‘Look, it’s all very well drawing in Bremen in the Champions League, but now you’ve got to show you can do it against the teams who are struggling in the Premier League. The likes of Man United and Chelsea do it in Europe – and then come home and also do the business in the league. That’s how we’ve got to be – that’s our aim.’
Gareth and the Spurs players all nodded in agreement as Harry Redknapp outlined his philosophy for success on the training ground at Chigwell a couple of days after their Champions League group stage induction in Germany. He was right; there was no argument, they all knew that.
Gareth had spent the best part of two years looking for more consistency in his own game at White Hart Lane. Now he was almost there; he felt it, that feeling that he could achieve something big, that he was on the brink of becoming a world-class footballer. But he couldn’t do it alone: as a team Tottenham now needed to dig in and grind out results against lesser teams if they were to emulate the likes of Chelsea and United.
Being show ponies that performed well against some of the giants but self-destructed against teams they should easily beat needed to be a thing of the past. Harry was determined that they would become consistent performers – and that they would battle for the points if necessary.
Starting with Wolves at the Lane. Which meant it was important the team did not enter that match blurred by thoughts of the mouth-watering clash with Arsenal the following Tuesday. ‘Harry made it clear that many of the team who played against Wolves wouldn’t even be in the squad against Arsenal, anyway,’ says my dressing room source. ‘So they might as well give their all against Wolves – because it would be another week before they played again. It was a clever move because it killed off any hint of complacency.’
Ledley King was also on message after Harry’s pep talk. The defender said: ‘No disrespect to Wolves, but these are the games we need to win to build on last season. We are a good side at home – we try to win every home game. The way we started against Wigan was not good enough and we were sloppy.
‘We will have to start a lot better against Wolves and try to get an early goal to get them to change their tactics.’
The pep talks and pledges of determination worked well as Spurs avoided another European hangover, winning 3-1, when they had previously lost 1-0 at home to Wigan after thrashing Young Boys in that Champions League qualifier.
Not that Gareth could ever be accused of complacency. No, once again, in this, his season of destiny, he was the best player in a Tottenham shirt as he delivered some great crosses and left Wolves full-back Richard Stearman dizzy.
Yet it was Wolves who had taken the lead – raising fears that Tottenham were suffering another hangover – when Stephen Fletcher put them ahead on the stroke of half-time. Spurs drew level on 77 minutes after Stephen Ward had tripped Alan Hutton in the box. Rafael Van der Vaart took the spot kick sending Marcus Hahnemann the wrong way. Late goals from Hutton and Pavyluchenko secured the three points and left Bale a very relieved man. ‘He and the other players had been afraid they would get a right bollocking if they let it slip,’ says a Spurs source. ‘They didn’t want it to be another Wigan – they knew they had to deliver or face the wrath of Harry!’
A smiling Redknapp admitted he was a relieved man after the victory. He told the Guardian: ‘I wasn’t disappointed with the way we were playing because we were trying to do the right things but I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t sitting there thinking we might not get back into this game.’
Next up was a match no Spurs player would need any motivation for – Arsenal at home. But Gareth would miss out on the Carling Cup encounter. Initially he was disappointed – this was, after all a lad who, similar to Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, wanted to play in every match – but when the boss explained his reasoning, he accepted his night off. Later Harry would also spell out exactly why he had taken the decision to the press, saying he felt Gareth was simply worn out. He told the North Wales Daily Post: ‘I can’t destroy Gareth Bale. He played for his country, then ran a million miles in Germany against Werder Bremen down that left flank. He’s still a youngster. He’s running on empty. I’ve got to protect him a bit.’
It was one of those matches where players’ reputations are enhanced by not being picked. Spurs crashed 4-1 after 120 minutes as Arsenal chalked up their biggest win at the Lane in 32 years and gained revenge for their 5-1 hammering in the same competition two years ago. ‘Gareth was still as sick as the rest of the lads about the result,’ says my Spurs source. ‘OK, he wasn’t playing but it was still hard to digest. None of them like losing to Arsenal, whatever the competition.’
Gareth was back for the trip to north London rivals West Ham four days later – but again the result was a miserable one as Tottenham lost 1-0 to the relegation candidates. The win temporarily took the Hammers off the bottom and was their first against Spurs for over four years. It was also a particularly miserable defeat for the boss – Redknapp had not lost to West Ham since he left the club in 2001. Harry said afterwards: ‘They started strong and their front two were a real handful. They worked their socks off. It was a great team effort from West Ham and it could have gone either way. It was an exciting game, end to end stuff.
‘It was more of a basketball match. They attacked, we attacked. If Tom Huddlestone had scored when he was clean through in the second half it would have been different. They would have been on the floor and we would have been in the ascendancy.’
Harry may have sounded fairly upbeat, but he was far from it, as was Gareth. Neither man liked the fact that they had lost two games on the trot, and both knew that they had to get back on track soon, or the season would be over before Christmas as far as the Champions League or that vital top four Premier League finish was concerned. The following Wednesday they were at home to Dutch outfit FC Twente, their second match in the group stages. Defeat or a draw could prove disastrous after they failed to win in Germany in the first group match. ‘We don’t want to be playing catch-up,’ Gareth confided. ‘We need to get a result against Twente. We don’t want to make it difficult for ourselves.’
Well, they did – but they still came through smiling. Rafael van der Vaart got himself sent off (for two yellow cards), but also scored (and missed a penalty) as Spurs came home by four goals to one on another incredible night of European football involving the North London entertainers.
The Telegraph’s Henry Winter succinctly summed up the efforts of Bale and Co. He wrote: ‘Now that’s entertainment. Now that’s a rebuke to those who decry the Champions League group stage as boring. Even with 10 men, even with Twente far from makeweights in a thrilling Group A tie, Tottenham showed what this club and Harry Redknapp are all about: attacking football…
‘“Champions League – we’re having a laugh,” chorused the delighted Spurs faithful, singing in the rain, even ending an epic second half with chants of “olé” as Gareth Bale and company continued to flood upfield. UEFA should thank Redknapp and Tottenham for reminding everyone that it’s about the goals, about the glory.’
Roman Pavlyuchenko also scored from the spot twice and Bale – who else? – iced the cake with a fine late fourth goal. Gareth arrived in the box at speed and lashed the ball past hapless Bulgarian keeper Nikolay Mihailov in the Twente goal.
Gareth was buzzing after his late goal and delighted with the result. ‘He and the lads were on a real high in the dressing room,’ I am told. ‘They were all messing about and having a laugh. It was a great night.’
The boss was also pleased that his team had notched up their first Champions League win – and in such style. His gamble of going for the jugular, with Modric also told to ‘get in there and destroy ’em’ had certainly paid dividends. And Harry made a point of singling Gareth out for praise for destroying fullback Nicky Kuiper and for the way he took his goal. Redknapp said: ‘It was exciting stuff. The first two penalties were blatant. ‘Crouch was pulled down, wrestled to the floor. For the second one Bale beat the fellow like he did all night and was pulled down. It was a blatant penalty. On the third, the ball travelled a long way and it was a soft penalty but you see them given.
‘There was nothing wrong with Van der Vaart’s goal and it was a fantastic finish from Bale at the end.
‘We picked an open team who went for it. We could have played with one up with Van der Vaart behind, but went for it and got four goals. It was a fantastic result. We won 4-1 so I picked the right team. It’s not a problem. You pick different teams for different games. I felt we’d take a chance but there are certain games where you wouldn’t do that.’
Gareth now had just three days before the next match. He trained well at Chigwell and rested well at night. He knew it was vital to live the right way if he was to achieve that aim of becoming a world-class star. There were no booze binges or wild late nights on the cards for this man. He was a model footballer; always had been. He was not interested in living it up, he preferred a quiet night in and to let his feet, rather than his mouth, do the talking.
He wasn’t one for nightclubs or bars. He had a steady girlfriend, his childhood sweetheart Emma Rhys-Jones, who was the same age. They preferred nights in with a takeaway and a DVD. Emma had told how they had initially been long-distance lovers, travelling down the M4 between Cardiff and his flat in Essex. She even suggested it had been like the long-distance England/Wales romance in the BBC sitcom, Gavin and Stacey. Emma told friends: ‘We made it work like Gavin and Stacey did. We always joke with each other and I even call Gareth Gav in a soppy accent.’ They now live together in Gareth’s Essex home.
By the time of the FC Twente match, most of his displays for Spurs were now consistently excellent and he wanted to maintain that level, both in domestic and European encounters. Sure, he knew that the big European matches would make the biggest headlines – and propel him to world stardom if he delivered the goods as he knew he could. But his mindset was like boss Harry’s; both wanted to do equally as well in the Premier League. It was, after all, their bread and butter; what paid the bills.
Aston Villa followed FC Twente to the Lane on the Saturday. It saw the return of Gerard Houllier to London; the former Liverpool boss was now in charge at Villa Park and was looking for a big result. Houllier would be out of luck. Despite going ahead through a 16th-minute goal from Marc Albrighton, Villa ended up losing 2-1. Rafael van der Vaart grabbed a brace and even outshone Bale, who picked up his first booking of the season in injury-time.
Van der Vaart had played in the hole just behind Crouch to score his third and fourth goals in three games, giving Redknapp a potential headache when Defoe returned from injury. The boss explained: ‘If you play two up front with Rafa in behind, what do you do with Gareth Bale? You could play a diamond in midfield, but that would be asking Bale to play somewhere he doesn’t play.
‘It makes balancing the team difficult. Villa played with one striker up and Ashley Young behind, in the hole, and we went that way after the break. I put Rafa in behind Crouchy, with Aaron Lennon on the right, the balance looked better.
‘He likes that position. He is never going to stay wide. If you start him on the right, he is going to come inside because he always wants to be involved.’
There would now be a two-week break in which the players would go off to represent their various countries in Euro 2012 qualifiers. Gareth scored for Wales in Switzerland, but a 4-1 defeat would spell the end of their hopes, and of Brian Flynn’s time in charge. More of all that in a later chapter on Bale’s international career.
Gareth was glad to be back among his Spurs team-mates the following week, and was anticipating with relish their Premier League trip to West London rivals Fulham on Saturday October 16. It would provide him and his team-mates with an opportunity to make amends to their fans after their last two meetings with fellow London clubs – West Ham and Arsenal – had ended in such depressing defeats.
Plus there was the small matter of setting up a confidence booster to take with them when they flew out the following Tuesday for Wednesday’s Champions League group stage clash with Inter Milan. It would almost certainly be the toughest match of the group and they would need all the confidence, luck and help they could muster against the reigning champions.
So it was just the tonic required as Gareth and the boys came away from Craven Cottage with a 2-1 win under their belts. Typically, given the fightback nature of Tottenham’s season thus far, it was a triumph carved out of adversity. Yes, they had to come from behind (yet again) to secure the points.
It was also a match swathed in controversy; one that left home manager Mark Hughes bemoaning his team’s luck and verbally lashing referee Mike Dean. The ref had initially ruled out Spurs’ second goal, from a low drive by Tom Huddlestone, for offside.
But after Huddlestone complained and a consultation with ref’s assistant Martin Yerby, Dean allowed it to stand. Hughes moaned, ‘We feel the goal should have been wiped out because William Gallas was offside as the ball was struck. Huddlestone was first in Mr Dean’s face and obviously made a compelling argument for him to talk to his assistant.
‘But Gallas was in Mark Schwarzer’s vision and it affected his timing in diving for the ball. It is unusual for a referee to overrule a linesman. Perhaps he lost trust in him, but I think he should have backed him.’
Also typically in this exciting season for Spurs and their fans, it was Gareth Bale (yet again) who set Huddlestone up for the goal, swinging over a cross that the midfielder lashed home from just outside the penalty area.
Diomansy Kamara had put Fulham ahead only for Pavlyuchenko to equalise. The win also ended Fulham’s unbeaten start in the Premier League.
Afterwards Gareth was jubilant in the dressing room. ‘He was just glad to end what had become a bit of a jinx against fellow London teams – and to set down a marker for the big match against Inter the following Wednesday,’ said a Spurs source. ‘He and the boys all knew they had to put in a shift to prepare physically and mentally for the Milan match. Gareth said he was planning a nice relaxing day on the Sunday – one were he would just put his feet up, and go out for a nice meal with his girlfriend and unwind. It is his simple way of dealing with the pressure when it gets heavy, as would be the case with the match in Milan.
‘As Gareth said, games don’t come much bigger than playing the European champions in their own back yard.’
Boss Redknapp was also looking forward to the trip to Italy with a certain relish. He said that, like Gareth, he planned to relax the following day and then the hard work would begin again on the Monday: ‘What a day [Sunday] it will be! My missus Sandra has bought me some kippers so I’ll have them with a bit of toast and nice mug of tea.
‘I was going to go and see Milan play, but they’re on TV. So is Liverpool at Everton, then Blackpool playing Man City… Sandra has to go upstairs and watch the portable. I hardly watch telly. I never sit down to watch a film. The last film I really saw was Dr Zhivago. The only other time was when we got invited to a premiere in Southampton. It was a Bond film. I fell asleep after five minutes, had a kip for two hours. It was lovely.’
Gareth and Harry both did enjoy their days off that Sunday, but come Monday morning both were raring to go. They knew the time for talk was over; now it was time to walk the walk. For Tottenham’s biggest game since their league and European glory days of the early Sixties. They were on their way to Milan for a date with destiny: and both they and their loyal fans hoped they would not be humiliated. That they would instead come home covered in glory. For Gareth Bale, the match would also be easily the most important of his relatively short career…for it was the match that propelled him to world stardom.