adminFerguson is averse to a dalliance with the irrational.
When Tottenham lost 3-1 at home to Manchester United on September 12, 2009, Harry Redknapp was talking to Ferguson after the game.
The subject of Bale came up — specifically the fact that he had made 24 Premier League appearances for Tottenham without finishing on the winning side.
“I don’t know if you can play him now,” said Ferguson. His opinion was that Bale’s presence might be seen by the rest of the players as a bad omen.
Redknapp had to change the narrative around Bale and two weeks later, he did.
Tottenham were leading Burnley 4-0 at White Hart Lane when Redknapp introduced Bale as an 85th-minute substitute for Aaron Lennon.
Not even a 24-game curse could turn that scoreline into a 4-4 draw. Sure enough, Robbie Keane added a fifth for Tottenham and Bale’s run of misfortune was officially over. Even so, the player still wasn’t worth a starting place in the team.
As Bale submitted his latest claim to be Footballer of the Year on Monday night, Redknapp watched in admiration from an Italian restaurant in west London. Over in Paris this weekend, some were waxing lyrical about one pass from David Beckham that set up the second goal in a match Paris Saint-Germain were already winning.
For a player brought on to keep the ball, one third of Beckham’s passes in 15 minutes went awry.
Bale right now is a genuine match-winner.
Redknapp once said that if Tottenham sold him they would be finished and nothing he saw on Monday changed his mind. Even so, it took an injury to Benoit Assou-Ekotto to give Bale a run in Redknapp’s Tottenham team in the 2009-10 season. — Mailonline.
Online Reporter