Macclesfield striker Tom Clare has paid tribute to Robbie Savage after he left the club to temporarily go on Love Island.
Clare, 23, entered the villa as the first bombshell back in early January and ended up reaching the final in South Africa alongside partner Samie Elishi, 22. The duo returned home to England and immediately headed up to Macclesfield's home, the Leasing.com Stadium on Thursday while filming for ITV.
The Silkmen, who allowed Clare to depart for the Love Island Villa two months ago, welcomed him back to first-team training last week, with Elishi watching in the stands. Macclesfield are pushing for promotion back to the seventh tier of English football and are currently top of the Northern Premier League West Division season.
Former Premier League star Savage is currently their Director of Football and has spearheaded the club's climb back alongside Rob Smethurst after the club went bust in 2020. In an interview with Sky Sports after finishing third in Love Island, Clare heaped praise on Savage for what he has achieve at the Silkmen.
He said: "It's good for Macclesfield, they are a huge club anyway, but if I can bring them more into the public eye, bring more fans through the game - it's more revenue for the club. Rob [Smethurst] and Robbie [Savage] and everyone behind the scenes work so hard.
"I don't know if people have seen the documentary, but if you look from the start to where we are now, the work that has gone into it, people do not see. If I can bring more fans through the gate, I would be so happy. Maybe a few shirts of Samie no.9 on the back. I have got so much love for the club."
The 6"5 forward came through the youth ranks at Barnsley, before moving into non-league with Boston, Buxton, Frickley, Pontefract and then Macclesfield in June 2021. He became one of the club's first signings as they dropped down to the ninth tier of English football - the North West Counties Premier Division.
Macclesfield, who were managed by club legend Danny Whittaker, breezed to the title in their first season with Clare scoring an impressive 23 goals in the process. He signed a new contract until 2024 last summer ahead of their debut season in the eighth tier.
However, game time was hard to come by for Clare before he entered the Love Island Villa. Former Bristol City forward Nicky Maynard was keeping him out of the team, while James Berry and James Hardy were also shining in the forward line as the Silkmen burst to the top.
Savage explained that was behind his willingness to allow Clare appear on the show, admitting that the opportunity was too good for the part-time footballer to turn down. “Basically, I simply cannot deny a 23-year-old lad an opening which could turn into the opportunity of a lifetime,” he explained in his Mirror Sport column in January.
“How am I qualified to stop a young man taking on a potentially life-changing experience? Tom is a fit lad and it could be his gateway into modelling, gym equipment, TV appearances... anything.
“People tell me Sir Alex Ferguson would never have let David Beckham go on Love Island, and they are right – but Beckham did not need reality TV. He was already one of the most famous men on the planet.
“Tom, on the other hand, is a part-time footballer with a full-time day job. If he does well on Love Island, he could earn 20 times his current annual income in a single year. Who am I to deny him the opportunity to make life-changing sums of money?”
They are now 13 points behind second-place Leek in the table, although the latter have two matches in hand. Savage's Macclesfield could gain promotion within the next couple of weeks for the second successive season which would move them up to the Northern Premier League.
