The one with Gareth Bale's career in my FM game

While it’s still not official yet, but my beloved Spurs will lose their talisman Gareth Bale to Real Madrid soon. While the money is too good, the team needs to keep its best players in order to challenge and compete for honours.

Today, I will share a post from my Football Manager 2013 game, in which Gareth Bale stay with Spurs till he retired at the end of the 2023/24 season. He played 17 seasons with Spurs (12 seasons with me). He won every club honour there is, as well as leading his Welsh national team to the 2020 Euros title.

I was given the option to retire his number 11 jersey which I did as a tribute of his accomplishments with Spurs.

Below are game screenshots of Gareth’s career with Spurs.

Now back to real life, it will be sad for us to lose a player of his calibre, but when a team with deep pockets (or backed by the royal family and banks) come to offer to triple his wages, you are bound to have your head turned.

In today’s climate, money does talk. Players these days will seek massive pay checks with established teams. Gone are the days where a player will stay with a team and help build the team and forge an identity. Players like Matt Le Tissier comes to mind. He stayed at Southampton his entire career, and while he didn’t win any major honours, he stayed with the club. Today he is loved by all that supports Southampton.

So while it will ache me to see him play in the ugly white jersey of Real Madrid, I will thank him for his years service as well as spectacular goals for the club.

And I will continue to support Spurs and the players who will still wear the shirt and play with their heart on their sleeve.

I had hoped that Gareth would stay and become a club legend, but maybe being a legend is not what he is seeking.