Could Savage emulate his old Wales boss by managing in the Premier League or at international level one day?

Wrexham-born Savage, who won 39 caps as a player, says he is currently “a million miles away” from managing Wales or any Football League side, but would like to take charge of his country one day.

Savage certainly has a useful mentor at Forest Green – fellow Welshman Mark Bowen, who used to coach him with Wales and Blackburn as Hughes’ No 2, and is now director of football at the Gloucestershire club.

“Robbie is a very driven person and a real student of the game,” said Bowen, who played a key role in Savage’s appointment as manager at The New Lawn.

“He hasn’t got a lot of outside interests other than football. He watches it, he reads it, he studies it.

“The chairman [Dale Vince] was convinced at the start Robbie could and should be the man for Forest Green Rovers. We’ve brought in a lot of new players, around 15, and we thought it would take a while for it to settle down.”

WInning eight and drawing five of their first thirteen games before losing for the first time against Rochdale last weekend came as a pleasant surprise.

“We certainly didn’t expect to hit the ground running as we have,” added Bowen.

“I look at people who have had chances at higher leagues and better clubs and ask, ‘Are they any different to a Robbie Savage?’ Ultimately you’ve got to win football matches and he’s doing that.

“There’s nothing stopping him going to a higher level – hopefully with Forest Green Rovers.”

Having spent most of his coaching career working alongside Hughes, Bowen believes the former Wales and Manchester United striker was not given the credit he deserved for managing six top-flight clubs over a period of 14 years.

Hughes was denied his best chance of Premier League and Champions League silverware when City, flush from their initial Middle Eastern buyout, sacked him in 2009 after 18 months in charge and replaced him with Roberto Mancini.

“I always feel that Mark got a bad lot of it. The day Mark got sacked by Man City they were lying [sixth] in the Premier League and in the semi-finals of the League Cup,” said Bowen.

“We used to compare ourselves to the likes of David Moyes and Big Sam [Allardyce]. For a long period, you could arguably look at Mark’s record and it was better than those two.

“If you look at the career of Mark Hughes in the Premier League, it stands up with most people. I certainly feel he deserves more credit.”