Blonde bombshell Robbie Savage finally said farewell to his trademark golden locks – after donating his ponytail to the National Football Museum.
The flowing blonde barnett made Savage instantly recognisable, but he decided enough was enough and gave his locks the chop – literally.
Savage admits his new look is taking some getting used to though, and much like he has faced his entire career, the new do has divided opinions.
“It’s a bit surreal when you go in the shower and you wash your hair and it doesn’t take you that long, but I’ve got to say it’s harder to keep it like this now,” he said.
“When it was long it was easy. It was just wash and go. Now you have to style it. Some people say it looks better, some people aren’t too keen on it.
LONG LIVE THE BARNETT: Savage’s locks will love on in the museum
“I’ve still got the same big nose; I can’t do much about that, so I think now people will recognise me for my nose rather than my hair.”
Savage decided the ponytail, which has been his trademark bonce throughout his football career, had to go when he realised he looked too similar to his wife after looking at their passport photos.
He said: “I thought we’ve got to make a change. One of us has got to cut our hair, and it was going be me.”
Dubbed Mr Marmite, Savage, who had stints at Crewe Alexandra, Leicester City, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Derby County and Brighton and Hove Albion, was one of the Premier League’s most divisive figures.
But he has transformed his bad-boy reputation off the pitch as a popular, straight-talking TV and radio pundit.
His efforts saw him form part of the BBB’c World Cup coverage in Brazil, and he was recently announced as part of the new-look Match of The Day Season for the coming season.
“Well in the World Cup I had it tied back and I looked back on the world cup and it didn’t look that good my hair,” he said.
“So I thought, I’m nearly 40, the time’s right for a new image, especially being on Match of the Day, so it all had to go.”
The former Manchester United youth player had jokingly tweeted he would be donating the ponytail to The National Football Museum, who leapt at the opportunity to add such an iconic item to their existing footballing memorabilia
“It was a tongue in cheek tweet really which shows the power of twitter,” he said.
“I said I was donating my hair to the national football museum, they said ‘are you serious?’ and I said ‘well I wasn’t but I am now’.
“So they said they’d love to have it. I didn’t have many medals throughout my career so the trademark locks are now part of the museum.”
Unfortunately the golden locks have withered and died, losing their trademark shine.
“I don’t know what it looks like, well it looks rather grey and dark now,” Savage said. “When it was on my head it looked quite blonde and I can’t believe I had it so long, for so long.”
David Pearson, deputy director at the National Football Museum said: “Robbie’s hair is a brilliant addition to our galleries. It’ll no doubt get visitors talking. Everyone has an opinion on Robbie.
“We celebrate all areas of the beautiful game and Robbie’s hair is one of the Premier League’s most famous haircuts.”
