a manager.”