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Savo Milosevic interview on Gareth Southgate's japes, spitting at Aston Villa fans and his grandfather shooting his father dead
Gareth Southgate was one of the Aston Villa players roaring with laughter in the canteen at the club’s Bodymoor Heath training ground as Savo Milosevic welcomed a newspaper reporter by telling him: “Your clothes. Go put them in the bin.”
Milosevic had been convinced that it was a traditional English greeting by his close group of Villa friends comprising Mark Bosnich, the late Ugo Ehiogu, Ian Taylor and Southgate.
Southgate held the distinction of being Villa’s record signing for just five days in the summer of 1995 before Milosevic, who spoke no English, joined for £3.5 million from Partizan Belgrade.
He scored 33 goals in 117 games at Villa Park before a successful career in Spain and Italy, and retirement in 2008. Milosevic made headlines in England again in 2011, when his father was shot and killed by his grandfather, also named Savo, after a family row.
“I cannot explain what happened,” says Milosevic. “But I believe in God and I believe things happen for a reason. It was a very difficult time for me and my family, but I have to trust in God and keep my faith. Fortunately, I have three wonderful children of my own and that helped me to get through it, but it was a big shock and a tough period of my life.”
Speaking from Belgrade, Milosevic is hoping to be in Podgorica on Monday night, when Southgate takes his England team to face Montenegro in Euro 2020 qualifying.
The first time the Three Lions visited Podgorica, in 2011, Milosevic was assistant to manager Branko Brnovic as Montenegro held Fabio Capello’s team 2-2, and Wayne Rooney was sent off. He also has close links to the current manager Ljubisa Tumbakovic, who gave him his big break at Partizan.
Teams from Serbia and Montenegro were banned from Uefa competition because of the civil war over the break-up of Yugoslavia when Milosevic was put in a house in Sutton Coldfield by Villa and left to get on with it.
“The war was going on at home when I first came to England and that was difficult for me,” says Milosevic. “My father, brother and lots of my friends fought for Serbia and I was calling home every day to check everyone was OK and to see what was happening.
“I always tried to stay positive, but my focus should have just been on football and it couldn’t be. It was hard to explain to people in England what was happening at home, so I didn’t really talk about it.”
Milosevic and Southgate quickly became close at Villa. They made their debut together in a 3-1 victory over Manchester United, after which Alan Hansen famously declared “You can’t win anything with kids”, and later that season both played in the League Cup final victory over Leeds United in which the striker scored a spectacular long-range goal.
The pair last caught up on old times at the 2016 European Championship, during which they worked as technical observers for Uefa, and Milosevic is aiming to follow Southgate into full-time management.
“Gareth is a great guy, he was immediately very good to me and helped me a lot, on and off the pitch,” says Milosevic. “I was 21, I didn’t speak English and it was difficult to understand anyone. There was a little group of us, me, Gareth, Ugo Ehiogu, Ian Taylor and Bosnich. We spent a lot of time together.
“Gareth would give me advice about the English game and what I needed to do, and he would also help me with life off the pitch. We all ate together a lot and he would talk to me about English culture and also the English press. I will always be grateful.”
The moment at Villa that will always stand out for Milosevic is his 25-yard Wembley goal against Leeds that briefly silenced the critics who dubbed him “Miss-a-lot-evic” before his career in England was effectively ended when he spat at a section of travelling fans during a 5-0 defeat at Blackburn Rovers in January 1998.
“The League Cup final was amazing,” says Milosevic, 45. “I had spoken to a few friends back at home and joked that we would win 3-0 and that I would score, and that’s what happened. I scored nearly 300 goals in my career, but that is in my top three. I still have pictures of all the celebrations afterwards.
“I knew about my nickname and it did upset me. I can laugh about it now because I’ve coped with much more difficult things. Maybe I didn’t score as many goals as everyone would have liked, but the team did well when I was at Villa and I scored some important goals and also made a lot of goals.
“The Blackburn game is still the most stupid thing I have done in my life. It was so stupid, I don’t know why I did it. It’s one of those things that happens and you can’t explain it. I still wish I didn’t do it. I was young and I learned from that, but it was a sad way for things to end for me at Villa because I love the club and the fans.”
It was not just the English greetings that got lost in translation during Milosevic’s early days at Villa. His arrival sparked a Brummie bandana craze after pictures emerged of him playing in the unusual headgear.
“There was a misunderstanding when I arrived because I had played with a bandana for a few games with Partizan,” explains Milosevic.
“That was because I had 12 stitches in my head and it was only temporary. By the time I joined Villa, they had made all these club bandanas and started to sell them, so I had to go along with it.
“I wore the bandana for a while, but it wasn’t ideal for heading the ball and eventually I stopped. I should have just told the club straight away that I don’t usually wear a bandana, but I didn’t feel like I could after they had all been made.”