Meeting Robbie Savage at Media City

- Part 1 of 2 blogs -

Saturday 18th January 2014

Welcome to a very different type of blog. This isn't a Critique, Review or Documenting The Doing as such, this is more of a personal blog. This is a write-up of my extremely fabulously brilliantly perfect day at Media City in Salford (Manchester).

Me and my friend, Chessie, had booked tickets to have a tour of 'BBC Media City' way back in September when I first began this course. I thought it would be a perfect way to see behind-the-scenes of some of my favourite TV and Radio shows, as well as my dream workplace. I'd literally been counting down the days for months. It wasn't all about the BBC Tour, though. As most of you reading this will know, I am a huge fan of ex-footballer and now football pundit, Robbie Savage. My love for him started in 2011 when he was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, and ever since then, he's followed me on Twitter, and we tweet/direct message regularly. I had messaged him a few times leading up to the day and he said he would happily meet me and my friend at some point during the day.

Comment on my Instagram photo

The day started off with getting on the train from Birmingham New Street to Manchester Piccadilly. (Long story short, we were in Birmingham for the Strictly Tour). We arrived in Manchester at around 10am, and our tour of the BBC wasn't until 3.30pm. We decided to head straight to Media City so we knew we were there safe, and ready for the day's events. We jumped on the tram from the train station and this took us to Media City. Pretty damn straight forward if you ask me - and there was me thinking I wouldn't be able to cope with the anxiety, how wrong was I!?

We arrived at Media City around 11.15am, and by this point, Robbie Savage had already messaged us as to where we could meet him. This is where it started to sink in and I began frantically walking around Media City with Chessie like a headless chicken and refusing to believe it was actually happening. He said he'd meet us at 1pm in a reception. As we had almost 2 hours to kill, we got our bearings and had a look at a few buildings, but didn't really venture too far away. 

A few pictures of Media City

We sat down and had a drink in the Holiday Inn bar which was next to our 'meeting point' for Robbie. As we went in and sat down, we saw Alan Shearer. We were a bit hesitant to go up and ask for a photo as he seemed to be in a meeting, so we decided to leave it. He walked away with someone who seemed like a manager of some sort and didn't want to intrude his space. What an honour, though!

1pm was getting closer and closer and my heart was just going ten to the dozen. I couldn't believe I would soon be with Robbie Savage?! And to be honest, to this day, it still hasn't sunk in. All of a sudden, hello 1pm! We were sitting in the reception where he'd asked us to meet, and I'd just had a message from him saying he's be 5 minutes. JESUS CHRIST, he was 5 minutes away. Call the press!

I stood up to sort my top out and he walked from the left hand side in front of the giant glass window (see pic above, bottom right photo). There's a video of me seeing him for the first time, and the noise I made was just ridiculous. If anyone would like to hear this noise, I will gladly re-enact it for anyone. I myself find it quite funny. Robbie came in, gave us both a hug and we had a conversation about a few random things. Strictly, the BBC and him (lol!). He was such a genuine, down to earth guy.

Meeting Robbie Savage

It was a quick moment for me as time flew by, and he had to rush off to work, which was completely understandable. We said our goodbye's and thank-you's, and off he went. It was honestly one of the best moments of my life. I will never be able to thank Robbie enough for all he's done, and this was just the cherry on top of a very big cake. 

We decided to go and sit in the cafe, which was also where our meeting point was. Well, that was where it all kicked in. The tears had started! Haha. We couldn't believe it. We were uploading the photos to Photo Stream, Twitter and Instagram. Everyone we knew were messaging us on EVERYTHING and my phone had never been so active in its life! Poor thing. Robbie had tweeted us saying that it was a pleasure to meet us, he even put me on his Instagram (OMG). (http://instagram.com/p/jT_dfgohw1/) Nothing prepared us for what came next...

Robbie had sent a quick message saying 'Are you still here? Go back to reception'. Well, off I flew! I'd never run so fast in my life, haha! We got back to reception which was just around the corner, and two people came out. I'm guessing they were Robbie's assistants? But I'm not too sure. Anyway, they came out, and said "Are you guests of Robbie's?'' - Yep, I'll claim that any day! Off we went, having no clue where we'd end up. Door after door we were walking through back entrances of Media City, and before we knew it, we were in the Match Of The Day/Final Score Green Room. Robbie was in there, as were a few other crew members, all sitting down. Robbie and the two other people led us through a door, and where did we end up!? On the set of Match Of The Day! It was incredible. Totally, totally unexpected, too. Can I just say, it's absolutely gigantic! I had no idea the studio was that big. So many cameras, so many lights.

We both stood there absolutely bewildered, and then, as if it couldn't get any better, Robbie asked us if we wanted to sit in the famous MOTD chairs! (I was in Gary Lineker's chair!) 

Match of the Day / Final Score / Football Focus studio

We had a few pictures and things, and I can honestly say it was genuinely perfect. We also had a quick glimpse of where Robbie and the other presenters/pundits have their hair and make-up done, in which my friend replied "Robbie doesn't need any of that, he's just beautiful anyway!'' which genuinely made most people laugh. It was very funny!

So we said our goodbye's (again!) and headed out of the studio. Robbie's assistant (I don't know if she was, but you know what I mean!) took us back to reception and said thank you for coming, and that was that.

My day of meeting Robbie Savage has officially been blogged! So, so many people have asked for this. In general, people wanted an overview of this day, i.e. meeting Robbie and the BBC Tour, but I've just read through this and realised it's so long (sorry!). I will do a separate blog on the BBC Tour shortly. I promise that one won't be as long, as I'm not really allowed to give much away! But I will try my best.

Thank you for reading - and Robbie, if you happen to have read this novel, thank you so much! I cannot put in to words how much it meant to finally meet you.

Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.