Gareth Bale: Goodbye, Good Luck

/ Alan

Gareth Bale, the ad man’s dream. Looking butch in the Spurs kit ads, hastily withdrawn now I daresay, or glowering over Times Square. Or the Lucozade posters – hipster haircut, jutting jawline, lower lip ever-so-slightly tucked in. It makes me chuckle. Good luck to you, son, but you can’t fool me. I remember when you used to wear a hairclip.

I’m fortunate to sit on the lower Shelf, near the middle almost opposite the press box. I feel an attachment with all our players but develop a special bond with wingers and full-backs. They are right there, in front of me. Gareth, I’ve not just watched you for most of your career, I’ve seen you grow up.

I’ve seen the fear in your eyes when wingers used to get in behind you and you knew you had screwed up.

Gareth Bale. Not how I remember him

Gareth Bale. Not how I remember him

I’ve counted the beads of sweat on your forehead as late in the game you summon up the energy for one last effort. I’ve felt the pain as the defender’s boot crunched into your shin pad only because you were too good, too quick, too damn bloody brilliant.It’s been a privilege.

Whatever happens in Bale’s career, and I believe he will be a success in Spain, only Spurs fans have been with him as he grew from boy to man. When he began, it looked as if he had the talent but not the temperament. All the airbrushed ads and heroic exploits on the field cannot banish his boyish air.

I (ahem) described him when he was still a teenager as a young man who could become world-class. Suffice to say not everyone agreed with me. I recall a radio commentary from those early years for a cup game at the Lane that I missed. The commentator described how, after he came on a substitute, he was hanging back even though Redknapp and Bond were literally screaming at him to get forward. That image must have lingered because as far as I can gather, the reports that HR fixed up a £3m transfer to Birmingham are true. Then Assou-Ekotto was injured. The young Welshman got rid of the clip and decided to grow up.

I’ve been fortunate to see the modern greats at Spurs. Gareth Bale has earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as these legends although he’s at the angels’ right hand rather than up there in the pantheon. He has dazzled in an era where players are fitter, cover more ground and therefore there is less space available for talents to shine.

Bale is unique. I have never seen, not just at Spurs but anywhere, a player that big, with that pace, with that skill on the ball and with that ability to make and score goals. Ever. A rampaging bull with Tinkerbelle’s touch.

In full flight he is utterly magnificent, hurtling down the line at full tilt, drawing in defenders and then he is gone, just when they thought they had done him. Then the sizzling cross fizzing into the box, often when the ball seems to have escaped him by the byline, or cutting inside to shoot. In his final season with us, time and again into the top corner or the calm dagger thrust to finish.

So many memories. Destroying Inter, the European champions, twice, Europe jerked wide awake as it dozed on the sofa in front of the TV. Poor Norwich, not the first to be sliced open as from deep he ran and ran. Many were away from home where he had a fraction more room to work up a head of steam. City away, dipping under the bar from 25 yards then a cross that skimmed Defoe’s toecap and was gone, and with it hopes of a title challenge. West Ham, a miraculous late winner and into the arms of Villas-Boas as in the background the chicken run emptied in disgusted tribute. Swansea away, he gets the ball in midfield and the whole stadium goes silent, waiting.

He hasn't changed

He hasn’t changed

For me, two winners versus Southampton and then Sunderland, identical and trademarked. Late on when he was our only hope, cut in from the right, keep the ball away from the defender so he has no need to beat him but can’t be tackled, left foot from twenty yards, one top corner, one bottom. Special because I was behind the trajectory of the ball, close my eyes and there’s Bale, body shape contorted over the ball to establish the perfect contact, shot swinging away, keeper forever trapped in mid-air, stretching desperately for a ball he will never reach.

He will prosper in Spain, especially as he may have a little more precious space in deeper areas to get going, but the feeling lingers that we have seen him at his peak. Not that he plays by instinct alone but he was not quite at his best in the latter half of last season when he moved inside and began to realise just what he was capable of. Because he could do almost anything, he took a fraction of extra time to make up his mind. Not everything came off.

If he becomes a little more arrogant, I won’t mind. A long way from south Wales, he will need to toughen up. He’s not like Ronaldo for example, who you suspect has been insufferably cocky since he emerged from womb, treating the midwife with disdain and contempt. Not having a go – you don’t get anywhere in top-level sport without that self-confidence and he’s undoubtedly got the ability to back it up. The football world will never again allow Bale to be as good as he was for Spurs. The weight of expectation in a climate where criticism is the vogue will mean there will always be harsh words for everything less than the unattainable.

And that’s what Spurs fans will always have, the shock of the new, the astonishment and wonder that this shy boy could do that with a football. He was good but no one knew he could be that good. Bale didn’t, and there’s his enduring charm, that we weren’t presented with his talent but joined him on a journey of discovery. The shimmering thrill of the unexpected, of the impossible. Of why we were enthralled by football in the first place. Never again will it be new and fresh. We Spurs fans, we’ll always have that.

To the many who have infested social media this week with the Bale backlash, with bile and hate because he hadn’t turned up to train with a club everyone knew he was leaving, you can stick to your tawdry world of tabloid gossip and the SSN tickertape. That’s football, is it? A photo of a bloke in a London street?  When you have a few beers with your pals and talk about the good times, you compare SSN news reports or reminisce over twitter banter, do you?

Tell me, what do you do with your memories? Where do they go? For younger fans, it’s possible he could be the finest player you ever see, you realise that, don’t you? That might be as good as it gets. It’s twenty or more years since Gazza left. I don’t like the way he has behaved in the past week (or appeared to behave, we may find out more later) but on the scales that is insignificant compared with his committment on the field, contribution to the team and at times scintillating football.

Those are my memories. When Bale sets off, my heart doesn’t skip a beat. It pounds and pulsates in expectation.

When Bale shoots, it’s not merely breathtaking. It sucks the breath from my lungs and that of 30,000 other people, rips the sound from my throat as I gasp, wordless, transfixed and rooted, it stops the hands of time as the ball arcs gracefully through the sky.

When Bale does his thing, my heart doesn’t sing. It’s a five-piece brass section strutting sharp and pumping over a sly funky backbeat and swirling Hammond, with soulful guitar, the Sweet Inspirations and Sam and Dave on back-up vocals as Aretha wails while Otis mops his brow with a white starched handkerchief from his top pocket.

I’d liked to have seen you, just one last time, not to change your mind but just to say I missed you, man. Good luck, goodbye, Gareth Bale.

91 thoughts on “Gareth Bale: Goodbye, Good Luck”

  1. Wonderful piece Alan. This week’s backlash has been childish and petty. Best player I’ve seen since my first trip to the Lane in 1995.

    He was always going to leave one day, but along with the memories he will leave a massive legacy at the Lane as AVB builds an entire new side with his transfer fee.

    I hope him and Luka go on to great things at a Madrid side which should be much more likeable now that Mourinho has gone.

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  3. Great piece Alan, I,m with you, when Gareth Bale started on a run it was power with purpose & pure speed, and I have been watching Spurs greats from 1961. As a Northern ireland guy he was Georgie Best but at hyper speed with humility so good luck to him, I wish him well, he has not only helped us with his goals but his price tag has allowed us to build an exciting team for this season. We may have seen the best of him, I hope not and maybe some day we will see him back in a Spurs shirt but not for the price we sold him.

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  6. Very well said Alan, there has been a lot of bile spat about Bale, lets be fair a lot of it caused by journos second guessing why the silence! easy answered! Gareth was told by the club to do so, I look forward to what the lad has to say when he is allowed, until then I have the goals he scored saved on my Sky + box to savour, I wish him all the very best in the future, he has been a model of excellence for the club, Good luck Gareth and thank you!

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  7. All the best wishes for a great future Bale, and always remember the lane is your home, if you ever feel to come back we will welcome you. Go son with God’s bliss.
    Egyptian supporter of Spurs since 1965

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  9. amazing article …. everything you said was true and whatever happens to the welsh wizard in spain he will always be in our hearts ! 😀 The thing is that when i first saw him playing , even though we lost 😀 you know 😀 i was truly amazed by the speed , dribble and the crosses he produced . Than i said to a friend ( real fan ) this guy is going to be a legend and he laughed at my face , years passed and the same friend comes to me happy saying they are getting Bale . That is the only thing that bothers me , that we backed him then and wil be there for him no matter what . And there are thoes people that didnt care about him and now are saying he’s the best 😀 Peace !

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  10. Real Madrid likeable, you are joking surely. Tap up merchants, egotistical 2nd best team in a league of 2 teams who between them take the lion’s share of TV money leaving the scraps to the rest of La Liga. You’ll be saying Arsenal are likeable when Arsehole Whinger leaves!
    Though I do agree with the sentiment in wishing Gareth well with heaps of thanks for helping us to grow stronger with his passing .

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  12. What a fantastic summary Alan of a truly special player that all of us have been privileged to have watched all true spurs fans will only wish Gareth Bale all the very best , who knows one day he may return to spurs , adios amigo .

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  14. Fuck him, the greedy bastard has gone for the money.We have lost better players than him.I hope it all end in tears in Madrid and he will be back in England with in a year with his tail between his legs.We have got the ‘Magnificent 7’ with his transfer money.Good riddance Taf.

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  15. Thanks Alan very good piece (again). I found all the bile too much, shame folk don’t understand the difference between banter and bile.

    Although I have to say I wonder if Gareth got to spa=end any time with a true left wing Legend, Cliff Jones who i am lucky enough to have watched as a kid. And In my humble opinion was a far better player adn played with a leather balll come sun wet or snow on pitches where it was more surprising if the ball didn’t ‘bobble’ than if it did and of course 9 times out of 10 the reason it didn’t was cause it was stuck in mud and or water!!

    Of course looking at our business it is entirely possible he is going with the ringing endorsement of both AVB anf Levy for doing as they requested saying nothing and thereby helping with the wages of his replacements.

    As someone else has written, praphrasing others the Lone Ranger has left the buid=lding and been replaced by the Magnificent Seven. COYS

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  16. very nice piece been a spurs fan since 63 great player wonder how much gilzean greavsie mckay etc would have got in todays market ?

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  17. From the moment we lost out on the CL a few months ago, I just knew that Bale would bail. It’s not his fault that he was born Welsh and that Wales will never win the World cup let alone qualify for the finals. He’s not chasing the money. His only hope for the highest honours will only ever be the CL. So much as I love what he did for Spurs, I just knew he would have to chase his dream and if that dream contains the words “Real Madrid”, then he has to go.
    Shame for us at Spurs, but I wish him all the very best. Let’s hope that for the 2014 season when we qualify for the CL that we get drawn in the same group as Real and we can give him the welcome back that he deserves.

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  18. Very good article and yes I hope Bale succeeds but I also fear Madrid will ruin him as by missing training it has started already to change the bale I know and love from nice polite man to modric and has soured the end of his era for me personally . Gareth you can change team’s and country’s but please don’t let them change who you are. I can forgive this last bit and thanks for the memory’s .COYS

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  20. I will never forget his goal v west ham, don’t think I have ever celebrated a goal as much since gazza v arsenal in 1991! Will be missed but the club will always move on

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  21. Excellent read Alan – Echo all of your sentiments-Will miss the lad but don’t blame him one bit for taking the opportunity.
    …..and Gareth Bale could be in a major part responsible for giving u a leg up into the top tier..via his transfer fee

    COYS

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  22. What a wonderful article. As enthralling as a beautiful piece of music or an irresistible work of art. A fitting tribute.

    Best of luck to him. Left us with such fantastic memories. Wouldn’t trade any of them.

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  23. Fantastic article, rings completely true for me.. couldn’t care less how he behaved last week, allegedly, we’re all just human beings, we live and learn. He will always have my support for precisely the reasons you have so eloquently put forth. Just wish we could have given him the send off he deserved,,, feel like the universe owed us that.. him included. But alas, onward and upward, maybe lightning will strike twice and we will get to witness another phenomenon rise in our ranks, morph and take us all a little by surprise.. I say little only because I was never in any doubt. I would have hunted harry down and shot him even then had he really sold bale to Birmingham for 3 million.

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  25. Hi Alan

    A couple of points on your beautiful piece.

    1. Bale was going to play even if Assou-Ekotto had not been injured, because Assou-Ekotto was on his way to the ACN anyway. It’s a bit of an internet myth that he only got his chance because of an injury. He was the backup LB and it was planned out that he would cover for BAE whilst the latter was away.

    2. One of the things that always stayed with me was a comment from Robbie Keane, shortly after the teenaged Bale arrived at Tottenham. Keane quietly told a journalist “he’s going to to be the best player in the world”. No “perhaps” about it. Keano knew immediately.

    See you sometime, David Matzdorf

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    • Good to hear from you, David, and thanks for your kind words. Catch up one day.

      That’s a good point about Keane, I remember that now. But you always had a better memory than me.

      Regards, Alan

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  26. Gonna miss the lad big time Alan, and so true and well written regarding the boy wonder.
    There was a time when some sections of fans groaned when he played for fear we would not win again, but I used to say he will come good, and excellently he did become good.
    But now we are on a new path and I have not been this excited since we signed Ossie and Ricardo with all these knew signings.
    COY YOU MIGHTY SPURS, lets do those gooners tomorrow, which I will be there 🙂

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  27. Excellent summary of my thoughts…. Sad to see him go as I thought he could have centre of the rebirth of Spurs instead of being back end of a successful era with RM. Good luck GB – thanks for the memories – will always be cherished !!! Hail the new era….

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  28. I want to hear him speak, his version! His behaviour this week has been disrespectful to our club which leaves a sour taste after all he said before. As for Real Madrid they are arrogant, disrespectful and skint like the country they are located in. Daniel Levy who over the years I have been a fierce critic has played a blinder in this, what a legend! Something Gareth could have grown into with another season or two. The club will always be bigger than any player and to get the money we have from the Spanish waiters is Daniel taking the piss.
    Gareth’s managements handling has been a disgrace from start to finish. On the last game of last season I sat in the box next to (Stellar Group’s Box) Gareths Mum, Dad and Grandad and Gareths Mum told one of our party he would definitely be with us next year (2013/2014) but at the end of the game one of Gareths representatives was on his phone to Jonathan (Barnett) discussing their clients future and his other representative was in Gareths Father’s ear. Somehow I think Gareths head was turned but only he can answer that!!!
    COYS and thanks for the memories Gareth it was a pleasure watching you mature.

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    • I think your spot on with that tbf, I am a big bale fan myself but I feel the way he has been “advised” on his conduct in the last week or so has been very disrespectful towards the fans, not showing up for training on 3 occasions is unacceptable, whether your on the move out or not, if he was advised to do this then that’s bad advice really as the fans immediately think the worse and that he’s doing a Modric,
      Think public ally this made AVB look embarrassed that he isn’t in control of the player.
      Barnett is a rat anyway he doesn’t care about the players progression he’s only bothered about his fee, if that means turning the head of a level headed bloke I don’t think he’s too fussed,
      It will be interesting when GB is allowed to freely express why he moved and why he did what he did, if the question is ever put to him…..

      As for real I think their conduct again has been disrespectful and arrogant, to the point they are still releasing pics of GBs boots turning up at the training ground, he is still a spurs player Carlo…..

      With a bit of luck they will be looked into for their constant pestering and blatant tapping up of GB.

      But at the end of the day it will hopefully be a dream move for GB and I hope that one day the door could be opened for him to return to WHL as Keano did,

      It pains me to do so but you got to wish gareth all the best at Real, hopefully he will take the limelight away from the spoilt brat that is Ronaldo!

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    • Interesting, thanks for that. At the end of last season I thought he would stay but changed my mind in the summer – obvious he was off.

      Regards, Alan

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  29. Great piece – and nice nod to Springsteen too!

    It’s been thrilling to watch him grow as a player – in 30 years of watching Spurs, I haven’t seen a player develop so spectacularly. It’s a shame he didn’t want to stay and become a genuine Tottenham legend, but I wish him well.

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    • Eh – kudos for the Springsteen spot. Quite a few picked that up on twitter.

      Thanks for this. Are you the Annelise who was active in the supporters’ movements back in the day?

      Regards, Alan

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      • Hi Alan – yes, that’s me. The advantage, or otherwise, of having an uncommon name! I’d actually forgotten some of the things we did until reminded of them in Martin Cloake’s interesting recent e-book, ‘Sound of the Crowd’ – seems a long time ago, but the overall issue of supporters being able to have a genuine stake in the club still continues.

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        • Think it is more important than ever before. Having read Martin’s book (review on TOMM soon), it reminded me of how dark those times were.

          Regards, Alan

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  30. Great piece, probably the best I’ve read regarding our Gareth to be honest. It always makes for a better read when coming from a fan I think. Though the past day I’ve been jolly at how well our new squad has been assembled, reading this has just glumly reminded me that I’ll probably never see him play in a Spurs shirt again, he is that unbelievably talented and while I’m grateful for all he’s done – I’m equally sad to see him go.

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    • Thanks. I think the fans have a particualr insight and investment when a player grows up in front of us, as Gareth has done, and that perspective is the blog’s theme.

      Regards, Alan

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  31. This is absolutely impressive!!!! Thank you man, i loved your letter. Im a Real Madrid fan from Pozuelo Spain…I couldn’t agree more with what you have wrote….I think Gareth could be the best player in the world playing for us but i appreciate a lot his football at White Hart Lane. Cheers from Spain mate and may the best of luck surround you and your team. As for me: QUE EMPIEZA LA ERA DE GARETH BALE 11 !!!

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  32. A brilliant poetic piece of writing and a fantastic send off to a true Tottenham great. He’s helped us move into a new and exciting era and we have allowed him to follow his dream. It cant get better than that.

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  33. Lovely, lyrical write up of a fine Spurs player.

    I’m very sad to see him go, but I wish him well and it is a super deal for us, too. One we look to have taken good advantage of already.

    I hope he gets a standing ovation when he comes back to the Lane with Real Madrid in next season’s CL …

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  34. Thanks Alan,
    We all love the boy and wish him well. Spurs were a little bit of a one man team and in some ways we will be better without him. We have bought well and I am so excited about this season.
    Lets not think about top 4 we can win the whole thing. This is a trophy year. COYS.

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  35. All the praise about his ability is true but…..he has started to believe the hype surrounding him. The trademark celebration. The plastic surgery. The insistence on playing down the middle even when itssnot working. And ultimately…..his attitude to the fans and the club as he departs. He has the talent to succeed anywhere but I doubt the maturity and home-loving temperament. He isnt the bravest player…..not that he is a diver (ok….sometimes)……but he doesnt take a tackle well. The defenders in Spain dont take prisoners and the Madrid crowd are very demanding and fickle. He wont get the adoration he is used to from fans for certain. I fear for him to be honest and he has burnt his boats at Spurs with the recent pretend injury and petulance. Old Trafford in a years time?

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  37. I’m sad to see him go for all the reasons above but we’re getting top dollar and I think the reinvestment in the team will be better in the longer term. I just hope Bale finds what he wants at Real Madrid. His agent certainly has and I suspect has been the driving force behind this move. I’m not a fan of Real. They continue to display an arrogance which typifies so much that is wrong with the modern game yet, for all their money, they have fallen short in recent years.
    I have great memories of Bale, most of which you’ve highlighted. Ginola was perhaps our last great individual player who made me hold my breath and wonder what was going to happen next. However I’m more optimistic about the future than I was when Ginola left. We’re developing a club where players want to come to Spurs and ultimately I’m more interested in the players who want to wear the Spurs shirt with pride. I’ll always love Ledley more than Bale.
    Good luck to Bale and his family though. I wish him well and will remember his time at Spurs with great pleasure.

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  38. Brilliant article. I hope the majority of Spurs feel this way so that when Bale comes back to the lane, whatever those circumstances may be, he is greeted by rapturous applause. Not boos, as I fear might be the case. I can hope. Good luck to him is all I can say for now.

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  39. Great read and totally at one with your comments ! Last season was the only time I can ever recall looking forward to the last ten minutes in every game cos you just knew something very special was about to be unleashed !! Also my thanks and wishes to you mr Bale !!

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  40. Excellent article, written from the heart but with great honesty and vision, I take my hat off to you. I have followed my beloved Spurs since 1958 and now cheer the every goal from far off Canada. He was an exceptional player, and I have been fortunate enough to have seen the best at White Hart Lane, he was unique and almost a freak of nature. For someone as tall as him to move with such pace, grace and purpose was quite phenomenal, a modern day Cliff Jones but not quite so brave. I thank him for all he did for our club, I wish him and his family well and sincerely hope that he will be able to cope with the pressure there, because pressure there will most surely be, I am sure every true member of the Spurs family will watch his progress with great interest and a willingness for him to succeed, and wouldn’t it be just wonderful in season 2014/2015 when Spurs get drawn to play Real Madrid in the Champions League we play them off the park and Gareth look’s around the packed terraces at White Hart Lane, or where ever we are by then, at the final whistle with the noise of the crowd rolling down from the terraces like a might wall of sound, and thinks to himself ”For sure, this was a great club to have played for”.

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  42. Hear, hear Alan. We have so many wonderful Bale memories to treasure and a massive windfall that has already helped us rebuild the team in his absence. He is a Spurs legend.
    Another beautiful piece from my favourite Spurs writer.

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      • Always summer out here, Alan. We had 170 LA Spurs singing at the King’s Head in the famous San Fernando Valley at the NLD derby, with increasing numbers of new American fans and their kids. One of them, an Emmy winning sound guy on Two and a Half Men, did me a solid and got me a 1961 Wembley replica jersey — nice! I’ve just started another season-long “football” gig, co-blogging with two NFL stars. And having watched our Spurs legend Klinsmann steer the USA into the WC already, I’m picking them, with a bit of luck, to do better than my mum’s team — England (if/when they make it)! LMAO! Now the real English footy season starts, COYS! Cheers Alan!

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  46. alan, phenomenally written – the backlash has upset me since all i can do is thank him (and modric) for buying us a great friggin’ team!

    and all the memories and goals from the last few years. thank you for writing this.

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  47. GOTTA SAY This is the best blog I’ve ever read. Well done, top marks..
    Has even made me re-think my own anger towards the boys antics this last week!
    Great article & Good luck Gareth, I couldn’t hate you for too long could I.. Go get um boy!

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  49. Alan,
    As ever, a thoughtful, engaging, apt essay. Thank you. I have had a succession of arsenal, chelsea, Liverpool and man u fans try to wind me up about Bale leaving and everything you’ve said here rings true. (though living in the US I never got to see him live)

    I don’t begrudge him his move, no one tried harder to get us CL football last season and I will always be grateful for his many splendid performances. I have had my head in the sand for a lot the transfer froth, but I suspect Mr Levy has not been entirely blameless in the saga and as Spurs fans we have made out because of his ruthlessness.

    I really hopes he goes on to great things. He has worked hard to make himself the player he is and I hope he is a smashing success at Real.

    Joe

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  50. Thank you, great piece. I especially agree with what you said about we Spurs fans – and only we Spurs fans – having enjoyed the unparalleled astonishment and delight of this past season or so watching him transform into the fabulous player he is now. No other clubs’ fans will ever have that because they are burdened by expectations of brilliance. The money we got to build potentially a better team is great – but those memories are a privilege and the real solace as he departs.

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  51. Great article Alan… Gareth’s rise has been so meteoric that we never knew what he could come up with next… i had hoped he loved Spurs enough to stay and become a legend… no doubt he would have… but he followed his boyhood dream…. i don’t blame him for that and wish him well, and such is his humility i know i will follow his Spanish exploits, unlike i did with Modric.

    Thanks to his meteoric rise, we have cashed in like no other club ever has on 1 player, and today we move on like him, with a squad of 22 players far far superior in quality than we ever dreamt of having, and can really now play as a team, rather than heavy relying on the likes of a BALE, VDV or a Modric.

    So Gareth, thanks for the memories, and for the value you heaped on us.

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  52. What a fantastic Read – could not agree more.
    Brilliantly pointed and written. I wish Gareth could read this himself!
    Cheers for sharing it with us.

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  53. Great Article Alan! I have been reading your blog ever since we met on that Sunday in May. It’s incredible that I got to witness Bale’s final match and goal at my first visit to the lane. Bale was the reason I started following Spurs (being of Welsh decent), but I will continue to support Spurs every week with ATL Spurs.

    Thanks again for your hospitality and I hope to see you soon(In the UK or US)!

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  54. Blimey, I think you carried away a bit here, what with brass bands, etc. I think you finally jumped the shark on this article so calm down and take a deep breath. Stiff upper lip time. The boy done good. He’s gone, and done us a favour in the process with a few new faces to keep us interested. It’s happened before and it’ll happen again. God knows what over exited nonsense we’ll get when they demolish the Lane…

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  55. Tears. Actual tears. Great article. I’m gutted that Bale has gone, but proud of the boy who grew up in front of all our eyes. As a relatively recent Spurs fan (since Ramos actually, a now ex boyfriend got me into them), he’s the most breathtaking player I’ve seen in a spurs shirt, and I hope he’s not going to be the last. I’m glad he’s not playing for any rivals, like those idiots down the road had to deal with with RVP, but it is such a loss to the Premier League – which makes it all the more peculiar (although not surprising) that the British press were so hand-rubbingly gleeful about him leaving Spurs. Half hoping that he doesn’t like it and comes back next season! Still, this season is going to be ace, what a cracking squad he’s gifted us.

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  56. Fitting tribute.
    Haters gonna hate.
    Until we get CL and probably a new stadium to generate funds
    we are a stepping stone to several clubs in Europe for talented youth.
    I thought Gareth might stick with us another season but good luck to the boy anyway.

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