Robbie Savage goes face-first into a steaming jacket potato

Life lesson number 3,067: hell hath no fury like a Leicester City legend whose dinner has been replaced by papier mache (again)

Which dressing room had the best banter during your career? Manchester United’s Class of ’92 was a good dressing room. We were youngsters growing up in an environment with first-team legends around us – some of the best players in the Premier League. The team spirit was great and there were initiation ceremonies – you’ll have to look them up! What they achieved showed how strong that dressing room was. Were you usually the main prankster at each of your clubs? There were loads of us. In the dressing room, you’ve got to be able to give it out and take it as well. I’ve had clothes cut up, and I’ve cut other people’s clothes up. I remember one prank I did on Alan Birchenall, who’s a legend at Leicester. At the training ground at Belvoir Drive, he always used to get his dinner from the chef and then plate it up. He’d put it in his office, then go home at 5pm and unwrap it all when he got home. He’d lock the door of his office during the afternoon, so I’d go into reception, pinch the key and open his office door. I’d lift the cover off and put some socks or papier mache in there, so it would look like his dinner, but when he got home there’d be nothing inside! I did that loads of times, but there was one occasion when he really lost it. The following day, he came in and I was sat eating a boiling hot jacket potato with beans. I didn’t see him, and just as I went to eat it, he pushed my nose straight into the jacket potato and burned my nose! [Laughs] He got me back, fair play. He’s a great fella. I still get on with him now. You were known as a wind-up merchant on the field, too. Were there any tricks you used to get under the opposition’s skin? None, believe it or not. There would be things flying around, but it was just because of my desire to win. People don’t realise that when you’re not as talented as other players, you’ve got to give everything during the week, then on a Saturday you try to gain any advantage you can on the opposition. Justin Edinburgh was sent off in the 1999 League Cup Final and I should be embarrassed about that situation because he hardly touched me. I went down trying to get an advantage. I’d give everything for the team I played for and didn’t care what opposition players or fans thought about me. Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos is possibly the biggest wind-up merchant around today – what do you make of him? He’s a winner. Winners are characters, and you need a little bit of arrogance about you. Even though I had nowhere near as much ability as them, whenever players like that wind me up, I take a deep breath and think, ‘I was like that once!’ Can we ask you about some infamous incidents? Like the time Matt Messias elbowed you at Newcastle... Oh yeah! Matt Messias, was he the referee? He was about to give us a free-kick, and as he swung his arm, I was right there. He didn’t knock me out and I went down holding my nose, but he caught me. I went down far too easily once again! [Laughs] You once got in trouble for using Graham Poll’s dressing room at Filbert Street… Yeah, the toilet... Listen, I got fined heavily for that, but it was an honest mistake. When you think about the true essence of life, I got fined for going to the toilet, which is ridiculous. It was the only toilet available at the time and there was no malice. I didn’t do it as a joke – basically I’d been ill all week and I had to go! And there was the time you upset Bobby Gould by throwing Paolo Maldini’s shirt away before a Wales game against Italy... I was just young and naive. Again, there was no malice. I was a youngster who’d just signed for Leicester and I was taking the mickey out of myself, which I’ve always done. They were comparing Maldini to me, and there was no comparison. I threw Maldini’s shirt away on the advice of the reporter from Sky. I thought, ‘That’s a good idea, I’ll go along with it’, but the reaction was that I got thrown out of the squad. The players got Bobby to put me back in, which was the most satisfying thing for me, because if I’d have been a wrong ’un and bad influence on the dressing room, the lads wouldn’t have wanted me back in the squad. You then had to sit alongside Gould while he chastised you at a press conference. It looked like you were trying not to laugh... For us to sit there and go through events, it was crazy. I think both myself and Bobby will look back on the whole episode as a regret. I get on with him, he gave me an opportunity and it was actually him who moved me back into midfield, so I owe a lot to Bobby. Which pundit do you most enjoy working with on BT Sport? Rio Ferdinand and Chris Sutton – I think Rio is the best, and I have a love-hate relationship with Chris Sutton. He loves me and I hate him! Do you fancy becoming a manager one day? Yes. I manage an under-13s side now, so it’s something I’ve had a little taste of. You’ve got parents on at you all the time, although I’m not saying it’s going to be easier at a higher level, as you see managers who have had a job for five months, even a month, because things weren’t quite what they were supposed to be. Obviously it’s a very hard job. But the older I get, the more experience I’ve picked up as a pundit, listening to former managers and being a people person myself. I probably will apply for a job eventually. What level would you be looking to start at? Any. Listen, I’m not a Frank Lampard or a Steven Gerrard where I can walk straight into it, although I don’t mean walk into it, because Steven managed Liverpool U18s. But when you see guys like Paul Scholes and Sol Campbell starting at Oldham and Macclesfield, I don’t think anyone has a given right to go straight into a fantastic job. I’m prepared to start out at any level.

Savage was promoting the BT Sport Pub Cup