FROM the left-back who failed to win any of his first 24 Premier League matches, to the devastating forward who became Britain’s most-decorated footballer.
As Gareth Bale retires to spend more time with his golf clubs, few world-class sportsmen have experienced careers so unusual and so difficult to quantify.
Adored at Tottenham, worshipped in Wales, but was widely unpopular at Real Madrid — where he won five Champions Leagues and all 16 of his major trophies.
Was Bale Britain’s greatest-ever footballer? Probably not. Most would place Bobby Charlton, George Best, Bobby Moore and Stanley Matthews above him.
But was he British football’s greatest export?
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His longevity and his roll of honour suggest so. Perhaps only his fellow Welshman John Charles, a legend at Juventus in the 1950s and 1960s, could rival him for that accolade.
Steve McManaman won hearts as well as European Cups at the Bernabeu and Chris Waddle is still idolised at Marseille — as is Kevin Keegan at Hamburg — but, generally speaking, British footballers don’t travel well.
And none has stayed at a major continental superpower as long as Bale’s nine years at the Bernabeu.
Yet he outstayed his welcome, digging in his heels for the last few seasons, content to pick up a vast wage packet despite Zinedine Zidane — during two spells as manager — wanting to see the back of him.
The ‘Wales, Golf, Madrid. In That Order’ banner he displayed after Wales qualified for the last Euros was never forgiven in the Spanish capital.
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That episode showed Bale possessed a thick skin and a pig head. Long since referred to by Real team-mates as ‘The Golfer’ because of his love for that sport, Bale ended up owning what was supposed to be a derogatory nickname.
Like a sizeable minority of elite footballers, Bale was never obsessed by his trade.
He might have been an even better player had he been supremely devoted to the game — but as he announced his retirement yesterday, it is doubtful that he’ll have too many regrets.
If there was a lack of passion for Real, there was nothing of the sort for Wales.
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Leading his nation to three major tournaments in six years — after decades in the wilderness — gave him greater pride than anything that he achieved in Madrid.
Making the semi-finals of Euro 2016, including a stunning quarter-final victory over Belgium, was a glorious adventure — even if it was ultimately ended by his Real Madrid ‘mate’ Cristiano Ronaldo.
With Wales, Bale experienced true brotherhood, a sense of belonging and a fervent patriotism.
Yet to witness Bale in his pomp as a club player was a thrilling privilege.
To have been present at the ‘Taxi for Maicon’ night in 2010 — when Spurs defeated European champions Inter Milan, with Bale’s extreme pace totally destroying Brazil’s right-back — is to remember the old White Hart Lane throbbing and pulsing beneath your feet.
And to be in Kiev eight years later when Bale, scorned by Zidane, came off the bench to score a sensational overhead kick in a Champions League final against Liverpool, was to marvel at majestic technique coupled with an uncommon strength of character.
Bale, painfully shy as a young player and then doggedly surly in his later years at Madrid, was often doubted by his bosses.
After Spurs signed him from Southampton as a teenager, he went through three managers and two entire seasons before he won a Premier League match.
Primarily a full-back then, he was almost flogged to Birmingham City by Harry Redknapp, before he swiftly developed into a world-class winger.
Later there was Zidane. After Bale had declared himself fit for a Clasico with Barcelona, only to limp off in the first half, his relationship with the Frenchman became almost non-existent, even as Real continued to rack up European Cups.
It is sometimes argued that Bale’s five Champions League winner’s medals (he only truly featured in four) somewhat inflate his greatness.
That he was a sometimes-peripheral player in a great team, rather than a truly great player.
Yet before Bale had left Spurs at 23, he won two PFA Player of the Year awards due to his extraordinary ability to conjure match-winning moments. Only four players this century have emulated that feat — Thierry Henry, Ronaldo, Mo Salah and Kevin De Bruyne — and all were Premier League title-winners.
But Bale was good enough to claim individual supremacy in a Spurs team which won nothing.
His decision to retire aged 33, after a brief, MLS title-winning stint with Los Angeles FC, might add to the idea that Bale wasn’t quite whole-hearted.
In truth, though, his body had been failing him for years — his explosive pace long gone.
On his final appearance in professional football, he was hooked at half-time after feeling his hamstring in the 3-0 defeat by England which sealed Wales’ exit from the World Cup.
That was his 111th cap, with his 41st and final international goal having arrived against the United States in Qatar.
After that England defeat, Bale claimed he wouldn’t quit — a decision he reversed on reflection.
Once Bale had lost realistic hope of achieving anything greater with Wales, attention turned to No 2 on his priority list on that infamous banner.
And as he announced his retirement on social media, Bale anticipated, ‘An opportunity for a new adventure . . . ’
So do not rule out a genuine attempt to carve out a career as a professional golfer.
Who knows, perhaps a wild card on the rebel LIV Tour?
