A HEARTFELT TRIBUTE TO A HUMBLE ICON
Photo by Andrew Dowling [andrewdowlingphotography.co.uk]
Barney Lloyd-Wood
By now, you’ll all be picking out your favourite moments and memories of Gareth Bale after the abrupt but not entirely unsurprising news of his retirement from football. There’s an absolute bevy of memories to choose from. An icon and a hero to me and I’m sure many of you. But like all heroes, it’s a story of ups and downs, highs and lows. In Bale’s case, it’s warm weather, being frozen out, bicycle kicks and back spasms. It’s a story of Madrid, golf and of course Wales. But strictly not in that order.
When I think of my memories of Gareth Bale, for some reason I ignore the plethora of iconic moments for his clubs, or his 41 mostly sensational goals for his country. I think of 2010. I think of a struggling left back at Tottenham, who’d given some brief flashes of brilliance in north London, but by no means enough to suggest he’d reach the heights he went on to reach.
Around four years before, he’d become the second youngest player to appear in a Southampton shirt, and with some rapid attacking instincts and free kick ability even at such a young age, he’d earned a £10 million move to Spurs a year later. But injuries and fitness concerns dampened the reputation he’d earned from goals against Fulham and Arsenal early on. With injuries a big part of his story, it’s fitting one opened the door for him and he never looked back.
With Championship sides Birmingham and Nottingham Forest sniffing around for the Welshman in January 2010, an injury to first-choice left back Benoit Assou-Ekotto saw manager Harry Redknapp have no choice but to start Bale. He repaid the faith with key performances against Fulham and Everton. The latter was a memorable one, as I sat in the crowd at White Hart Lane that day with a Spurs-supporting friend and watched the backup full back tear Phil Neville apart in a way that I’ve not seen since, apart from Neville’s early days managing Inter Miami. But I digress…
I’m sure this is where many of your lasting memories come in. The absolute savaging (twice) of the incredibly capable Inter Milan, for example. Bale’s hattrick at the San Siro, making Douglas Maicon, probably the best right back in the world at the time look substandard and unprepared. So started the positional shift that moved Bale further up the pitch and elevated his status as a genuine great of the Premier League. Playing on either wing, or in the number 10 position, he seemed to score a goal of the month contender weekly, eventually finishing the young player of the year for 2012-2013 and earning an £85.3 million transfer to Real Madrid. A world record at the time.
What happened next is nothing short of a remarkable dual-narrative for the boy from Whitchurch. The image of the player and the man took many forms and is entirely different depending on if you asked 10 people in Madrid or Merthyr. By this time, Bale had been playing for several years for his country since John Toshack handed him his debut in 2006. You may have seen in the latter part of 2022 a lot around the emergence of Wales as a footballing side that can compete on the international stage, with much of this attributed to the likes of Toshack and also Brian Flynn. But we can’t talk about Wales without talking about Bale.
So many times the saviour of his country, in the early days all the way up to his penalty against the U.S.A in the World Cup. As Wales improved on the pitch under the likes of Gary Speed and Chris Coleman, off it, Bale’s humble attitude forged a spirit in the camp as players from the lower leagues felt like teammates and equals as he and Aaron Ramsey competed in football’s biggest tournaments.
While on the national stage, Bale carried the nation on his well-documented bad back and was instrumental to the 2016 European Championships semi final bow-out, the situation in the Spanish capital was a little more complicated. Initially hugely popular in the trifecta with Ronaldo and Benzema, with a memorable goal in the Copa Del Rey final against Barcelona (you know the run from his own half I’m talking about) and a Champions League win in his debut season granting Los Blancos supporters with a much-coveted La Decima.
Real Madrid monopolised the Champions League in this period and by 2018, Bale scored two goals in the Champions League final win, including that overhead kick. Perhaps the greatest of the memories you have in the mental locker, arguably the greatest goal in a European Cup final. In the interim, he surpassed Gary Lineker’s record of La Liga goals by a British player. But he had a strained relationship with coach Zinedine Zidane, which only got worse over time. It was always going to be hard to win the PR battle against a Real Madrid legend, but niggling injuries and a famously hard-to-please fanbase didn’t endear Bale to the Bernabeau faithful, despite past successes.
The most controversial or amusing aspect of the saga, depending on your perspective was Bale representing Wales consistently and producing standout performances while being unavailable for selection at his club. The criticism and accusations of parasitical laziness by supporters’ pages and flamboyant media shows like El Chiringuito set the tone. Unlike Ryan Giggs, Wales’ other left-footed great, Bale openly put his country first. When he was flippantly paraphrased as saying if Zizou wasn’t ready to pick him, he was happy to see out his contract in sunny Spain playing golf and turning up for Wales, him holding up the infamous “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order” flag was the final nail in the coffin.
It's easy to forget club social media isn’t responsible for any team selection or personnel changes, but it’s interesting the first thought was a scoff at seeing Real Madrid Twitter pulling out the highlight reel upon the news of the winger’s retirement the whole of Wales could recite in vivid detail. We knew all along what he could do, because while he was frozen out, loaned out and eventually departed for the MLS, we saw him for what he was.
Arguably the greatest player to ever come out of the British isles, certainly the most versatile and the most naturally able to pull a nation up with him. Behind only Messi and Ronaldo on his day, he leaves behind an adoring nation that idolised him in the stands and were ready to argue with every Madrid-based Twitter page that even suggested he was past it.
He leaves behind a legacy of blistering goals, of right-backs waking up in the middle of the night in a sweat at the memory of his existence, songs and idolisation all the way from the Canton Stand to Qatar. More goals that Lineker and Beckham in Spain. More goals for his country than anyone else, virtually every club trophy he could ask for. All with a smile on his face and a carefree chuckle in the press conference room.
Farwell, Gareth. Enjoy Los Angeles, rest that back of yours and thank you for the memories. Because even when times weren’t great, you made sure they were for all of us.