Roy Keane on Robbie Savage: Keane didn't sign Match of the Day pundit at Sunderland because of the Welsh midfielder's answer phone message

Keane was interested in the midfielder while Sunderland manager

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Roy Keane has revealed he was turned off of signing Match of the Day pundit Robbie Savage when he was Sunderland manager because of the Welshman's answer phone.

In his new autobiography, The Second Half, then-Sunderland manager Keane writes how he was interested in signing Savage from Blackburn Rovers but was put off before even speaking to the Welsh international.

"I rang Mark Hughes Robbie [Savage] wasn’t in the Blackburn team and I asked Mark if we could try to arrange a deal," writes the former Manchester United captain.

"Sparky said: 'Yeah, yeah, he’s lost his way here but he could still do a job for you.' Robbie’s legs were going a bit but I thought he might come up to us [at Sunderland], with his long hair, and give us a lift – the way Yorkie [Dwight Yorke] had, a big personality in the dressing room.

"Sparky gave me permission to give him a call. So I got Robbie’s mobile number and rang him. It went to his voicemail: 'Hi, it’s Robbie – whazzup!' like the Budweiser ad. I never called him back. I thought: 'I can’t be fucking signing that.'"

After reading the passage, a clearly delighted Savage took to Twitter to post a series of messages on the situation as he remembers it.

He explained that he wanted to move to Derby as it was closer to home, though he was clearly delighted at being rated by the Irish legend. He even offered his followers a golf shoe signed by Paul Scholes, Michael Vaughan and Owen Hargreaves for the best answer phone message.

Derby were relegated that season while Sunderland finished 15th and remained in the top flight.