It’s never dull at Forest Green Rovers. As the latest high-profile managerial appointment at New Lawn by Dale Vince’s Ecotricity overseers last summer, Robbie Savage – a man unlikely to ever be described as “publicity-shy” – has been efficaciously cultivating a role as the Sir Ed Davey of the English non-league. Like the Liberal Democrats’ leader, the former Leicester and Wales midfield provocateur has shrewdly orchestrated a succession of profile-raising episodes deep in the Cotswolds this season, ensuring the self-styled “world’s greenest football team” have remained embedded within the news cycle. The Gloucestershire club’s attention-grabbing plans for a new all-wooden stadium based near junction 13 of the M5 – “the vegan doughnut”, according to some local commentators – were also unveiled over the summer.
The campaign commenced in auspicious fashion, with six wins from the opening eight games helping to fuel media attention beyond a sequence of eye-catching managerial appointments that have defined the fifth-tier side over the past few years. Bringing a young fan on to the pitch to salute the away end after victory at Woking made it into a local BBC Points West news round-up, but perhaps still more intriguing was Savage’s decision to introduce four substitutes after just one minute of Forest Green’s National League Cup tie against Wolves-21s, legally subverting a regulation which requires at least four starters from a team’s previous league game remain in their XI.
Whilst a similar disparity may have existed when Premier League clubs were permitted to enter academy sides into the EFL Trophy, an unrepentant Savage used his platform fronting 5live’s 606 call-in show to protest co-host Chris Sutton’s view that it was not in keeping with the spirt of the game, insisting his selection was both common practice and in no way a violation of the competition rules.
Autumn continued in auspicious fashion, with a 2-1 win at Altrincham putting Forest Green Rovers three points clear at the top of the National League on September 23. In a division where a team can finish as low as seventh and still make the play-offs, the team were already well-placed to extend 2025-26 at this early juncture.
A title charge augmented by an undefeated league run from October ensured a knife-edge title race heading into the festive period, with FGR, Rochdale and Carlisle joint level at the top of the division in the week before Christmas, all on 46 points. A disappointing draw at bottom club Truro was followed by a convincing win over promotion hopefuls FC Halifax, with debutant Ricardo Rees – acquired after garnering attention with a Haaland-esque 25 goals in 24 National League North games for Merthyr Town – netting twice. With York City and Boreham Wood also vying for the top spot at the start of 2026, competition for that coveted solitary automatic promotion spot will remain intense in the season’s second half.
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