Bale Out

Whilst reiterating the fact that this is most definitely not a football blog, I feel obliged to revisit the whole Gareth Bale/Real Madrid 'story'.  Now, it is important to sate upfront that, as a Spurs fan (albeit an armchair one), I'm not unbiased in this whole business.  Clearly, I'd much rather he stayed at Spurs. That said, it isn't the footballing aspects of the 'story' which interests me so much as the way the whole thing has been handled by the media which, since the close of last season, have seemed determined to make a story out of Bale and Real Madrid, despite a complete lack of any actual facts.  The whole thing seems to have taken on a life of its own and has become self-sustaining, with story after story in the press of, first of all, Real Madrid's interest in Bale, then his interest in them, their alleged offers to Spurs for the player and, over the weekend and today, the claims that Bale is now actively lobbying for a move.  These stories have ranged from the usual sensational tabloid speculations to supposedly heavyweight and considered articles in the likes of the Observer, Guardian and Telegraph.

These stories all have one thing in common: a complete lack of any direct quotes from the player, his representatives or anyone close to him.  It's all very well saying, as even the BBC was today, that Bale had indicated his desire to talk to Real Madrid, but how has expressed this desire?  None of these media outlets seem willing to tell us - they don't even resort to that hoary old cliché of 'according to sources close to the player/club/manager'.  Then there's the matter of Real's supposed offer of £80 million, (or £84 million, £86 million or £90million according to which reports you believe), to Spurs.  As has become clear today, Real haven't actually made any formal offers for the player so far.  So on what basis are the media coming up with these stories?  Where do they all originate?   Well, the reality is that they are all simply re-hashings of a 'story' published last week in the Spanish newspaper (and Real Madrid mouthpiece) Marca.  It was this report which attributed all manner of quotes to Bale.  Interestingly, they are all, word-for-word, identical to the quotes they attributed to another Spurs midfielder. Luka Modric, last Summer, when he and Real were trying to force Spurs into selling him, (which they eventually did).  The fact is that I haven't seen anything in any of the UK media reports so far - not even the ones The Guardian has been publishing this evening (re-hashing exactly the same claims as before, still without any supporting quotes or evidence) - which can't be traced back to the Marca 'story'.

Now, I have no idea whatsoever as to whether Bale wants to move to Real Madrid or not.  I have no insider knowledge and won't insult your intelligence by claiming otherwise.  However, the behaviour of the UK media over the story has been quite astonishing.  I'm well aware that most football transfer stories are largely conjecture, but in this case they are nothing but speculation.  You get the impression that, in the absence of any other big transfer stories to fill back pages and sell papers, the media have determined that they'll effectively make one up.  There have been times during this saga when it has seemed that the press are actively trying to unsettle Bale and engineer a move just to ensure that they have a big story.  Anyway, I'm bracing myself for another round of fact-free stories, all telling me hoe Bale is now demanding a move and threatening to punch out Daniel Levy, despite the lack of any supporting evidence, tomorrow.