Gareth Bale. Frank Worrall
26, and four minutes from the end of the match against Burnley at the Lane, with Spurs 4-0 up. Spurs scored again and Gareth was simply delighted to have taken part in a winning Premier League game for the first time in 25 appearances. ‘It was a real weight off his back,’ a club source revealed. ‘The more games that went by, the harder it seemed to be to beat the jinx. He was cock-a-hoop when the final whistle went. It was also a fine piece of man-management by Harry [Redknapp]. To bring him on when there was no chance of the team drawing or losing. Mind you, if they’d lost after being 4-0 up, both Gareth and Harry would have been pulling their hair out!’
Gareth would later tell the Daily Telegraph, ‘It was just one of those freak things; we had a bit of banter about it in the changing-room but it never really affected me as a person.’
He may have finally beaten the jinx, but now Gareth faced another problem – the fine form of Benoit Assou-Ekotto. At this time, Redknapp appeared to view Bale purely as a left-back, and that meant he could not get into the team – he simply could not dislodge the Cameroon international. To be fair to the boss, it would have been cruel to have axed Assou-Ekotto. The solution was already staring Redknapp in the face, but he seemed unwilling to apply it, although, of course, within a couple of months, he would see sense and have Gareth playing in front of Benoit in left midfield.
It all meant Gareth would not be on the winning side as a starter in the Premier League for Spurs until the end of January in 2010…another four months after tasting victory in the league as a sub against Burnley! In those four months, he did start in the Carling Cup and the FA Cup and taste success – as they beat Everton at the end of October in the former and Peterborough in the latter in January.
One man’s misfortune became another’s good fortune. Assou-Ekotto suffered an injury, allowing Gareth in via the back door for the 4-0 thrashing of Posh in the FA Cup, with the young Welshman putting in a fine performance. So, finally, on Tuesday January 26, 2010, Gareth finally put to bed that long sequence of games without a win as a starter in the team as goals from Peter Crouch and David Bentley put Fulham in their place with a 2-0 triumph at the Lane.
The BBC’s Sam Lyon summed Gareth’s relief up in this way, ‘…And that was pretty much that as far as the competitive edge in the match was concerned, with Tottenham happy to move the ball around comfortably and injury-ravaged Fulham apparently just happy to keep the score down. It will do nothing to take away from what was a red-letter day for Gareth Bale, though, who – at the 23rd time of asking – secured his first ever victory as a Premier League starter.’ ‘Yep, Gareth was relieved,’ says a Spurs source. ‘But he had also been just as concerned about playing well. The aim was to get in the first team – and stay there.’
And he did just that. From that day onwards, Gareth Bale was a guaranteed starter for Tottenham, one, if not the, first names on the team sheet. Benoit Assou-Ekotto would also be one of the select band who could count on being picked in the first eleven when he finally returned to action on February 24, 2010, in the 4-0 drubbing of Bolton in the FA Cup fifth round. How? Simple. As we have already said, the answer to the dilemma of how to fit two such talented left-sided players into the same team was to play the Cameroon international at left-back – and push Gareth forward, where he could attack and destroy teams, rather than simply having to destroy them.
It was a role he would quickly grow accustomed to and grow to love – while world-class defenders such as Maicon would rue the day Redknapp had taken the logical step to set Gareth free.
Remarkably, Redknapp said recently that he still considered Gareth would be better as a defender than a left-midfielder/winger. I am convinced that old Harry is wrong on that one. Certainly I know for sure that Gareth loved the freer role – and he even admitted as much, although being careful not to antagonise the boss, when he was asked what he thought of Harry’s assessment. Gareth said: ‘I think the best part of my game, whether I’m playing left-back or left mid, is going forward. But it’s up to the manager where he sees my future and where he wants to play me.’
Gareth’s rich vein of form was officially acknowledged on March 1, 2010, when he was named EON Player of the Round by the FA for his brilliance in the two FA Cup fifth round encounters with Bolton. He had set up Defoe for the equaliser in the original 1-1 draw at the Reebok on February 14 and then made the third goal in the 4-0 slaughter of Wanderers in the replay at the Lane 10 days later. Gareth zoomed down the left and crossed a dangerous ball that the hapless Andy O’Brien could only deflect past his own keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen. Gareth amassed a resounding 61 per cent of the votes for the award with Crystal Palace’s Darren Ambrose in second place – and the still shell-shocked Jaaskelainen was also on the shortlist!
April started badly but got much better for the wonder boy. On the 11th of the month he suffered more heartache in the latter stages of the cup competitions. Last year it had been in the final against Manchester United, now it was agony in the semi of the FA Cup as he and his team-mates surprisingly slumped to a 2-0 loss against Portsmouth at Wembley.
It was a shock of a scoreline against a team that had already been relegated from the Premier League. Gareth was downhearted – he had believed he had set up an equaliser for Crouch but ref Alan Wiley disallowed it for a foul by Nico Kranjcar on David James. TV replays would show that Wiley had got it badly wrong and that only added to the sense of injustice felt afterwards in the dressing room. ‘Of course Gareth was low afterwards,’ says a Spurs source. ‘They all were. No one had believed that Pompey would have won, it was an absolute shocker. The only saving grace was that they still had a carrot to play for – if they finished fourth in the league, they would make the qualifiers for the Champions League. And everyone knew that was a much bigger prize than the FA Cup winners could hope for [a place in the Europa League].’
Gareth led the way in two crunch home games after the loss to Pompey – against Arsenal and Chelsea.
Youngster Danny Rose put Spurs ahead at the Lane against the Gunners and Gareth side-footed the ball home to make it 2-0 just after the interval. Nicklas Bendtner pulled one back, but it was too little, too late. Tottenham were now fifth, one place and one point behind Man City who were still clutching on to that all-important fourth place.
Afterwards Redknapp praised Gareth and Rose for their goals and added, ‘It was a great win because we came here on the back of a disappointing day on Sunday. To lift ourselves after that and turn in a performance like that said so much for the players, especially when we were so patched up. All round it was a great night for us, everybody worked hard and did a great job.’
They did indeed. And they would do the same great job three days later, this time beating Chelsea by the same score. Defoe put Spurs ahead from the penalty spot on 15 minutes after Terry handled in the box and Gareth made it 2-0 just before the interval, leaving Paulo Ferreira for dead and hammering the ball home…with his right foot!
Lampard pulled one back for the Blues on the stroke of full-time, but it was Spurs who took the three points. Spurs fan Alan Fisher summed up Gareth’s showing when asked his views by the Guardian. He said, ‘Bale was outstanding, the physicality and shrewdness of his game; he is a world-class prospect.’ He named Gareth as his star man – awarding him 10 out of 10. ‘Gareth was well chuffed with the win – and to have scored with his right foot!’ a Spurs source confirmed. ‘Everyone knows he is a genius with his left foot – well, his right ain’t that bad either, you know!’
There was more good news. Manchester City had lost 1-0 at home to Manchester United and Tottenham were now in those oh-so-important Champions League places – replacing City in fourth place. The stage was now set for a four-game shootout that would decide if Spurs or City grabbed the big prize.
After the jubilation of the wins over their London rivals, Spurs suffered a big setback in the first of those four matches, losing 3-1 at Old Trafford to Manchester United. Two penalties from Ryan Giggs and a goal from Nani brought about Gareth and Co’s downfall, with only a Ledley King headed goal to ease the pain of the defeat as the lads travelled back to London. Gareth at least had earned the kudos of having set up Ledley for the goal with a pinpoint corner as he eased into his seat on the coach for the three-hour journey. And the day after he would learn he had been named