The Prince of Wales Part-I

Gareth Bale. A footballer for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. The Club I absolutely love. The pure white shirt is a dream for me, whenever I pull on my replica. Perhaps my favourite player does not feel the affinity towards My Club like I do, but that does not matter to me anymore. After what my (ex) Heroes did (think Sol and Keano) I don`t expect anyone to show the same loyalty or devotion to the Club which many people I know have done.

But coming back to the point. Gareth Bale was 17 when he signed for us back in May 2007. He was transferred for a fee that could rise to 10 million pounds (up front we paid 5 million). We beat of competition from the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal to sign him. You could see that BMJ did not want him. There wasn`t that genuine smile that the Spurs Faithful had come to expect from their manager. Another Comolli dud then, my lord were they pessimists wrong.

A debut at Old Trafford, in a game we deserved to win or at least draw until "Michael Jackson" showed up and scored from 25 yards and our 'beloved` goalkeeper tried to swat a mosquito. He was terrific that day. Up and Down the left wing and no sign of being tired. Most Spurs fan knew at that moment that we had finally got our replacement for David Ginola. The best thing to happen to the Spurs Left Wing since M. Ginola kicked a ball down a hill.

I had a Man.Utd mate who was going on about why his performance was a fluke and why it was down to the 'atmosphere` of Old Trafford. Just to prove that it was not this case He scored his first goal for the Club against Fulham when grabbing onto Keano`s flick he rocketed down the field and made Anti Niemi look like a fool, coolly slotting past him. But a single players form was not enough to overshadow the wide cracks in the team and of course the fact BMJ time was almost over.

There were suggestions that if we did not win against Arsehole BMJ would be sacked. Well Gareth certainly played his part in making sure that BMJ was given some more time. WHAT A FREEKICK. Easily the best free kick scored by a Spurs Player since the days of Gazza Gascoigne (I`ve seen the videos you know!). The fact that it was against the Scum made it all the bit sweeter. The rest of the game is going to be 'no comments` because it hurts too much to write about (but it is true that this was the first time Gareth`s defensive frailties were exposed).

He got his first assist when we humiliated Anorthosis Famagusta in the Uefa Cup. And then (again!) he scored against Middlesbrough. He was tireless in that game. You could practically see that he was 17. He did not tire for a moment. He side-stepped the Boro goalie and scored for his third goal in 4 starts and the Club`s Top Scorer at one point.

At that point everyone was going on about he was the signing of the season. He was a livewire against Aston Villa.(another reason to love Paul Robinson) and indirectly set up a goal for JD when his cross was thundered against the post by Keano and then turned in. His next two games were relatively quiet (against Anorthosis Famagusta and Liverpool). And then came Armageddon when he got injured against Newcastle. The only bright spot of our season till then was snuffed out. What were we going to do??.

The inevitable happened. BMJ got sacked the next game and in came our saviour Juande 'Magic` Ramos. His ruthlessly attacking system was mouth-watering and I could not wait to see to what the 'Special Juan` would do with the best Welsh talent to come through since Robbie Savage. Just joking I meant Ryan Giggs.

I remember an interview I read before he came to Spurs. It was about Brian Flynn going on about him and how he was already Ol` Red Nose`s new left back (for the reserves). He came back against Birmingham and promptly got injured. Fabrice Muamba deserved a red card for that tackle.
It put Gareth out for the season and as a result we had to use a variety of players in the Left-Back slot.

Written by roni_spurs

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