Читать книгу Gareth Bale - Frank Worrall - Страница 8

He didn’t sulk one little bit when the PE teacher informed him of his decision. Instead, the 13-year-old boy simply trotted away up the football pitch and determined that he would still be the best…at school today and, if his dream went to plan, in the professional game one special day in the not too distant future. Minutes later Gareth Bale went some way to proving that dream could become a reality as he was mobbed by his young team-mates after scoring with his right foot. Then, when he trooped off at the end of the match, he shook hands with the PE teacher who had banned him from using his left foot in that secondary school games lesson because ‘that foot was so accomplished it was unfair’.

After all, the way Gareth saw it the ban had brought an indirect bonus: it had paved the way for him to develop his weaker right foot. He would now make it his aim to strengthen it and become a complete all-rounder…that was the inspirational nature of the Welsh boy wonder from even such an early age.

‘We had to make up special rules for him,’ Gwyn Morris, the head of PE at Cardiff’s Whitchurch High School and the man responsible for the ban, would say years later by way of explanation. ‘In a normal game we had to limit him to playing one touch and he was never allowed to use his left foot. If we didn’t make those rules he would have run through everyone, so it was the only way we could have an even game when he was involved.’

Gareth Frank Bale was born on July 16, 1989, in Cardiff. His father, Frank, was a school caretaker (now retired) while mum Debbie was an operations manager with a law firm (a job she still holds to this day). His sister Vicky, who is three years older and now a primary school teacher in Wales, was also always a big supporter of him and his budding football career – regularly travelling with Gareth and their parents from Cardiff to Southampton and back for training sessions from when he was 14.

Gareth attended Eglwys Newydd Primary School in Whitchurch and then moved up to the High School in the same essentially middle-class suburb, three miles north of Cardiff city centre. It was at Eglwys Newydd that, at the tender age of eight, his talent on the football pitch was first noted by those in the professional game.

Rod Ruddick, who helped run Southampton FC’s satellite academy in Bath, spotted Gareth playing for a youth team called Cardiff Civil Service in a six-a-side tournament in Newport. Ruddick would later recall, ‘Even then, at that age and despite his small size, I could tell Gareth was something special. It was small-sided mini football, six-a-side, but Gareth was head and shoulders above anyone else at the tournament. I used to attend various competitions in south Wales looking for talent, but never have I come across anyone quite like him.

‘Even back in those days, he would race past players down the left wing and score goals.’

Ruddick’s belief that Gareth would always have the pace to see off defenders was confirmed when he subsequently witnessed him finishing second in the Welsh national schools Under-11s 50m sprint.

Gareth was brought up in a family crazy about sport. He would say, ‘My dad was always into sport and my mum was when she was younger, as was my sister. I kind of followed in the family footsteps. My dad played either rugby or football.’ His father also loved golf and his uncle Chris Pike showed Gareth the way forward towards his dreams by making a name for himself as a pro footballer with Cardiff City. At the age of three, Gareth would go to Ninian Park with dad Frank to see Chris play – and Pike proved a fine role model, ending up Cardiff’s top scorer in 1992, the season Gareth joined Frank on the terraces.

Gareth had a steady, stable upbringing in a solid family setting. He was a happy boy who spent most of his time kicking a ball about outside the family’s modest three-bedroom terraced home.

‘Everything was very local in terms of friends and people we knew – my best friend Ellis lived across the back from me. I remember my childhood spending time in the back garden or down at the park with my friends, playing football, messing around – doing what all kids do,’ he would say.

He was interested in many sports – he was also good at rugby, hockey and distance running – but football was always his No. 1 priority. Gareth admitted, ‘From literally the age of three, I just liked football. I always used to ask my dad to take me over to the park to practice – it was always football for me and I was left-footed from the start I think.’

‘He wasn’t the best at the traditional school subjects but he was absolutely outstanding at football, easily the best in the school and the best I’ve ever seen close up,’ said Carl Morgan, a fellow pupil. ‘He was lucky in that he had such a supportive family; his dad was always at the side of the pitch urging him on and taking him here and there for matches. They were a very close family and anything Gareth needed he got, even though they weren’t well off.’

By the age of 14 Gareth was also making trips to the Southampton academy itself, as well as their satellite centre in Bath. Dad Frank would accompany him around the country and Gareth would later admit the debt he owed to him, saying, ‘My dad’s the one who’s always been there; he’s my hero, you could say. Even when he was working, he’d do anything for me. He’s been the biggest influence in my life.’

Even at such a tender age the search for perfection was apparent as Gareth spent hours alone working on his skills and technique on the training pitch – long after the other boys had showered and left.

It was a trait that had been foreign to British footballers until six years earlier when Eric Cantona had arrived at Manchester United. Until 1996, the Brit pack would do their training and then head straight off home. But something stirred at Old Trafford when young men like Ryan Giggs and David Beckham saw the Frenchman Cantona still working alone as they jumped into their cars.

Beckham would later admit that it ‘opened my eyes’ and he also began to delay his exit from training, working with and learning from the French master. Cantona would help David with his technique and encourage him to perfect his free kicks – to great effect, as it would turn out.

So when Gareth worked on his skills as the new boy at Southampton’s academy in 2002, it was nothing new. But it was still not the norm – he usually ended up training alone after the other trainees had left. ‘The first time I saw Gareth play was when he was 13. He was playing as a left-winger then and had such a lovely left foot. Repetition is the best way to improve – the more repetition you have the better, and I often saw Gareth taking free-kick after free-kick in his own time,’ Frenchman Georges Prost, the former technical director of Southampton’s academy, would later confirm. ‘All that practice gave him accuracy and made him believe, and now he takes them with so much confidence. He hits them with pace and a lovely technique.’

When Gareth stayed in Southampton to learn at the club’s academy he roomed with another youngster who would go on to make a big name for himself – Theo Walcott. The two had planned to buy a flat together until Walcott left the club for Arsenal in January 2006. Gareth’s mum Debbie told the Sun: ‘They were planning to buy a TV and get a flat together until Theo moved to Arsenal. Theo used to pinch Gareth’s aftershave before he met his girlfriend, Mel Slade.’

It was Walcott whom many of the staff initially believed would be the bigger star of the two. He also had great pace, control and technique – and he seemed to be the fitter of the two. Even as a youngster Gareth was bedevilled by injury and fitness problems – and the Saints academy staff also worried about his height. ‘He was a lot smaller back then,’ recalled one source close to the club. ‘And he seemed surprisingly shy. The staff had their work cut out bringing him out of his shell and beefing him up. But it worked out eventually – he became bigger and taller – and it became clear that he had everything needed to become a big star.’

But the doubts had been very real. Indeed, it later emerged that Southampton were so unsure whether Gareth would make the grade as a professional footballer that they even contemplated releasing him at the age of 15. ‘Between the ages of 14 and 16 he had growth spurts which affected his mobility and strength,’ Ron Ruddick would add. ‘He had a horrendous three years because he had a couple of injuries as well. But because of his character he kept going. There was some doubt whether he would get a scholarship but I never had any doubts about him. You could see from an early age he had something special.’

Gareth himself accepted he had a problem, admitting, ‘At 14 growing pains almost forced me out of the game. I was quite small then shot up. My back was out of alignment. I couldn’t run properly.’

Gareth left Whitchurch High school in the summer of 2005 with a Grade A in PE among his GCSE results. In his final year at school, he was awarded the PE department’s prize for services to sport. In the presentation, PE teacher Gwyn Morris said, ‘Gareth has a fierce determination to succeed and has the character and qualities to achieve his personal goals. He is one of the most unselfish individuals that I have had the pleasure to help educate.’ It was a wonderful tribute from an early mentor to the boy who, although not the brightest academic star in the school, had certainly helped put Whitchurch High on the map in the world of professional sport. Gareth was the jewel in Whitchurch’s crown; its greatest ever pupil in terms of sporting achievement and certainly its most famous ever. Before leaving, Gareth even helped Whitchurch win a trophy that earned them major bragging rights in Cardiff – the Cardiff and Vale Senior Cup.

His perseverance and dogged determination to make the grade at Southampton FC would also soon pay dividends. Within his close circles, it is often contended that the key match in his life was not the one that propelled him on to the world stage against Inter Milan in 2010, but one back in January 2005 – when he starred for Southampton Under-18s against Norwich Under-18s. After a series of injury setbacks it was made clear to him and his family that he now had to deliver the goods – or suffer the consequences. Which, in stark terms, would have meant he would not have been offered an academy scholarship with the Saints – and could have ended up on the footballing scrapheap.

Given his fame and acclaim now, it is almost unbelievable that he flew so close to disaster; that his career could have ended before it started. Luckily, he had a brilliant match, flying down the left flank and destroying poor Norwich with the help of his mate Walcott, who grabbed a first half hat-trick in the 5-1 romp.

Gareth, then 15, was now on his way and it was no surprise when 15 months later – on April 17, 2006 – he became the second youngest player at 16 years and 275 days ever to play for Southampton (the youngest being Walcott) when he made his debut and played the whole match as Saints beat Millwall 2-0.

Gareth made a confident debut in a match that then boss George Burley had earmarked as a good opportunity to blood some of his youngsters as the game meant little to Saints. It was no easy run-out for Gareth, though – Millwall were fighting a desperate battle against relegation but goals from Kenwyne Jones and Ricardo Fuller helped send them down from the Championship to League One.

Afterwards Burley would throw an arm around Gareth and tell him he had done well on his debut. Burley said, ‘We have played with quality in the last few games and this was an opportunity to blood young players.’

He later added: ‘I was particularly pleased with young Gareth on his debut; he was solid and composed. He has a big future in football, no doubt at all about that.’

The 2005/06 season was almost over but Gareth managed to make one more appearance before the curtain fell – a fortnight later in the home win over Leicester, by the same 2-0 scoreline.

The next season – 2006/07 – would see him much more involved in the thick of the action as he made 43 appearances and scored five goals for Saints. His impact was immediate as he netted in the opening match of the campaign, the 2-2 draw at Derby.

It arrived just after the hour mark from what would eventually become known in the trade as ‘one of Bale’s trademark free kicks’, bringing Saints back into the match after they had trailed to a first-half goal from Seth Johnson.

Southampton’s official website, www.saintsfc.co.uk, certainly sat up and took notice of the goal. It had already commended Gareth’s efforts early on in the match for ‘pushing on powerfully down the left’ and now rhapsodised about his first professional goal in this way, ‘Saints deservedly levelled with a first league goal for Gareth Bale, just three weeks after his 17th birthday. And what a peach it was! In only his third league start he had the self confidence and stature to demand the free kick when it was awarded 25 yards out. Being in the inside right channel it suited a left-footer but he pushed himself to the fore in front of dead ball specialist Skacel and curled a superb shot into the top right corner. It fired Saints forward…’

As if that in itself were not a story worthy of Roy of the Rovers, Gareth then trumped it by scoring in his next match as well, opening the scoring in the 2-0 home win over Coventry City on 61 minutes, just a minute earlier than the goal he had scored at Derby.

He then had to wait until November for his next goal, in the 1-1 draw at Sunderland. But it was a vital strike, coming in the last minute and saving Saints from defeat. The BBC summed it up in this way, ‘Bale drove in a powerful shot from the edge of the area which appeared to take a deflection off Steve Caldwell on its way past Darren Ward. Southampton controlled the majority of the game but until Bale’s goal had been defied by Ward, who produced a string of saves to frustrate the visitors.’

Saints boss Burley did not single Gareth out in his post match analysis. But a sure sign of the impact the Welsh wonder boy was starting to have came from the post- match comments of Burley’s Sunderland counterpart, the enigmatic but legendary former Manchester United captain Roy Keane. Keano said, ‘I’m disappointed we conceded a goal so late in the game, but we played a lot better at Norwich last week and lost, so that’s football. The only way I thought they would find a way past Darren Ward was like that. The last player you want the ball to fall to is Gareth Bale. He’s an exceptional player.’

It was a telling tribute from a man who, as a player, had won every honour going in the domestic and international club game: if anyone knew what a star of the future looked like, it would surely be Roy Keane.

Gareth also netted in the 4-2 triumph at Hull City and the 2-1 win over Norwich as Christmas 2006 loomed. The goal at Hull typified why Gareth was becoming renowned, and feared, in equal measure. Yes, it was another of his 25-yard thunderbolts that gave the keeper no chance. The win would also be the final nail in the coffin of under-pressure Hull boss Phil Parkinson – he would be forced out the following week.

Gareth also notched a similarly outstanding goal against Norwich – this time from 30 yards out. Again, his talent was applauded by the opposition. The official Norwich website, www.canaries.co.uk purred, ‘Promising teenager Gareth Bale levelled before the break with a sensational 30-yard free-kick… a brilliant curling effort into the top corner which gave Gallacher no chance…’

Two days before Christmas Gareth chalked up another first – but this time it was an unwanted gift, his first yellow card, for unsporting behaviour, in the 3-3 draw at Sheffield Wednesday. It would be the first of four yellow cards in his debut full season.

The dawn of 2007 saw Gareth maintain his place in the Southampton first team as he continued to deliver the goods, defending and raiding down that left flank. Just as his efforts were being applauded by his rivals, so they were not going unnoticed by the media either. The papers were full of praise for him and even BBC Match of the Day commentator John Motson allowed himself to get carried away by the euphoria – publicly linking him with a move to Manchester United.

And it wasn’t as if his talent was unnoticed within his own club. ‘Gareth has come on in the last few months and filled out a bit,’ then Saints captain Claus Lundekvam said. ‘He is just going to get better and better. He is playing like someone who has been around for a long time. He can be as good as he wants to be.’

That was evident in April 2007 when he was honoured at the Football League awards ceremony in London – taking the Young Player of the Year prize.

But with such talent came, much to the anguish of all Saints fans, the inevitable Premier League predators. Ferguson and United were certainly keen, but did not back up their interest with hard cash – much, it would emerge a few years later, to Sir Alex’s eternal regret.

No, it would be Tottenham Hotspur and then boss Martin Jol who would firm up their interest with enough money to twist Southampton’s arm in May 2007. In total, Gareth made 45 appearances for Southampton, scoring five goals, before moving to Spurs for an initial fee of £5 million.

His last match for the Saints was the 2-1 home defeat by Derby; ironically the team against whom ten months earlier Gareth had grabbed his first goal as a professional player. It was a match that could have led Saints towards the Premier League – the first leg of their Championship playoff semi-final. But two goals from Steven Howard sent Saints into despair and their anguish was compounded when Gareth was substituted on 56 minutes after picking up an injury. He was later seen leaving St Mary’s on crutches and would miss the second leg at Pride Park, which finished with Derby marching into the playoff final courtesy of a 4-3 penalty triumph after brave Saints had won 3-2 on the day, leaving the aggregate scores level at 4-4.

It was a terribly sad way for Gareth to end his Saints career. But in ten short months he had transformed from a 17-year-old with glittering potential to a 17-year-old who was set for the Premier League – albeit at a different football club than Southampton.

It had certainly been a roller-coaster journey for the boy who had almost been released by Saints two years earlier – and the twists and turns would continue to come fast and furious as he now headed for his new home at White Hart Lane, in North London.